As Dave Chappelle taught us, sometimes keeping it real can go wrong. But we don’t all have to be like Vernon Franklin. Keeping it real can pay off, too. When I was 25 years old and three years into my corporate career, I found myself invited to speak with the top brass at the company.…
August is here! For me, that’s a signal summer is getting close to winding down and – because I live in Texas – it means we can finally consider going outside and enjoying summer for the first time. Seriously. It’s been 110 with humidity for what seems like eternity. It’s been a nightmare for my…
Hi everyone! Hopefully you’ve had an amazing start to SPRING! (I’m capitalizing it because I’m shouting the word repeatedly at the moment.) We’re finally into May and perhaps closer to putting our April winter behind us. April took me through parts of Canada and the Midwest (Illinois, Iowa, Missouri) and I don’t recall the last…
“What in the heck did I just get myself into?” That’s what I kept asking myself a few weeks ago, and I couldn’t shake the feeling I had made a huge mistake. I was standing in a small room about the size of my old college dorm room, staring at 16 complete strangers as they…
Reflections from Middle Management Managing how others perceive you and ensuring you’ve got a positive brand sucks, but unfortunately, you don’t get the option to act like perception doesn’t exist Last month, we spent some time talking about how others’ perception of you can influence the performance review conversation in the workplace. As promised, I…
Reflections from Middle Management Hi everybody! And welcome to the start of fall! Football has returned to TV, pumpkin spice lattes are back to being the official “Drink of America,” and the kids are fully back into the swing of school while parents adjust to the new school year schedule. It’s an awesome time of…
Hi everyone! It’s April – which means hopefully nobody fell for an April Fool’s jokes this year. It’s a running tradition in my family to try and trick my Dad, who mysteriously continues to fall for something each year despite marking it on his calendar. One year I called him at 2:00am to tell him…
It’s easily my favorite time of the year. No, I’m not talking about building an invincible snowman army (which is surprisingly difficult to do in Texas) or even failing to keep all those New Year’s resolutions I had no intention of sticking to in the first place. I’m talking about performance review time! Who doesn’t…
Greetings everyone! The new year is finally upon us! As I wrote about last year, we’re about to embark on (or maybe you’re already dead-smack in the middle of) performance review time! This time of year often coincides with a significant increase in general malaise. In fact, studies have shown workplace illness rises approximately 45%…