Category: Leadership
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On Being Irrepressible
There are a lot of platitudes about life and especially about facing challenges in life. You can likely think of as many of them as I can, everything from the cloying sentiment of “when life gives you lemons” to the glib “That’s life.” I find those well worn phrases and cliches to be more than…
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Holding the Line
Have you ever had one of those times in your life when you felt backed into a corner? You know what you believe is right and yet the pressure to change your mind, to change your decision is relentless. It happens in professional life and it happens in personal life. And it is difficult sometimes…
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Defining Difference
I had the privilege of sitting on a panel discussion this week with a group of outstanding women leaders from around the country. We were talking about a variety of topics all focused on careers and career growth. The moderator was giving us questions, directing some of them to specific people to kick off and…
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Not Your Mother
On more than one occasion I’ve thought, and even said aloud, that if I were to write a book on management, I would call it “I Am Not Your Mother” and subhead it with “And other truths that managers should know.” It’s a bit of a flippant phrase, I know, but it encapsulates a reality…
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Rising Above
When I approach leadership, and life, with a full heart, I approach it with a commitment to bringing my whole self to every interaction and every situation. This is my authentic core that I am showing you and I am sharing with you who I am, what I believe and even, often, what I feel.…
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Authenticity
What is the role of a leader? Depending on your setting and your individual mindset, the answer could be to set direction, to motivate, to make change, to get things done. Regardless of what your definition of a leader, of your own leadership role, one thing is always true—you carry the responsibility. At the end…
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Feeling Whole
As leaders, and as individuals, we spend a fair amount of time on the “if only” or “when this happens.” You know what I’m talking about. It’s that goal, that target we put out there. It’s the moment when we will have achieved what we believe we need to achieve to get to whatever it…
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Finding Your Voice
I remember being told, even in high school English classes, that you should “find your voice” when you write. At the time, it seemed straightforward to me. Just write from what you know, express the uniqueness of who you are. It took me a bit of time to fully recognize the complexity of that effort.…
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On Many Shoulders
A basic tenet of leadership is that leadership does not, cannot exist in a vacuum. Without people to lead, to support, to implement and more, there is no leadership. Everything we do as leaders, everything we are able to achieve is because we work with those who enable us to create the reality we collectively…
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What Matters
Recently, I was talking with someone who was applying for a leadership role in the field of aging services. While the individual was trying to grow their understanding of the work we do, they were trying to apply a commodity mindset, a commercial mindset to this kind of work and no matter how many ways…
With a Full Heart 