“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein I treasure the moments in life when I meet someone or hear a keynote from a person who changes the way I think. Those moments are rare, but when they come, my world expands because of…
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I have never wanted to have a JOB. I even used to say that directly to my managers, which is not something I would recommend for others to do. Those conversations usually resulted in strange looks in my direction. Managers simply did not know how to respond to what sounded like an odd comment. I…
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“Fake it till you make it” is a common piece of advice people receive in business. They often hear it if they did not get a job they interviewed for or a promotion they so desperately wanted. The reason they are told so is because they are struggling with self-confidence or lack a strong executive…
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What do you think is the primary responsibility of a manager or a leader? Had you asked Frederick Taylor this question, he would have said planning workers’ activities and making sure the workers do exactly what they were told to do in the exact way they were trained to do it. That philosophy emerged over 100 years…
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When I read Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders: The Three Essential Principles You Need to Become an Extraordinary Leader by Rajeev Peshawaria in 2012, my children were still little. My daughter was in elementary school, and my son was in daycare. I was struggling to figure out how to work full-time and parent two small children.…
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If you have never seen Shawn Achor’s TED talk, The Happy Secret To Better Work, you should definitely watch it. It is my all-time favorite TED talk. It is funny, informative, and immensely insightful. It will make you question what you thought you knew about work and productivity. I am a huge fan of Shawn Achor’s…
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In the last post, I mentioned Dr. Hartwig’s TEDx talk and his advice to spend less time trying to find meaningful work and more time making work meaningful. This concept ties to an idea of job crafting that Rebecca Fraser-Thill, a psychology instructor at Bates College, discussed last year in an article she published in Forbes. In…
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Why are we on this elusive search for meaningful work? Was there ever a time when work used to be meaningful? If yes, then when, and how can we make work meaningful again? Dr. Hartwig, Professor of Communication, answered these questions in his insightful TEDx talk in 2015 when he discussed the intersection between work and meaningfulness.…
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Are money and meaningful work mutually exclusive? Do you have to choose one over the other? Money is a strange topic. People who get paid salaries never discuss money. It is not culturally acceptable in the U.S. to approach someone and ask them how much money they earn. Most companies protect the salary information as…
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I am an INFJ. Anyone familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator will recognize INFJ as one of the 16 personality types. “I” stands for introverted, “N” – intuitive, “F” – feeling, and “J” – judging. It is the least common personality type in the U.S. according to Truity. INFJs are energized by time alone (Introverted),…
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