Mindset shifts you won’t find in most leadership training — You may have had this experience: You started working at a corporate job as an individual contributor on a team. After years of getting “exceeds expectations” on your performance reviews, you’re finally promoted to manage a team of your own. “Finally!” you think, as you prepare for more responsibility, respect…

Try these exercises to gain a better understanding of the autistic experience — My oldest child is diagnosed autistic, I am late-identified autistic, and my youngest is coded for social communication challenges at school. I’m four years into advocating for my kids at school and one year into my own self-actualization journey, and I’ve learned that even when you are living an autistic…

Most people don’t realize how varied the field of marketing really is — even marketing professionals can get tunnel vision to their own roles in their own industries and miss the rise of new skills and industries popping up all over the place. From data and coding for a cause…

When I decided to work for myself, I’d just been laid off, was recovering from a traumatic divorce, and had just moved to a new state as a single mom. A few weeks later, the world closed down in the midst of a global pandemic. Which is to say it…

Why behavior is a critical part of effective communication — Effective communication is a cornerstone of emotional intelligence. But when it’s taught in a corporate setting, emotions usually have very little to do with it. Also regularly missing: cultural competency, empathy and neurodiversity. And while speaking clearly and listening well are wonderful and necessary, the most overlooked aspect when we’re…

Why emotional intelligence is the root of social progress — I came of age in the corporate world when diversity was just becoming a mainstream talking point. The conversations in those early days were about hiring quotas and employee resource groups for women and people of color. Eventually every salaried employee in America took a Harvard implicit bias test, and…

Three emotional intelligence skills for reviewers and reviewees — I have never had an annual performance review where my work product was criticized. I have, on the other hand, received lots of feedback on my personality. “Too loyal to your team.” “Inappropriately enthusiastic.” “Annoys others by coming up with the best idea too quickly.” Since I now realize all…

From corporate leader to burned out neurodivergent and how booze blurred the lines — One year ago today I was so mentally and emotionally burned out it made me sick. I’d been running on fumes for so long as a single mom in a pandemic — and for years before that — my essential systems were starting to fail. When my kids were with…

And what it will take to get them to stay — I’ve been talking to women about what’s been going on with them at work for the past two years. Women who you’d probably identify as the nice, great at their jobs, low-drama colleagues you feel safe around. That one boss you were a little protective about. The peer you were…