The events of this summer have moved me to my core. So I did what I do, I reached for my pen. Here’s an excerpt from my new book collaboration A Collective Breath. Dear White Christians, I love you, and God loves you; but He needs you to understand some things. I need you to understand some things: 1. It is not (insert the name of a Black person you know)’s responsibility to educate you on the history of [...]
In the spring of 2005, ten years into my career in oil and gas, I was given the opportunity to conduct an audit of an international location. I had traveled to several overseas locations, so I decided to pick a place I hadn't been. I connected with a manager, named Paul, assigned in Russia, and began discussing possible dates. Suddenly, the manager who was eager for me to join his audit team was transferred, and now the audit would need [...]
In today’s highly competitive, ever-changing marketplace, focusing attention on the fulfillment and well-being of your employees can seem like a luxury. The truth is you can’t afford not to. According to a recent CDC report, 200 million workdays are lost each year in the U.S, due to work-related stress, depression, or anxiety. This comes at a cost to employers of $17 to $44 billion a year. The bottom line is a happy team is more productive, uses fewer sick days, [...]
If you're like me, you realize that there are things in life that are beyond our control. Just a few weeks ago I arrived back home just in time to partner with my husband on our annual Team Malcolm fundraiser in our son’s memory. I had a whirlwind trip to lead a workshop in Anchorage, Alaska, connecting through Seattle to Portland, Oregon to deliver a keynote on resilience. Every word I spoke was from my personal experience and research on [...]
If you ask a room full of kids, what happens when we assume? They’ll all giggle and say "you make an ASS out of U and ME". That joke never gets old. But it’s really more than a joke, it’s a life principle! Recently, my youngest son got a job; this is a major milestone and one we were eager to support. Because he was saving up to get a car, he had to rely on us for transportation. [...]
Did you know that leading difficult people can actually be beneficial to you? We have all found times when we’ve had to lead difficult people. In retail or business operations, they can deliver poor customer service to your patrons. In project teams, they can slow down the progress of creativity. In any setting, they can drive you up the wall!
We’ve all been there. That point in a critical business project where the outlook appears grim. Even though you planned out the project, you engaged your stakeholders, and you analyzed what you thought were all the risks, but unforeseen challenges arose. As a project manager, it’s your job to rally your team. So, how do you accomplish that without appearing overly optimistic?
There is a lot of conversation on social media (and in coffee shops) about the latest Nike ad featuring Colin Kaepernick. Ours is a nation divided. Divided by ideals, when the mission of this country is clear...liberty and justice for all. The early settlers and founding fathers came to America fleeing persecution of their ideals, namely their freedom of religion. They established a nation of principles, the preamble states it clearly: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Our nation was founded on the principle of sacrificing for just beliefs. Of standing up (or sitting down) for what you believe in. And the recent Nike ad is promoting that ideal..."Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything". As a Christian, I can relate. Studying the early church is a history lesson in when the belief was justified, but the sacrifice was heavy. Lives and freedoms were lost...
Even the most disciplined people find times in their lives where they drift away from their goals. Life is consistently inconsistent, and it's those people who catch themselves before they drift too far off course that excel and achieve their goals. I especially notice this when it comes to health and wellness. Over the course of my adult life, I've participated in several 5k and half-marathon races. During the training seasons for those events, I have found myself laser focused [...]
When I was in college, I worked at a pet store in the mall, and I fell in love with a cute little chameleon. I wore my hair in a bun on top of my head at the time, and I would place him on my bun and he'd hold on while I walked around the store greeting customers (talk about your conversation starter). I got a kick out of placing him near my brown apron and watching him change [...]
