Real stories

How to Deal with Office Politics – 5 Tips

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how to handle office politics

“Office Politics” is often thought as a nasty phrase – something to avoid, but the fact of the matter is as long as you work with other people in a company, office politics exist.   See my article on “Should I leverage Office Politics to Further My Career” to understand more.

How you deal with office politics can have a great impact on your job success at a company.   Early in my career, I was burnt by office politics.  In my first job at McKinsey I was blamed for something I didn’t do, and ended up with a bad project review.  The Manager who blamed me was up for promotion and had great relationships with key partners in the office. He needed a scapegoat for a major client complaint.  I was an easy target as I was junior, and no one knew enough about my work.  I protested; but without concrete evidence, his words meant more than mine. ...  read more

Coaching Call Recording – How to Lead Effective Meetings

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how to lead effective meetings

More than 50% of work hours is filled by meetings. The percentage is even higher if you are more senior in your role and you work for a big organization. Being able to lead effective meetings can have a profound impact on your productivity and on your reputation and the types of relationship you can build.  ...  read more

I Have Been Crying a Lot and It’s Okay

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I have probably cried at least once a week since March 13, the first day of our voluntary “Shelter in Place.” It always happens unexpectedly. The first time was when my 8 year old showed me her first eLearning homework. She wrote about the “3 good things” from the weekend. It was simple and lovely. As soon as she left the room, I cried uncontrollably. I didn’t even know why. I think it was because  ...  read more

7 Unexpected Blessings from “Sheltering in Place”

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How are you doing with “Sheltering in Place”?  It’s day 48 for our family. Believe or not, I am starting to like it. We have developed a mentality to be thankful for what we have and a routine that maximizes our social distancing and cleanliness

  • We still go out but not everyday – My kids have been unusually happy just to hang at home; My husband do most of the grocery shopping and I look forward to my run outside by the water as well as our weekly farmer’s market on Saturaday. Once in awhile, we bring our kids out to play soccer or frisbee at the park.
  • We don’t bring outside clothes indoors – We put everything we wear outside on our balcony includes dipping our shoe soles in bleach water. We clean everything we bring back from shopping with either bleach or food wash and put it all in our own containers
  • We meet all family and friends virtually or outside at a distance – We contemplated visiting our neighbors whose routines are even more stringent than ours. They politely refused, which is very understandable. We also decided for now, visiting others who have less stringent routines is just not worth the risk.

While I still worry about the threat of coronavirus and absolute chaos created by our own government leaders, I know the best I can do in Nov is to make sure everyone we know votes and for now just live a simple and content day to day life. I practice gratefulness everyday both in my mind as well as when I speak to my family and friends. I discovered 7 unexpected blessings from “sheltering in place” ...  read more

Going on Maternity-Leave – How to Build My Work Reputation

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Just because you are going on maternity leave, doesn’t mean you are okay to be forgotten related to your accomplishments for the year. It is still important for you to remind others what you have done prior to leaving. It is also possible for you to do this even when the important project you are leading won’t be finished yet. But how do you do it tactfully? ...  read more

How to Handle a Difficult Situation as a New Manager

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New manager

A member asked me this question recently and agreed that I can share. Let’s call this member – Alex. I really appreciated how much detail Alex shared in his questions. I was able to better guide him toward how to best resolve this difficult situation as a result. Here is Alex’s situation and our email exchanges. Thank you Alex for agreeing to share this. ...  read more

It’s Time to Re-evaluate Your Priorities – Ask Yourself 4 Questions

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I received shocking news last week. I found out a dear friend and colleague was diagnosed with aggressive spine cancer. It was a complete surprise to him and his wife. I couldn’t believe it until I confirmed it with “Henry” directly.

Henry just retired and is only in his sixties. He is one of the most positive people I have ever met. Underneath an initial tough exterior, Henry is like “Grandpa Santa Claus” – he laughs with his belly; he gives great hugs, and he can stay calm under the most stressful circumstances. ...  read more