Skip to main content

It's been forever

And nothing significant has changed. Except, now I go back to Colgate to speak. And I'm terrified all over again, but now I'm swamped by this fear that I'm totally inadequate, balanced by my mother's encouragement to go with my head held high. She's written a book, and part of me feels drawn to call Jen and get it published. How come I never wrote my book?

Maybe I can help her "finish" hers.

But I'm talking about core values. And I'm thinking, but what kind of role model am I? OK, I've got thoughts about values and how to apply them, but I'm a coordinator...at 38 years old. Most of my classmates from Colgate are CEO's, WTF do I know about leadership? If they all got up in the middle of it, (if they showed up at all), and pointed at me and started laughing Carrie-style, I wouldn't blame them and I wouldn't telekinesis or Avada Kedavra because, they'd be right. I have nothing to offer but theory and speculation about something I've hardly exercised in a meaningful way. I might as well be their stunted peer. Them's the thoughts in my head. But I know better than to trust them, sometimes.

Grrr.

In practicality, I'll run my better thoughts by Tim and Maria. And then by some willing students who'll be there and maybe ask a couple of them to join me in talking about values and their impact on how we hold leadership, if only in theory.

We'll see.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

100 Lives in 2023

Legacy -- what I leave behind. Executive Function -- I just looked that up and have a lot more to learn about it. The concept struck me as core to this next chapter of my life that brings together all I've learned so far. Building ability to learn, resilience in the face of terror and disaster, being bendable and shaping while maintaining a spine, having a North Star -- a clear direction, a system of support, and an operating system. Getting regular feedback to dim the echo chamber effect. Regular cadence of reflection time. This is what's required in 2023 and beyond. Cal Newport is correct -- companies have put the full responsibility on each worker to determine how to orchestrate their lives. At the same time, we can work 24 hours--technology allows us to use the same device to wake up and learn what's happening halfway around the globe. Athletes have coaches who share best practices on what to do holistically step by step to optimize their performance on the court or f
Post a Comment
Read more

I make mistakes (and I bounce back)

I hate making mistakes.  I love my luxurious fantasy of perfection.  And today my humanity, my imperfection shone through fiery.  I hung in there and cleaned it up. I've learned, you just tell people you screwed up.  Say how you're going to fix it immediately, and how you're protecting it from happening going forward.  It matters little whether anybody else had anything to do with it.  Throw no one under the bus, however, you may want to bring them in on the effect the error had and get their buy in for the proactive solution for future transactions. Truth is, things move so fast that especially with transactional work, there are bound to be errors now and then.  The time it takes to be perfect would result in paralysis.  It's that magical balance between getting it done (and maybe having to beg forgiveness) and taking so long to deliver that by the time you do deliver, it's too late to be of any use (especially since you've now teed off your colleague by be
3 comments
Read more

Pamela Slim Rocks

Some of us thrive in corporations.  In fact, I'm actively looking forward to joining a company again soon, and contributing to the thriving HR group in their Talent Management (or Learning & Development) function. And, I think companies do incredible good with their profits.  Many theaters, school programs, foundations and other amazing institutions have been majority funded by the surplus revenue of the Fortune 500. I've been reading some interesting books by Gary Vaynerchuk, Tamara Erickson, Dan Schawbel and Pamela Slim. They all seem to get to this crucial point: work in the last couple years is a new deal. As individuals, we need to discover our personal brand, our unique value proposition, the problem we solve for others, and manage our careers. This applies whether we're in large companies, start-ups, or venturing on our own.  In this new world of work, those who fail to do this, are in danger of self-destructing their careers. We are all essentially driving
1 comment
Read more