Many of us are simultaneously experiencing profound certainty and uncertainty. In our often black-and-white world, COVID19 has forced us to dance together in the gray. Feeling like you have two left feet? As we dance this new tango of COVID19 life--with all its boldness and drama--here’s what I offer you to dance it with grace. Or, in the words of Will Smith in the movie Hitch , to "keep it in the box" at the very least...
Read MoreIn Part I of Something Major’s Infertility Awareness Week series, Infertility & Working Motherhood, Stephanie Schwartz opens up about managing her three-year IVF journey in a demanding, high-visibility role.
Read MoreIn Part II of Something Major’s Infertility Awareness Week series, Infertility & Working Motherhood, Megan Stewart shares her story about miscarrying while negotiating for a new job and her secondary infertility journey.
Read MoreToday I was scheduled to lead a session on "Effective Self Care for Today's Women Leaders" at United Way's' Women's Leadership Summit. While the Summit has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, the need for self care has never been more acute in a COVID19 world. Here are six practical and effective tips for self care:
Read MoreThis week, school districts across the country announced that they were closing for weeks. Working parents represent an estimated one third of the US workforce and, as their kids stay home, it’s not just their problem: it’s everybody’s problem. Whether you’re a working parent or not, here are three things to watch as working families adapt to a new normal amidst COVID-19.
Read MoreCoronavirus is sweeping through the US and so are swift changes to corporate work life. As elbow taps replace handshakes, teams go remote, and work travel comes to a screeching halt, here's what I'm watching: will COVID-19 (finally) bust these 3 common workplace myths?
Read MorePeople hunger to make it rain in their work lives and not just financially--though that’s often part of the equation. They’re hungry to make the universe rain down on them with the clarity, skills, and opportunities they’ve been longing for to make their professional dreams their career reality. Even, and dare I say especially, at the senior-most levels of leadership. Here is a starter kit for making it rain in your work life, regardless of your sector, seniority, role or profession.
Read More“So where do men fit in?” … It’s a question I’ve been asked since I first hung out a shingle on Something Major a year ago. Even though I spend a significant amount of my time working with leaders and their teams on gender-neutral business competencies like business development, effective communication, and professional relationship building, I’ve been hearing this question even more frequently since I went full-time. Considering that a major focus of my executive coaching work is with women and mother executives, it’s not an unfair question. It’s just one that seems to get a lot of air time. Here’s my answer.
Read MoreToday the Federal Government announced it will shut down early in Washington, DC in anticipation of what--as a woman who grew up in north-- I would describe as a dusting of snow. As the call came in my from kids' school, my first reaction was honestly: ugh. It then got me wondering: in the go-go-go culture of the 21st century, have we lost the joy of a good snow day?
Read MoreLast year I asked myself: what would happen if I doubled-down on my strengths instead of solving for my weaknesses with my New Year’s (Anti) Resolution? It was transformational and it’s not a fluke—here’s why.
Read MoreDespite everything social science tells us should have happened to me, I defied the motherhood penalty—you can too.
Read MoreIt’s “company holiday party” season, which means… networking? Actually, yes. That’s because your company’s holiday party is a fantastic opportunity to speak with executives you don’t interact with everyday. In fact, it may even be the only night in an entire year that you’re in the same room as somebody you’ve been wanting to meet, so don’t miss an easy opportunity to connect. Here are five tips to network effectively—not awkwardly—at your company holiday party this year.
Read MoreEverything your parents taught you about talking to strangers is wrong--at least after the age of 18. Talking to strangers isn’t just “okay” when it comes to you professional development, it’s essential.
“It’s a bit counter-intuitive,” Jason Morgan explained in Forbes, “but in the workplace it is not the strong ties that can be the most beneficial, in fact, weak ties (acquaintances or people that you might not know that well) can be far more valuable.” That has certainly been my lived experience and here are three reasons you should embrace new opportunities to build new connections.
Read MoreWe typically wait for New Years to make a resolution but with the “back to school” rush and the changing of the leaves, everything about fall signals a season of change. As the Halloween displays go up at CVS and pumpkin spice lattes return to Starbucks, autumn is the perfect time to take stock of your personal and professional goals: enough the year has passed to make an effective assessment of your progress towards your goals and with 100 days left there is still time to actualize change. Here are five tips for “falling into fall” for your professional development.
Read MoreI found myself wondering: have my children actually been the greatest accelerator in achieving the career goals I set for myself in my 20s?
Read MoreTwo weeks ago my grandmother, Gloria Fishman, passed away peacefully in her sleep. A quiet end to her vibrant and dynamic life story. Gloria was always ahead of her time: a 90 year old woman with two Ivy League degrees when most women never even thought about college. A working mom when being one wasn’t easy or celebrated. Passionate about business when it was frowned upon and even quitting her secretarial job (the step that led her to teaching) because she just couldn’t stand working for men who she knew she was smarter than.
Read MoreIs it any surprise that when the US Women’s Soccer Team won the World Cup and went public with their battle for pay equity that it struck such a nerve? It’s the same story non-soccer-stars are living everyday: women are winning at work, making (literally) millions of dollars for their organizations, but they’re getting paid less. I don’t know about you, but I have bills to pay and financial dreams to achieve that just can’t wait that long. Here are six tips I recommend to understand and right-size your fair market value.
Read MoreCongratulations! You landed that job you really wanted: you rocked the interviews, edged out the competition, and negotiated a great salary. You’re excited to say “yes” and for good reason. Before you sign on the dotted line and put in your two weeks notice, review this checklist of six questions you’re forgetting to ask before saying “yes.”
Read More“Professional development” is a term that so many people talk about but which so few people get right. In theory, it’s the practice of upskilling yourself, closing your knowledge gaps, and exploring new challenges. In practice, however, it can often quickly devolve into something much more transactional. Something, in my experience, that looks like a checklist of things you need to accomplish or improve to secure that next raise or promotion. When you ditch the checklist, however, authentic professional development can be a powerful tool for developing confidence, inspiring creativity, and learning new skills. Here are three ways to reclaim authenticity in your pursuit of new challenges and to practice non-transactional professional development.
Read MoreI'm back from 10 days of PTO and I’m not just feeling refreshed: I have a level of clarity about my top priorities at work and at home (and how I want to manage those concurrently). It’s a level of clarity that I haven’t had since I came back from maternity leave 5 months ago and something I didn’t even realize I was missing. I also have fresh ideas for achieving my goals. As Memorial Day nears so does summer vacation season and it's not too late to carve out some time for yourself to recharge. Here are my five tips, accordingly, for rethinking your vacation time before summer comes and goes.
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