Tools for Change

Such an honor to chat with Arthi Rabikrisson on her Inspire Your Life podcast about the power of the YES Mindset.

In this episode I share my unconventional career path and three key success messages - 

•  Yes is where the growth is.
• If I’m scared, if it makes me feel nervous, then I am on the right path.
• Take the opportunity, take the chance, go for growth.

Listen to the full episode to here.

The Great Resignation has done more than simply create a record number of vacancies; it is forcing a change in how companies recruit and hire.

Candidates are no longer tolerating outdated and one-sided hiring practices. They are finished with cumbersome application processes that require duplication of data, multiple-step interview methods that don’t allow equal footing in decision making and personality assessments designed to eliminate them with limited information. They are opting out of a system that is designed to keep the power dynamics away from the candidate and place it in the hands of the hiring manager.

It’s a wake-up call for those who are paying attention. Many hiring managers and human resource leaders are sensitive to this shift

According to the Oracle and Workplace Intelligence study - 

• 93% of respondents said they used the past year to reflect on their lives.
• 88% said the meaning of success has changed for them since the pandemic.
• 75% said they feel stuck professionally.
• 22% said they are too overwhelmed to make any changes.

Over the last year, I have had the pleasure of speaking at women’s conferences, women’s organizations, and corporate women’s groups.

The message is clear - Many women feel STUCK! They are desperate for a change but have absolutely no idea WHAT or HOW.

Perhaps it began in December 2019. You said that 2020 will be the year you finally:

By now most of us are familiar with the term mid-career crisis, but did you know that it was once believed that with age comes increased job satisfaction?

After all, the longer we are in a profession the more flexibility, money, and influence we have, right?

Sure, moving up the corporate ladder has its benefits, but it seems these perks don’t equate to job satisfaction.

In my latest Forbes article, “How to Avoid Overcorrection During a Mid-Career Transition”, I talk about the #1 pitfall I see mid-career transitioners make and how to avoid it!

Did you know that I have a YouTube channel? 

I post videos on career navigation, mid-career transition, leadership development, organizational effectiveness, and videos of my guest appearances.

Check it out and subscribe!

It seems like everyone is talking about it - The Great Resignation. People are quitting their jobs in droves. 

• More Americans quit their jobs in April than any other month on record going back to the beginning of the century, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• 41% of the global workforce is considering leaving their job within the next year.
• Across all sectors and occupations,

Together Digital is a networking organization dedicated to accelerating the advancement and growth of women in digital by giving women the most powerful tool in their arsenal: one another.

It’s a phenomenal organization that is based on an Ask & Give philosophy where members share their digital expertise and know-how, professional development insights, and friendship.

I was honored to be invited to speak with their members at the weekly She Rocks event, where I shared tips on Managing your Mid-Career Crisis and did LIVE coaching with several members.

If you’ve wond

Considering career coaching but not sure it’s worth the investment? You are not alone!

The No. 1 question I get from potential clients is, “How do I know if career coaching would be helpful for me?”

The 2nd question - “Is it really worth the money?”

In my latest Forbes Coaches Council article,

I am thrilled to return to Brave By Design to chat with host Laura Khalil about career and life transitions!

It seems this forced, global pause has caused many of us to question our priorities, specifically around our careers. If you find yourself asking, “Is this what I really want?” then this episode is for you.

I share:

• How this time of forced pause due to the pandemic has caused many of us to re-evaluate what we really want in life [2:53]
• A look at my journey from leadership coach to career transition coach [3:58]
• A way to start determining what is n

Did you know that unemployment rose higher in three months of COVID-19 than it did in two years of the Great Recession? Scary but true!

If you are one of the millions who are currently unemployed the situation can feel hopeless.

But, as a career coach and former staffing industry leader, let me assure you there is light at the end of the tunnel and you will find your next role.

Until then, I offer four ways to remain positive (and take some action) in my latest Forbes article, Advice From A Career Coach On How To Stay Positive During A Difficult Job Search.

I had a great conversation with Ivy Lews of ZL Consulting LLC about possible career paths for project managers.

We also talked about the benefits of coaching, training, and certification.

If you are a PM you’ll want to subscribe to Ivy’s YouTube channel.

It seems as if nearly everyone I know is in some sort of forced transition at the moment. Whether it be job loss, furlough, indefinite work from home, or a business closing, we are all facing unchartered and often unchosen territory. It can feel overwhelming, uncertain and for some people, freeing.

As businesses start to reopen and we return to some semblance of normalcy I’ve been hearing a recurring message. My friend described it best when she said, “I don’t think I want to go back to the way things were! Having this time off to reflect, I’ve realized how unhappy I was. I knew I didn’t love what I was doing but I just kept going, consumed by the job. Now that I’ve been forced to take a step back, I can see how miserab

What a pleasure it was speaking with Lauren Ammon of Unlimited Leader, LLC on her HR Chat Series #otherfrontline.

Lauren developed this series as a way to provide an opportunity to give back to those business leaders and HR professionals who find themselves on the #otherfrontline of employee care and business upheaval.

In this episode, we talk about how HR can move from a “seat at the table” to the head of the table. 

If you are an HR professional thinking about your career, this is well worth the watch!&

Amy decided she had enough - enough of her over-demanding boss, enough of employees who had entitlement attitudes and enough of a company culture that valued shareholder profits over employee well-being. She was tired of trying to make the best of a bad situation and she was ready to move on. Amy knew she had more to offer and she set about finding a company that would appreciate her value. After spending weeks researching, she settled on a handful of companies that looked promising. She did all the right things to get in the door. She found out who the hiring managers were. She searched her network to see who could facilitate introductions. She even contacted some former employees to ask for tips and advice. Finally, she landed an interview with one of her top choices. And, it went rea

Gay Hendricks coined the phrase zone of genius in his 2009 book The Big Leap. Hendricks explains it this way, “Your genius is that activity or way of being that you are uniquely suited to do. It combines your innate gifts and practiced strengths. It feels effortless and creative and just plain good”. Others describe this as being in the flow. When you are there you know it. Time seems to stand still (or pass unnoticed). It comes to you naturally, without strain or effort, and leaves you feeling energized.

Your zone of genius is your unique footprint on the world and while we all have one, many of us are not tapped into it. Instead of working to improve your weaknesses (a typical performance improvement strategy), identifying your zone of genius allows

“But he’d learned long ago that a life lived without risks pretty much wasn’t worth living. Life rewarded courage, even when that first step was taken neck-deep in fear.” - Tamera Alexander, Within My Heart

It’s that time of year again where we take stock of our accomplishments and plan for the upcoming year. What is it you hope to accomplish? Are you longing for a promotion, wanting to ask for a raise or even start your own business? Whatever the target, there is often a common underlying theme – make it achievable. Of course, we want to stretch ourselves, but we also want to make sure we can accomplish the goal. So, we aim a bit small. Frankly, we give in to fear. Fear of failure, fear

The term Impostor Syndrome (IS) was first introduced in 1978 by clinical psychologists Dr. Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes referring to a psychological pattern in which a person doubts their accomplishments and abilities and has constant worries that others will discover they are not “good enough”. Even when faced with evidence of their competence, they are convinced that they are frauds, often dismissing their success as luck, charm or simply good timing.

For those struggling with IS there is a wealth of articles containing advice on how to overcome your fraudulent feelings. However, IS affects more than just the individual, it has very real, bottom-line impacts on companies as well, making IS not just an individu

It’s 3 AM and I’ve woken up, yet again, to worry about some imagined future that may or may not happen. This is starting to become a nightly ritual. The best part is, I know that when the light of day arrives it will bring with it the clarity to see that this imagined “issue” is actually pretty manageable. Well, until 3 AM tomorrow morning when I will be consumed with worry about it again.

In her article What’s the Difference between Anxiety and Worry, Debbie Hampton describes what happens in the brain when we worry, “Worrying is thought-based, occurs in the mind, and involves your thinking brain, the prefrontal cortex, interacting with the limbic system, particularly the anterior cingulate, which controls basic emotio

According to the Urban Dictionary, button-pushing means to deliberately irritate, to intentionally provoke another without reason, and to wear away at the patience of someone until that person wants to slap you. While that last part is pretty funny, button-pushing doesn’t feel like a laughing matter. It’s frustrating and annoying. What’s worse, it feels like people do it on purpose to anger or upset us.

Here’s the thing, your buttons are yours. They have everything to do with you and nothing whatsoever with the button pusher. These instant triggers are based on emotional wounds, past experiences, and even self-doubt. They are emotionally charged, sensitive places within us causing a reaction that is often out of proportion to the offense.

“I’ve been in this role for a year now and I really like the company and my co-workers, but the job just isn’t challenging. Frankly, I’m bored. But I can’t apply for a new position within the organization for another year. Also, because I’ve only been here a year, I don’t really want to look for another job. I mean, I really do have it good here. But I feel stuck and doing this for another year seems like torture!” Sound familiar? I’ve heard some version of this many times from clients and friends.  The company is great, the co-workers are great but, the job – not so much.

According to the 2016 Udemy Workplace Boredom Study, 43% of US office workers are bored and 80% feel learning

If you’re taking the time to read this article my guess is you are longing for some sort of change in your life but are either unclear of exactly what you want or you have doubts you can achieve it. If you are like I was, you might even have daydreams about walking away from it all and completely starting over (tropical island here I come!). But for most of us, quitting and seeing what fate has in store is not an option. We have responsibilities. Responsibilities that need a steady income. Getting from where you are today to where you want to be might seem impossible.

The truth is, it doesn’t take some sort of grand gesture to change your life. You can make steady progress toward your ideal future one step at a time. Here are three things you can start doing t

It was Friday afternoon and I was rushing to get out of the office. I was looking forward to heading out of town for the weekend but had one last report I needed to send out before I could leave. The company was beginning our annual performance review process and many of the directors wanted to begin preparing them over the weekend. The report included, among other things, employee demographic data such as names, hire dates, titles, date of last promotion, etc. I hurriedly opened an email, attached the file and hit send to our leadership team before running out the door. Cut to Monday morning and our company president walks into my office and says, “Did you mean to send that report out to the entire company?”. My response? I pushed him and said, “Get o

No doubt you are familiar with the stereotypical mid-life crisis that usually strikes people in their mid-40s and seems to cause otherwise prudent people to buy sports cars or cheat on their spouses. But did you also know there is a very real thing called a Mid-Career Crisis?

According to the Harvard Business Review article, Why So Many of Us Experience a Midlife Crisis, “On average, life satisfaction is high when people are young, then starts to decline in the early 30s, bottoming out between the mid-40s and mid-50s before increasing again to levels as high as during young adulthood. And this U-curve occurs across the entire socio-economic spectrum, hitting senior-level executives as well as blue-collar workers and stay-at-home parents. In

I was in my late twenties when I landed my first real leadership role. As a department director, I had a (small) team with big responsibilities. While I was very proud of this accomplishment and extremely excited about the role, I was also feeling self-doubt and uncertainty. Was I really “manager material”?  I felt certain that any day the higher-ups (or even my direct reports) were going to figure out I was not qualified, and the jig would be up! We now call this imposter syndrome, but at the time I didn’t have that tidy label to give what I was feeling a name.

My impostor syndrome was also showing up in how I managed my team. After all, who was I to think I could lead this group of people, some of which had far more knowledge and experien