You may have heard the old adage that "the best ability is availability." Well, in terms of Leading Your Career, that is absolutely the truth. Opportunities rarely walk up to someone neck-deep in work or are already being pulled in a thousand directions. The opportunities instead usually present themselves to the people whose eyes are up and anticipating the next challenge. Don't get me wrong, many managers have their "go-to" people they consistently think to reach out to fir

It's hard to go through a workday or LinkedIn feed and not hear terms such as "innovation," "inclusivity," "agile," or "dynamic" and their inherent benefits to a company. In a nutshell, those are all some form of "change"; The organization or company seeing an opportunity to be more competitive, or just all-around "better" and trying to capitalize on it. This article is not aimed at those that openly oppose change… we'll tackle that topic in a different article. This is aimed

You've been promoted! Congratulations! You have so many opportunities and plans in your new role, but first, you need to help transition your current role. This isn't only trigged with a vertical move, it's anytime you leave a role or responsibilities on the team to move on to something else, and another person must fill your void. Once the person backfilling your position is selected, you should be ready to empower them to succeed as they look for new ways to solve problems

Delegating is a challenging task for me. Not only because I have a skewed perception of my quality of work, but also because do not want to miss out on completing the responsibilities of my job that I love to do. That seems like a reasonable excuse, right? Right, except the way that surfaces in my team is I "can't let things go", "don't trust them to do the work", "hover", and "am not actively helping to build them up". None of those are the way I want to be perceived by my t

It's a strange feeling. You know what you should be doing, or should be saying but the feeling makes you hesitate and question yourself. Going any further would result in some level of vulnerability that you believe you're not mentally prepared for. In these moments many choose to not act, not speak up and will remain in their comfort zone. As a result, an opportunity is missed. It's in these moments I believe you should "Embrace The Awkward" because on the other side of awkw

In the first "Lead Your Career" article I identified one act that makes me happy and that's "making other people successful". At its core, that's my purpose for writing these articles; Sharing with others actionable ways to make a positive difference in their life, the lives of others, and give them the tools needed to lead their career. But the concept can be tricky. First off, success is defined differently for everyone. Success might be every additional day of sobriety, ge

How many of you feel like the inevitable next step in your career is a Master’s Degree? Many times when someone on my team brings me that topic for discussion, it seems it’s framed in the same manner: Minimal context, no vision and questionable motives. Most often, they’re the highly-motivated employees who love a challenge and are looking for the next hurdle. Some people, though, see that many leaders in their career path may have a Master’s Degree and have been told "it's j

"My door is always open" – we’ve all heard management use this phrase to mean that they’re approachable and willing to talk whenever you need. But who is the target audience for that open door? Is it really everyone? Should the target be only those willing to walk through the door, or should it be those who feel their voices are often ignored and could use the support of those who are endowed enough to have an office door to keep open? I feel it should be for the latter, and,

I approached the birth of my fourth child differently from the rest. For the first three I probably took a combined one month off of school or work to spend time with my family. With my fourth I decided to utilize FMLA and take 2.5 months off. This was planned so we were able to save up for this time since FMLA is job protection, not a form of income. I received full support from my management and team, and started preparing to offload my responsibilities. As the time approac

I feel mentorship has an undeserved bad rap. Most people are told they need it and could benefit from it, but their only real experience with it is through formal "mentorship programs" that feel like poorly executed blind dates. I believe that in its best form, mentorship (on both the mentor and protégé side) is not an assignment or a match making program, but an attitude and a behavior. Mentorship is an intentional approach to life, and once you start to treat it as such, it

Chocolate and coffee. That's my love language. If you want to thank me, nothing beats dark chocolate, or an Ethiopian coffee bean (preferably of the Sidamo variety.) Financial incentives will get some traction, group recognition may get a smile, and most of my certificates/awards are buried in drawers or boxes somewhere. Chocolate and coffee is where it's at…for me. We need to know and understand how our teammates want to be thanked. One time I was in a large group at work, a

If you haven't experienced it yet, you will. A promotion, a new job, a scholarship, a relationship, a position or future opportunity that you knew was yours. You dreamt about it, you prepared for it, you believed in it, and then it didn’t come to fruition. It's a very specific feeling that we’ve all shared but when it happens, you feel strangely alone. Others can relate and have been through it before, they can see your pain or suffering but only you, in that moment, experien

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. When we get praised for our hard work, called out for our flat spots, and hopefully have your expectations laid out for the next year. This experience is different for everyone. For some fortunate people, your performance review is just the cherry on top of a year-long, ongoing conversation you’ve had with your manager. No surprises. For many others (and I’ll even go out on a limb and say “most” others), this is one of only a handful

I was recently listening to one of my mentors talk about why she applied for her first managerial position. She assumed that someone was already being groomed for the position and there were other candidates in the pool with more background, so she didn’t plan to throw her name in the ring. It wasn't until she was encouraged by a friend, who saw her strengths, and told her: "Hey, are you thinking of applying for that Assistant Department Manager role? I think you'd be really

Howdy friends! Over the years I've taken plenty from the LinkedIn community, and have not really done my part to give back :( So...I've deci