A friend recently called me and said she was both thrilled and a little nervous to be invited back for her third interview for a job position she has wanted for over six months. She’s smart and talented, and has obviously done a lot of things right by advancing through two previous rounds of interviews.…
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Some days our inspiration comes from reminding ourselves that anytime we do something worth doing we will face resistance. One of the most important factors in success is something called grit – it’s a sort of mental toughness. It doesn’t matter if you were born with it; you can cultivate it. It’s more influential to…
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Questions are the secret sauce that lead to big and small successes in your career development. Asking questions can be a pivotal tool in accelerating your trajectory to achieve the impact, influence, and rewards you want. Questions ignite new paths of thinking, challenge assumptions, and encourage us to reach beyond what we think we already…
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At one time or another, every one of us will know the burn of working with someone who should be fired. These are co-workers who are lazy or unmotivated. They erode the culture through gossip or dishonesty. They complain instead of finding solutions. They refuse to learn and don’t take direction well. They have anger…
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My favorite moment on TV is on Friday nights when Jimmy Fallon writes hilarious thank you notes on The Tonight Show. ‘“Thank you, cotton candy,” Mr. Fallon scribbles on a correspondence card, “for making my grandmother’s hair look delicious.” Thank you, “bowling, for giving me an excuse to drink with somebody else’s shoes on.”’ –…
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“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, … ‘I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Those powerful words of wisdom were written by…
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It’s Commencement Season! You have friends or family who have achieved one huge goal and and are entering into the next big thing in their lives. Many of them will endure really dull commencement speeches. Others will hear powerful words they’ll never forget. I wish I could remember who gave the Commencement Speech or what…
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A savvy young woman who is an ad agency video producer recently told me her boss’s management style and stress was negatively impacting her work. We’ve all had “bad” boss experiences – someone who is difficult or ineffective – occasionally, even abusive. Maybe you have one now. A lot has been written about “toxic” people. …
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Shonda Rhimes recently challenged Dartmouth grads, “Dreams are for losers, be a doer not a dreamer – it’s hard work that makes things happen!” That sounds a bit harsh, but she got their attention! A lot of people get stuck not because they don’t dream – but because they don’t DO. Did you set audacious…
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The impactful people we admire from business leaders like Sheryl Sandberg and Oprah Winfrey, to social entrepreneurs like Chris Underwood, founder of Basic Needs, owe as much of their success to “doing the ordinary thing extraordinarily well” than daring to have a big idea. One day at a time, they made simple, ordinary choices that…
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