Have you ever taken a personality test? I am kinda obsessed with them, especially now that they are freely accessible. I think I probably took my first Myers-Briggs test when I was in college or maybe in my first job. I could never remember the results – mainly because all Read more…
I once observed a manager who claimed to subscribe to the philosophy of servant leadership. She had an admirable practice of meeting early-on with new team members about her philosophy and her preferred ways of working. She dropped the term servant leadership into those orientations and into hiring discussions as Read more…
Last week I was talking to a colleague about a job lead. In the course of the conversation, he used the term “golden handcuffs” to describe the perks of a job that he otherwise should have left. He said, “the place was a mess and wasn’t using my skills or Read more…
This month I am hobbling around on a walking boot. (Apparently I somehow tore a muscle in the bottom of my foot doing nothing more than walking the dog around the block.) I had plans to travel into NYC multiple times this month, and I was determined not to let Read more…
Earlier this week, I wrote about the Career Roadmap – a visual map of critical inflection points along an emerging or developing career path. As I worked through the pieces of the Career Roadmap with a colleague, we uncovered another early challenge might arise for folks as they are mapping Read more…
Last week Almavina Strategic Partners launched our first product – the Virtual Mentor. It is a set of free resources that are anchored in the “Career Roadmap.” But what is the Career Roadmap? I’m glad you asked! A few weeks ago I had lunch with a longtime friend and colleague. Read more…
For the final installment of the feedback series, it’s time to address the hardest kind – behavioral feedback. Giving feedback on another person’s actions or behaviors feels SO personal, and can be really difficult to do well. Especially if one generally likes to avoid conflict, it can feel easier to Read more…
Feedback is essential when you are doing something risky. Something brave. Something that challenges you. While receiving feedback in those situations can be scary, the absence of feedback in some ways feels much worse. In the first installment of this series, I wrote “anything is better than nothing.” This is Read more…
My writing process is something like this: I think of a topic I feel needs to be discussed, and then I write the subject line/title of the piece before I start writing. Weird? Maybe. I was thinking about this one experience I wanted to share with my readers and came Read more…
I’ve been thinking a lot about feedback lately. Behavioral feedback in relationships. Feedback on performance in the job search process. Feedback on work products (in all levels of school and at work). Today I’m kicking off a series on the importance of feedback with two (possibly) obvious statements and one Read more…