As I do more work with positive professional development and the idea of working from a place of opportunities, gratitude and learning, I've been doing some thinking about the roles that different people have played in my life. From a purely practical point of view, being aware of who has contributed to my professional growth is a way for me to tend to my network--thanking and doing things for the... Read more →

What I do first thing in the morning tends to set the tone for the rest of my day. Starting with my email inbox inevitably sets me up for a day of reacting to other people's agendas and unproductive "multi-tasking." When I begin my day with an hour spent on a high-impact project, though, things tend to flow more smoothly. I accomplish more and feel that sense of "flow" more... Read more →

I'm excited to announce that I'll be running a month-long Online Career Clarity Camp from October 10--November 7, 2011. Who Should Participate? I put this camp together for people who are ready to: Move from Career Certainty to Career Clarity--For people who recognize that there is no certainty when it comes to our careers, so we have to gain clarity about ourselves and our opportunities in order to embrace uncertainty.... Read more →

When I teach career workshops, one of the things we talk about is our values--what is important to us in our work and personal lives? Participants will often tell me that family and friends are at the top of their priority list, along with opportunities for growth and development and work that has an impact. We will discuss how important these values are to people and then I will ask... Read more →

In yesterday's post I described "good enough" syndrome. This is where we find that we're settling for many things in our lives that are OK, but not great. We are essentially making compromises in areas of our lives where we should be shooting for the stars. Today I'm going to share how you can start moving out of "good enough" into "great." Moving to Great How do you move from... Read more →

In my experience, most people are GREAT at settling for things in their lives and careers that are "good enough" Not terrible, but not great, either. The problem is, if your life is filled with all sorts of "good enough" things, there's no room left over for "great." Picture your life as a vase filled with stones. Each stone represents something about your life--your work, your relationships, your family, your... Read more →

Last week, Seth Godin published an insightful post on the original purpose for universal public education--to create compliant workers. One key line stood out for me, one that is worth each of us thinking about long and hard: If you do a job where someone tells you exactly what to do, they will find someone cheaper than you to do it. That "cheaper" alternative may be a person or a... Read more →

An interesting article this weekend in NY Magazine on the "bubble boys"--Silicon Valley programmers-- and their ethos of development. Silicon Valley, is the "last bastion of full employment," and I can't help feeling that this is partially because of how these companies and their entrepreneurial workers operate. I think that these ideas are instructive for us as individuals in our own professional development, as well as for organizations considering how... Read more →

Last week I posted on Herminia Ibarra's Working Identity, recommended to me by Catherine Lombardozzi. In her comment on that post, Catherine mentioned several questions that the book has raised for her that I think are fantastic food for thought in considering your ongoing professional development and possible career transitions, so I wanted to elevate those questions to a new post: What are all the possible identities I might have... Read more →

I am halfway through a book recommended to me by Catherine Lombardozzi called Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career, by Herminia Ibarra and it is really helping me recognize the role that experimentation and action plays in exploring new career roles and identities. It is also reminding me of how messy the process can be. Ibarra's premise is that while there's a place for self-assesment and understanding of... Read more →