Often, we label people who are not team players “difficult.” Sometimes it’s definitely warranted-if they’re not fulfilling their job descriptions and/or pushing off their responsibilities to others. But how often are we considering whether or not the problem isn’t the “difficult” person, but in our own requests? “Just a quick […]
Category: empathy
Uncomfortable Conversations
Conversations around things like racial justice, reproductive rights, feminism, or fat phobia might be uncomfortable for you. Often we silence ourselves and opt out of these conversations because of a lot of different reasons. We might feel ignorant about the subject, or be wary of accidentally causing harm to someone. […]
Hog-tied in a Classroom
Even if you are factually right, you have to understand that most people hate to be told that they’re wrong. After all, no one enjoys being wrong – at best people look at being wrong as lessons to learn from, but I’m not sure anyone really enjoys it. So how […]
Weekends
When I worked in retail, I never got the allure of weekends. After all, these were the most busy days of the week, and if I was looking for a break, it would usually be on a Monday or something. I often work with global teams, meaning that my mornings […]
Enrollment
Changing someone’s mind is incredibly difficult if they’re not already open to changing it. We often try brute-force intellectual attacks with a barrage of facts, and when that doesn’t work, we start humiliating them when it is exposed that they’re not probably operating off of truth. While giving people the […]
A Valentine’s Day Hate Crime
Not sure if you’ve heard, but there’s an uptick in violence and harassment against Asian/Americans. It’s not surprising to me, given that my younger brother was assaulted walking home from school after 9/11 with shouts of “remember Pearl Harbor,” an entire generation of my family was shipped off to internment […]
Agency
Sometimes it can feel like we don’t have any agency at work, especially if we’re not high up on the organizational chart. You might even be pushing upwards against your manager, trying to make things better but being thwarted at every turn. But remember that you do have agency – […]
First Impressions
When I was teaching career skills at a private art university, I would often show a photo of a man in a orange jumpsuit with tattoos on his face, and a photo of another man in a surgical ward wearing scrubs. I’d ask which one of these two men they’d […]
Partnerships
Human relationships are work. Even the best partnerships all require effort, whether that’s in life, friendship, love, or business. We’re conditioned to think that when we find the perfect partner or partners, everything will magically work out, but that’s isn’t really accurate. It is true that there will be people […]
Barbarians at the Gate
It’s straightforward, if not easy, to deal with barbarians outside the gate. External enemies are easy to deal with – after all, they’re not us. It is much more challenging, however, if the barbarians are inside of the gate, as now we’re vulnerable and don’t have a wall to protect […]