What a Free Hugs Adventure Taught Me About Leadership The mom pushing her stroller down Chestnut Street stopped to give me and the person I was with a hug. “Thanks,” she said. “I really needed that.” And then she
Asking Questions to Trees: The Power of Mindsets A few months ago, I started working with a coach [https://blog.coleadership.com/what-i-learned-about-investing-in-myself-after-a-year-of-coaching/] . I had seen her masterful coaching in one of the coach training courses I took,
Retrospectives: The Most Important Meeting You Can Run for Your Team At the end of every month, we run a retrospective. It's the single most important recurring conversation that we have. We always leave them feeling re-energized and re-motivated
Finding My Fierce Heart: My Journey in Leadership When I left my full-time tech job as an engineering manager a year and a few months ago, I had crafted a lovely narrative on why I was going into
Understand Your WHY to Boost Your Happiness and Motivation What makes some people excited to go to work every day while others can't wait for the work day to end? What determines whether you find deep fulfillment
How to Take Control of Your Own Leadership Four years ago, I was coming back to work from my first maternity leave, and was working 3 days a week. Week after week, I kept my head down and
How to Have More Impactful Communication with Two Key Skills I blinked away the tears. Team morale was crumbling. Co-workers, many I considered friends, were leaving the company. I was at a meeting with senior leaders, and I had just
The Magic of Co-Leadership: Unlock a More Powerful Way to Work I was halfway up the four-story vertical ropes course, when my course partner at the leadership retreat decided she couldn't continue any further. We agreed she would energetically
How to Get Buy-in for Reducing Technical Debt I walk past the CEO in the hallway. “Hey Jean, it's been awhile. What are you working on these days?” Scenario one: I reply, “Oh I'm
How to Lead by Noticing and Filling in Gaps Many years ago, I worked at a five-person startup. I brought crackers and cheese and fruit that I had bought with my own groceries over the weekend and put them
How to Invest in the Infrastructure of Your Relationships This important lesson about effective leadership took me ten years to learn: Investing in the infrastructure of your relationships is just as important as investing in the infrastructure of your
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How to Leverage Your Teammates' Strengths More I sighed at the important email. It'd been sitting in my inbox for over two weeks, and a reply was long overdue. I felt some frustration, as I
What I Learned About Investing in Myself After a Year of Coaching It had taken me two weeks to write the email, even though it was on my mind constantly as something I wanted to do. She replied a few days later,
How to Build Trust Through Vulnerability I was walking my 4 year-old daughter to preschool last week, and I was noticing some anxiety I had about a workshop later that day. As we crossed the street,
Build Trust in Moments, Not in Years One of the most meaningful experiences in my career was a conversation where I turned an engineer from an intimidating adversary into a supportive ally. I'd been working
