How many times have you said or done something that you wished you could take back or change? I remember standing in front of a large audience at a conference and being so nervous. It was in the middle of the conference hall and not in a private room which is where all of my other speeches had been. There were no chairs for people to sit on. It was like speaking in the middle of the shopping mall and…
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Which leader in your life made a difference for you in your career? I can think of several throughout my career, although they may not have even known it. They didn’t see what they did or said as anything special. To them, they were just doing their job and what they thought was right for me. If I had to narrow it down, I would say there were 5 key things that they did for me: Stretched me out of my…
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It’s okay to ask for help. This wasn’t something that I believed for many years. I saw it as a negative thing. I thought you had to do it all yourself and if you couldn’t then you were a failure. I know that this isn’t true now, but back when I was still learning about being a leader, it felt true. What I didn’t realize is that it is actually a sign of strength to ask for help, not a…
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If I could only find some time to just think. I have heard this from some of my friends this week and to be honest, I have said it to myself. When there is so much happening, it can be easy to get caught up in the mode of being busy and not taking any time to think. You just keep doing more things without a lot of thought behind them. Sometimes you can get paralyzed by the sheer number…
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When leaders are looking to raise their visibility, I will ask them what their goals are and what types of actions they have already tried. Depending on those answers, I may push them to think bigger. Are they doing enough to reach the goal that they have for themselves? If they aren’t pushing themselves and starting to see results, then they may become frustrated and give up on their visibility plan. That won’t help them reach the success that they…
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Let’s be honest, being perfect isn’t worth your time. The extra time that you could take to make something perfect is most likely not going to make much of a difference. If this is you, then you spend time doing the extra work to make others happy, avoid criticism, and because you are trying to meet someone’s unrealistic expectations. What if I gave you a permission slip on the project you are working on and said just do what is…
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A leader who doesn’t feel ready for leadership responsibilities will struggle to trust their abilities. They will compare themselves to everyone else, live with doubt and insecurity. They want to show up authentically, but because of their own doubts it isn’t easy for them. Brene Brown said that “authenticity is a practice and you choose it every day.” I like to believe that all leaders are doing the best that they can to show up authentically. They may not even realize that…
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Look at the choices that you make every day. Are you focused on doing the easy things that keep you in the background or the harder things that could put you into the spotlight? This isn’t always a conscious thought, but more than likely the easy things are what you already know and would be considered the safer choices. The harder choices are what can help you be more visible and give you more career options. They are scarier to…
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If you don’t know anything is wrong, how can you change? One of my favorite quotes from Maya Angelou is “Do the best you can until you know better. When you know better, do better.” I have taken that to heart in so many ways in my business and as a coach. I have stopped focusing on perfection so much and focused on taking imperfect actions. For example, I took imperfect action this past week when I launched The Visibility Podcast!…
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“Now, what am I going to do?” It is the decision that every people pleasing leader dreads. They have held time for themselves to work on a project and someone else sends a meeting invite for the exact same time. Do they give their own time up to take that meeting and make the other person happy? Although they may not want to, a people pleaser will give up their own time in a heartbeat to make others happy. Why…
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