Difficult situations

How to Keep Your Job During Massive Layoffs

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how to keep your job

Are you worried about keeping your job? Is your company announcing layoffs?  If so, you need to listen to the recording below.

It is my distinct pleasure to introduce a new Executive Author, Helena Light, to our site.  Helena has been a friend and neighbor of mine for the last 10+ years.  She is also the Partner and COO of a small start up company in the financial industry.  She has over 30 years of experience, and is one of the most humble, personable executives I have ever met.  I am truly blessed to have Helena in my life. ...  read more

Dealing with a Difficult Boss – Lynn Marie’s Story

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Dealing with a difficult boss is always a sensitive topic.  We don’t always know if we should say anything, or how we should go about addressing our issues with them.  This is why I am excited to introduce another candid conversation with one of our Executive Authors, Lynn Marie Auzenne.

In this recording, we discussed Lynn Marie’s first business job.  Her boss was mysteriously difficult, and we’ll see what she did in response: ...  read more

Soft Skills – How Nadia Handled Her Sudden Layoff

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candid-conversations

Being laid off is inevitable.  Almost everyone will experience it once in their career.  It is how you handle the layoff that will determine your career progression afterwards.  This is why it is so important to listen to this candid conversation I had with one of our Executive Authors, Nadia Drew. ...  read more

How Gloria Successfully Recovered from Not Getting Promoted

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not getting promoted

Not getting the promotion we were expecting can be devastating to our self-image.   I am here to tell you that you are not alone.  In fact, not getting promoted can happen to the best of us.  What is important is how you handle this unexpected news and what you do next to keep advancing in your career. ...  read more

Soft Skills – Note to Self: Shut Up and Take Action

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It is New Year’s Eve day.  I am supposed to be happy and excited.  Instead I wake up very agitated.  My mind is teeming with negative thoughts.  I have been sick for two weeks.  I feel behind.  I feel unaccomplished. I feel tired even though I just got a full night’s sleep.

Then I catch myself.  I realize that, because I have not done much for my soft skills blog lately, the voice in my head is scolding me.  Negative thoughts fill my mind.  I feel deflated.  These feelings had been building up for a few days already. I knew I had to do something to break this pattern.  Instead of letting my negative thoughts control me, I decided to go for a run and de-stress a little. ...  read more

How to Stand Up for Yourself Without Sounding Defensive

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stand up for yourself

How to stand up for yourself is an important topic for us to discuss if you want to succeed like an executive.  As we discussed before, success is about working smarter not harder.  You have to subtly self promote to build your reputation.

As part of self promotion, it’s critical that you stand up for yourself when others are talking about your work in a way that can negatively affect your reputation.  For example, not everyone plays fair office politics: a person may falsely accuse you of some wrong, or take credit for your work.  It is also possible that a misunderstanding or miscommunication resulted in someone pointing fingers at you.  It’s unfair, but this is the reality of the corporate world. ...  read more

3 Rules of Work by Albert Einstein

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albert einstein

Albert Einstein once said,

“Three rules of work:

  1. Out of clutter find simplicity;
  2. From discord find harmony; 
  3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”   

My husband shared this quote with me this morning.  While it seems so simple, there is so much wisdom in it.  Here is what each rule means to me:

Rule #1: Out of clutter find simplicity
This quote reminds me of my volunteer experience with Dr. Pete at his Zone Healing Center.  I have volunteered there for 4 years now as his office manager, working only 1-2 hour per week. ...  read more