Nov 25A Childhood Under the StarsEvery June when I was a kid, my Mom would quit her job and we’d move to a lake near our home. We’d spend the summer water skiing, swimming and riding bikes. We slept outside under the stars on 2-inch blue mats that my Father made for us. The sun…2 min read2 min read
Nov 25Five Ways to WinFIVE WAYS TO WIN In my 30s, a friend of mine had a complete meltdown when her team lost at a board game. She had four older brothers and grew up in an environment of intense competition. Her reaction was so strong I remember thinking she had completely lost the plot. By focusing solely…3 min read3 min read
Nov 4ARE YOU READY TO LISTEN?On a crisp September morning in 2018, I found myself climbing into a Land Rover at 6am. We were off on our first game drive on the Sabi Sand game reserve in South Africa which was known for its wildlife, especially the Big Five of lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and…Self Improvement3 min readSelf Improvement3 min read
Nov 4IS YOUR PRESENTATION A DOG’S BREAKFAST?A former manager of mine used to use the term “a dog’s breakfast” to aptly describe some of the presentations that engineers would give. Their slides would be covered in complex and convoluted data. They lost their audience in nanoseconds. I’m passionate about bad presentations, mostly because they’re a waste…Personal Development3 min readPersonal Development3 min read
Nov 4VISIBILITY EATS DILIGENCE FOR LUNCHHave you ever worked with an executive who had no substance? Who didn’t know the business? Or didn’t know how to get work done? Visible and successful, without the expertise gained through diligence? Earlier this week a friend told me: “I feel like I should be so much further in…Self Improvement2 min readSelf Improvement2 min read
Nov 4BUILD A JOB YOU CAN’T GET FIRED FROMAbout a year ago I started seeing a lot of posts on LinkedIn on how to create a following and eventually earn money through digital products. I was intrigued. Most of my career has been in tech, and tech doesn’t embrace older workers. I wanted to make sure I had…Personal Development4 min readPersonal Development4 min read
Nov 4STOP HOLDING YOURSELF BACKOn the first day of graduate school at Harvard, the Dean got up to welcome all of us to the school. “Anyone here who thinks you were admitted by mistake, that the admissions committee is going to show up and revoke your acceptance, raise your hand.” Every single hand went…Personal Development2 min readPersonal Development2 min read
Nov 4NOT GETTING AHEAD? MAYBE IT’S THEM, NOT YOUA few years ago I scored a single-year 20-point increase on my Employee Experience score. The agency that ran the annual Employee Pulse Survey calculated the score a second time to double check the data. They said it was “statistically impossible” to improve that much in a year. But the…Systems Thinking3 min readSystems Thinking3 min read
Nov 4LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.in Earlier this month, my 13-year-old son grabbed my phone and set up a SnapChat account for me. He added me to a group with his friends called — well — something you would expect from a group of teenage boys. His friends decided that it would probably be better…Influence3 min readInfluence3 min read
Nov 4PLAY THE LONG GAMEIn the third grade my son’s teacher told the class: “When you are done with the standardized test, you can quietly do whatever you like.” He has randomly colored in the dots as quickly as possible ever since. He learned early that following the rules doesn’t always make sense. We…Self Improvement1 min readSelf Improvement1 min read
