In my career, I’ve been lucky. Call it the right place. The right time. Fate. Chance. Who knows. But I’ve been blessed with five extraordinary mentors. Not just one – five. They each have completely different jobs and personalities, but [...]
In my work, I meet a lot of people who feel stuck somehow. Stuck in jobs that don’t feel remotely meaningful. Stuck in reactive, compulsive behaviors that damage relationships. Stuck in comparison traps that trigger feelings of insecurity and unworthiness. [...]
It seems this post is overdue. For years I’ve been touting “mindful leadership” as the intersection of career advancement and personal fulfillment – and yet a lot of folks have no idea what I’m talking about. I’ve heard you – [...]
As someone who teaches emotional control, I have to admit it was embarrassing to be hiding out in an Embassy Suites bathroom trying to pull myself together. Especially since just moments earlier I had breezily walked onstage in front of [...]
Yesterday I hosted a webinar called Authentic Power: Cultivating the Six Pillars of Presence. Here’s the replay if you’d like to check it out. In the training, I spoke about the fact that authentic power isn’t something we have to [...]
I often tell my seminar audiences that nothing riles us up faster than perceived disrespect. I see this so often it would be comical were it not for how quickly our perceptions can morph into all-out drama. Take this IM [...]
When you write a book about women dominating in business, a funny thing happens. People call your bluff. And so they begin to rise up and put mics in your face and say things like, “Um, that’s nice and all, but women [...]
The other day I received a message with the subject line “I stopped chasing the rabbit.” It was from a young woman who had emailed me back in January for advice on ramping up her leadership presence in the hopes [...]
When I was in college, I fell for an Englishman. We had one of those relationships where we didn’t see each other much, but when we did it was epic. Long dinners in London. Dancing all night in Brighton. Camping [...]
By now I’m sure you’ve heard of the 200+ schoolgirls who were kidnapped in Nigeria. Like so many others, I’ve been deeply affected by this story and – as usually happens – I find myself swimming through a mixture of [...]
In my group coaching sessions, I ask participants to keep a worksheet called Where Are Your Thoughts? It’s a quadrant where each box is labeled either past, future, emotional, or strategic, and every time members “catch” themselves in one of [...]
What is it that you really want for yourself? What is it that you wish for every year when you’re blowing out birthday candles and how close are you to actually getting it? Do you think about how much better your life would be if [...]
On Wednesday my mother had a mastectomy. Knowing her recovery process would be long and somewhat lonely, I invited her to my house for a bit of post-surgery peace and quiet. By Wednesday evening, everything was going according to plan. [...]
This week I hosted a webinar for a group of 1,000 executives. Since many were new to mindful leadership, I decided to go heavy on the self-awareness piece, which is the heart and soul of this practice. Naturally, this meant [...]
In 2011 I went to a conference where I was hoping to snag an interview with one of the keynote speakers. For reasons that will become obvious in a moment, I won’t give you her name but – suffice it [...]
Two years ago I wrote about a former boss who casually mentioned after a work dinner that he had been away from home for 16 nights in a row. 16. nights. in. a. row. In the highest echelons of business, this [...]
If you work hard you should expect success, right? But what if success doesn’t come fast enough? I mean, what if you’re burning the candle at both ends and STILL feel lapped by others? This describes the first 13 years [...]
Obviously, this is a question we don’t like to think about. It’s dark. Scary. And it forces us to examine our lives in hard, often painful, ways. But it’s also an extremely clarifying question – if we allow it – [...]
Today I have a special treat for you. Janice Marturano is a rock star in mindful leadership. She is credited as being the first to bring mindfulness into the corporate space during her tenure as vice president of General Mills. [...]
The fear of public speaking is well-known. In some studies it ranks above the fear of death, prompting Jerry Seinfeld to joke once that it’s better to be in the casket at funerals than delivering the eulogy. Since presentations are [...]
Last night my mother told me she has breast cancer. If you’ve ever been in a situation like this, you’ll recognize the flood of emotions that hit you all at once. Sadness. Guilt. Anger. Future tripping. Regret. The initial shock [...]
This is the view from my living room window. Looks beautiful, I know. White. Fluffy. It’s the kind of snow that belongs in a painting. The kind that makes me want to curl up with my kids and share a [...]
It’s been said that chasing success is like chasing a rabbit. The more you run after it, the more it runs away. How do you catch the rabbit, you ask? Easy. You make it come to you. Well, except that’s [...]
A while back I was having a jam session on mindfulness topics with my friend and Ready To Lead co-facilitator Debra Hickok. Debra is a gem. She is the founder of Featherstone Personal and Professional Coaching and has had clients [...]
Years ago psychologist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Carl Rogers was speaking to a group of college students. “Who among you,” he said, “are going to be the great engineers?” Silence. “Who among you are going to be the great [...]
As you may have heard, a hazardous chemical was leaked into a river in Charleston, West Virginia last week – poisoning the water supply for 300,000 residents. What you may not know is that I am one of them. And [...]
Some people think the benefit of mindfulness is that it enables you to avoid the far edge of emotions like anger or frustration. Not true. As human beings, these feelings are hardwired in us for a reason – the problem [...]
Twelve years ago my then-fiancé (now husband) was transferred to South Carolina. This of course meant I was being transferred too. It was a tough move away from family, friends, and a job I loved, but the impact was softened [...]
It’s the end of the year and so, by tradition, it’s time for news outlets to break out the lists. This one, 10 Women Who Shaped 2013, caught my attention – not because of who made it (as all are [...]
As I write, it’s 3:31am and I’m sitting in my kitchen with a freshly-brewed cup of coffee. This is not normal, but I can’t sleep. Then again, maybe it is normal. If 47% of adult Americans say stress wakes them [...]
