Soft skills

Why and How to Manage Stress to Work and Live Better

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Two months ago, I was super stressed. Both my well-being and my work performance took a toll. I couldn’t rest well and kept waking up with headaches. Day and night, I found myself fretting about things I couldn’t control. I discovered many things at my new job that were suboptimal and outside my influence to change it. In life, we were anxious to move to a large space as we were busting at the seams in our 2 bedroom 1 bath with two growing girls. Working at home all day made the situation worse.  ...  read more

What are the Signs and Examples of Bad Leadership

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Last week, I shared 5 leadership examples and asked you to distinguish which ones are examples of bad leadership vs good leadership. If you haven’t tried it yet, I recommend doing that exercise first before reading any further.

Signs of Bad Leadership

Do you know the top signs of a bad leader? There are many, but here are four signs that are not as obvious.  ...  read more

Good Leadership vs Bad Leadership – Can You Tell the Difference?

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A senior leader once told me – A leader’s every action is an example! I looked at her puzzled. She clarified and said, “Every action a leader takes is an example of good leadership or bad leadership.”

Why is This Important

Being able to tell the difference is key for those who work for leaders as well of those who are leaders. For those who work for leaders today, being able to distinguish good leadership from bad leadership can determine your work happiness, your potential to learn from that leader, and your career trajectory in the current company. If you work for a bad leader and don’t know it, you can be unhappy at work and not realize that it may not be your fault but that of your leader who had set a toxic culture. You can develop bad habits early thinking your leader is a good example and perpetuate that example when you become a leader later.  ...  read more

What Did You Learn from 2020 – 3 Tough Lessons I Learned

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Happy New Year! Everyone wants to forget 2020; however I think it’s a year to remember. This has been the most memorable year in almost a century. Despite all the difficulties, I feel fortunate to have my family, health, and a better appreciation for the simple things in life.

While we all hope 2021 will be a better year, it is still unclear how long we will be in our current state or if we would ever go back to the way we were prior to March 2020. While I miss seeing my parents in person, traveling, and gathering with friends, I also gained much more time with my family and loved living a much simpler life with my husband and kids.  ...  read more

It’s My 7th Year, but I Really Didn’t Think I Would Finish Today

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With the pandemic raging, my hot chocolate 15K race today was virtual. I really thought about not doing it this year or reducing the distance. I had all the excuses in my head last night. 🙂

Excuses to Skip the Run

  • My friend who has always ran with me decided not to do it today. She was worried about her knees, which have been hurting
  • I haven’t trained for this 15K, although that has been the case for the last 6 years.
  • My left calf and ankle feel super tight from the last few weeks of moving. Yes, we moved apartments in San Francisco. It took 10 days of packing, unpacking and lots of standing and walking.
  • There won’t be a crowd! I love the energy of the other runners and that usually gave me the energy to finish this run.
  • There won’t be any water or marshmallow stations to reenergize during the run

I can go on with my list of excuses but you get the idea. On the other hand, I had some good reasons to do the run ...  read more

Impostor Syndrome – Definition and How to Use it To Your Benefit

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I had no idea what Imposter Syndrome was for many years. However I clearly remember feeling like a fraud when I graduated from college. Even though I graduated with honors in Electrical Engineering, I was convinced someone was going to find out that I didn’t know anything. What was worse was I took a strategic consulting job with McKinsey. What did I know about strategy or business? Nothing. I believed that I passed the case interviews only because I got help from a McKinsey associate on how to ace case interviews and I read the Mind of the Strategist.  ...  read more