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: leadership
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. […]
The Worst Piece in Your Portfolio
In the visual art world, there’s a saying that you’ll get hired by the worst piece in your portfolio. What this means is not that the person hiring is going to fall in love with your worst piece – it means that you’re going to be judged by the weakest […]
The Future is Trust
Most people don’t think about trust very often, unless they come across a breach of trust. Maybe it’s your boss not trusting you with autonomy and micromanaging, or clients not trusting you enough to commit to a purchase order. Perhaps what gets you thinking about trust is a stranger returning […]
Fear or Love?
When we choose to respond to something, there is a choice to be made. We can choose to act from a place of fear, scarcity, and a zero-sum game where if someone else wins, you lose. This choice is one of selfishness, pain, and insecurity. Alternatively, we can choose to […]
Blueprints
Blueprints are great for constructing a building that works for when the blueprint was drawn, but if circumstances and times change, the blueprint quickly becomes obsolete. Especially in uncertain times, we want clear, tested, de-risked answers to life. And why wouldn’t we? If you could have the exact blueprint to […]
Leading At Scale
In an ideal world, as a leader you’d be able to trust your team to make decisions and then let you know. You hired people who are great at doing what they do – which is why you hired them in the first place. So let them do their work, […]
Doomsayers and Gloomsayers
You may be familiar with the Doomsayer, the prophet who preaches about the end of the world, screaming into the void with their sandwich-board sign on their chest and a wild look in their eye. But there are also the lesser-known Gloomsayers, those who spread doubt, unrest, and complaints around […]
Earmuffs
When there is a complaint, especially about something we’re involved in, it can be tempting to try and fix it as quickly as possible. It’s uncomfortable to potentially be responsible for something that has gone wrong, and we often try to remedy the problem so we don’t have to be […]
Exaggeration
Exaggeration happens when we’re not feeling like we’re enough. When we’re enough, there’s no need to inflate sales numbers if we’re confidently performing. There’s no need to front that you’re a huge fan of a musician when you’ve only heard one song. There’s no need to say you’re an expert […]