Leadership Companion Blog

A boundary is not about telling another person what to do. It is about telling another person what YOU will do in the face of the other person’s continued unkind or undesirable behavior. While it is hard for most people to accept, we cannot control another’s behavior. What we can control is our own response when faced by someone’s behavior. Often when I talk about boundaries with others, I like to use a picture of a “No Trespassing” sign. We don’t walk around with a fence around us and a no trespassing sign on it. Instead, we need to use

Everyone I have ever talked to that is a leader has had to come face to face with their fears. I have had to as well. I want to share with you some of the techniques that I have used to face them. The first step is not to be in denial. You have fears even if you don’t readily acknowledge them. They sometimes take the form of that chatter in the back of your head that says you can’t do it. Fear is such a huge issue preventing people from becoming leaders. Here are some of the techniques I

I know a number of my clients have set the goal of being a better leader so they can be more successful. An important part of success in life is the ability to lead. It is important that we not only be able to lead others but be willing to lead ourselves. No one succeeds in life by simply following others. Sometimes we must strike a bold new path for ourselves. Being a good leader is more than being at the top of the organizational chart. Too often, we think that leadership means sounding and looking the part; however, the

Setting goals is one of the most commonly used training tools and even soft skill improvement tools. Goals can organize your focus and endeavors towards achieving a specific task. They also increase persistence and motivation for long-term training. Having a goal can help you find new learning strategies for developing your leadership prowess. Unfortunately, goals are all too often made incorrectly. If you are interested in setting some goals, or even reevaluating your current goals, follow these seven steps for proper goal setting. GET MY GOAL COMPANION 1. Define Your Goal Ask yourself these questions: What exactly do you want

The other day, I was scheduled for a meeting with an attorney who was interested in hiring me to coach her. She had sent me a note that she was overwhelmed by everything going on in her life and wanted my help. We picked a time that worked for both of us. When our scheduled time came, I logged in to zoom and she wasn’t there. Three minutes later, she logged on via phone and told me that she was late for a parent teacher association meeting at school and was waiting for her Uber to arrive. I suggested that

We’ve all been stuck in that place where things just don’t seem to go forward. We have trouble getting motivated and our goals seem either out of reach or too weak. In short, we are uninspired! Some self-improvement experts will tell you that you have to have a good attitude in order to improve your life. While I agree with this generally, it’s not always that easy. It’s hard to set aggressive goals and get inspired to achieve them when your mindset is not right. If your mind is not ready to embrace more exciting goals, then change will be

We’re in the thick of holiday season and I am hearing from a lot of clients how they are struggling to get everything done. GET MY GOAL COMPANION One even said she wished she had a 28-hour day so she could find time to rest. When she said this, another leader in the room said she had a secret to “slaying the day”.. She said you need to commit to going through the learning curve and then it will click and it will be second nature, freeing up your day. Here are the seven simple steps my client shared. 1.

A few months ago, I was coaching a woman who told me that she was having difficulty helping her team move forward, because one of the projects she was responsible for failed. Failed, as in, she and her team wasted millions of dollars and countless days trying to build their own software and missed a critical delivery date, so her company chose to invest in a pre-made product instead. The only thing salvageable from their toil was lessons learned. She very much felt the weight of this failure. That day, we coached through how to overcome failure. She agreed that

The unthankful heart… discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings! Henry Ward Beecher Hurtful memories can stifle your development and growth. I’ve coached a number of women who have left a toxic work environment and some are still trying to land another position so they can leave. Sometimes in the middle of a toxic workplace, we can pick up emotions that don’t reflect the leader we want to be. How, then, do we break through this insidious mental

I know we’ve all had days when everything seems to go against us. The days when we feel like we’re struggling to not let all the hard things crush us. I had one of those recently when a difficult personality wanted to ruin my day. I am glad that in one of those difficult moments, I remembered that I had a choice – I could fight back and meet that person with the same hate she was spewing into my life, or I could look at it from a different perspective. GET MY GOAL COMPANION I took a few minutes

Recently I was confronted with a leader who abdicated responsibility for the pain caused by a decision the group had made. GET MY GOAL COMPANION I went to talk with the leader of the group to point out that a decision was made and that others and myself were feeling hurt and left out. As the leader of this group has experience leading other groups, I thought there would be a recognition of the hurtful impact of the group’s decision; however, that didn’t happen. Instead, the more I repeated the message that the group’s actions had caused pain, the more

The unthankful heart… discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings! Henry Ward Beecher This is the time of year when we give thanks. It’s the time when we look around our lives and feel grateful for all that we have – our families, friends, and all of the love in our lives. We are grateful for the work that we do. We look to see the silver lining in all of our difficult situations, and feel grateful for

Is there a conversation you’ve been putting off? Is there a coworker or family member with whom you need to talk – but haven’t? With the holidays around the corner, maybe you’re even a little tense about navigating an office gathering or a family holiday party because you haven’t cleared the air with someone who will be in the room. GET MY VISION COMPANION I just helped a client walk through the difficult conversation framework. She had an issue that needed to be addressed; however, she knew her direct style would not serve her well this time. She told me

There are a lot of ways to have a greater sense of happiness in your life; one of the most powerful is by giving to others. Why does sharing happiness with others make you feel more pleased? GET MY GOAL COMPANION You minimize your own difficulties Centering on what you are able to do for people in need is a great way to put your own problems into linear perspective. After my stroke, I sometimes found myself wallowing in self-pity. Naturally, I was prone to amplify my own problems and thought that my problems were unbearable. Once I connected with

Maybe you are planning to start a new journey in your life right now, …something you have always wanted to do but never did before.  You might have also experienced failing to achieve your goals in the past, and now you’re probably asking what could have gone wrong. Those learning experiences have shed light on this phenomenon, and here are five of the known reasons why some people do not see their goals completely realized. GET MY GOAL COMPANION 1. Fear of taking risks These are part of every journey, employment, or activity. They may only differ on the degree

Being productive at work can be challenging. It can be hard to know where to start managing your time in ways that are conducive to your productivity. No matter who you are, it can be a struggle to understand how to structure your time effectively. No matter what you do for work, you need to be on point with how to manage your time. Here are five of the best ways that you can dramatically increase your productivity. GET MY VISION COMPANION 1. Turn Off All Distractions Every time an email pops up on your screen, every time your phone

The organization, Inspiring Girls International, has challenged women around the world to participate in a campaign called “This Little Girl Is Me”. I remember reading many amazing posts on LinkedIn last year; however, I was still battling to regain energy after my stroke and I didn’t have it in me to write about myself. This year is different. I truly see the gift of life and am ready to share more about me. This little girl grew up always longing to just fit in. On Guam, she stood out from day one as the largest baby in the hospital nursery.

Success is extremely subjective. What can seem like success to one person may mean something entirely different to another person. No matter what you consider to be successful, there are some habits that will help you get there. Today, I’m sharing five of those habits that I’ve seen in very successful women I coach. Not only are these habits extremely helpful in becoming successful at work and life, they are also easy to incorporate into your life – so easy, that you can start using them tomorrow if you want. GET MY GOAL COMPANION 1. Wake Up Earlier One of

I coach a lot of women who long to live authentically. Many of them can identify someone they know who seems to be very genuine and authentic and lives a very happy life. These women aspire to do so as well. Through my coaching, I’ve identified these four things that authentic people do that might help you live more authentically. GET MY GOAL COMPANION 1. They Are in Integrity With Their True Selves: Authentic people are genuine, real, and (mostly) in integrity with themselves. They don’t try to be someone they are not or please people they don’t know. They,

At some point or another, every woman has wondered if they are on the right track and if the work they are pouring their time and energy into is actually going to work out how they hope. The reality is that these fears and doubts are just part of rising up in leadership. As a woman, there will be times when you’re not sure that things will work out. It is in these moments that you need to be able to take a step back and look at the situation, and your thoughts, in a different way. Temporary setbacks and

As someone who prides herself on getting to inbox zero many Fridays, I was shocked when two women VPs in different coaching groups admitted recently to mass deleting their entire inboxes full of emails to get to inbox zero. The first woman told us that she wanted to share how she found freedom over the last month as she explained that her inbox usually hovered around 300 emails, but then travel started in earnest in the spring and suddenly she no longer had the energy to keep up with her inbox like she did pre-Covid. As a result, her inbox