Let Them Pee on the Tree

deal with boss

When I worked at Deloitte, I had to write a lot of proposals (documents to sell consulting work).  I remember one time my team and I worked hard for a week to pull together a kick-a** proposal for a high tech company.  We worked late and came in early to create a good draft.  On Thursday evening, I finally had a chance to review the proposal with the Partner and Senior Manager. ...  read more

Don’t Be So Humble

i am amazing

On Sunday, I was hanging out with some friends, and one of them complimented me: “Wow, Lei, you have lost a lot of weight. You look amazing…” I felt pretty good, since I had been trying to lose the weight I gained from having a second child. However, I immediately replied, “Thanks, but I still have about 10 lbs. to go. It’s been a process, and this last 10 lbs. has been quite stubborn.” Afterwards, I thought, “Why did I say that? Instead of continuing to feel good, I immediately started focusing on what was not working for me, and re-directed the conversation to something less positive.” ...  read more

Communication Skills – 5 Tips to Increase Career Success

How-to-Improve-Communication-Skills

Communication skills are some of the most critical soft skills for achieving career success during a job search or in the workplace.  Improving your communication skills is a huge task, since business communication encompasses verbal and written exchanges, formal and informal styles of communication, along with one-on-one discussions and group talks. Obviously, then, this article is just a starting point. ...  read more

Managing Upwards – Always Take Care of Your “Monkeys”

In a separate article, I talked about a famous Harvard Business Review (HBR) article,  “Who’s Got the Monkey?”, and why an effective manager must let his team take care of the “Monkeys” (problems discovered during their work).  Today, I want to shift focus and talk about tips for the team members — How can you excel as an individual contributor and demonstrate that you are ready for a management position? ...  read more

Giving Constructive Feedback – 10 Tips

constructive-feedback

How to give constructive feedback is a great question to ask and an important soft skill to develop especially if you are now managing a team.  The abiliity for coach and mentor  well each of your team members is essentially to your and your team’s success.  To be a great team leader, you need to be able to provide constructive feedback that meets two objectives ...  read more

How to Break into a Managerial Role – Part 2

Previously, we discussed the first part of this real life situation that Jessica is experiencing.  Today, we will finish this topic on how to break into a managerial role with a follow up discussion I had with Jessica a few weeks later.  Here is her follow up email updating me on her situation and some new challenges she is facing. ...  read more

Overwhelmed with Data – 7 Tips on How to Deal

overwhelmed at work

Member Question: Overwhelmed with Data

I am getting my MBA from the University of Chicago, and I am doing a summer internship at a start up. I have to deliver a final Marketing Plan in 2 weeks, and I am overwhelmed with data. I collected a lot of data and I am trying to write a draft now, but I feel like I will never finish. I have 10 sections in the Marketing Plan, and it’s 12 pages long so far; just for one section, I am listing 15 options with pros and cons. I still have a lot more data in various files everywhere. I feel like I need to organize them all, but that I will run out of time. What should I do to get it all done? ...  read more