Author, public speaker, and coach for managers and leaders across the tech industry.
Blog Posts
Help Your Colleagues Take Real Time Off By Answering These Six Questions
Your colleagues need real, respected time off. After a time where we weren’t able to get away at all, disconnecting deserves to be treated as protected time. read more
Why 'bring solutions not problems' doesn’t work
Many years ago, when I asked a very grumpy direct report to “start bringing solutions, not just problems,” it did not go well. read more
How To Share Complex Company News With Your Team And Build Trust
There are a number of pitfalls leaders can fall into when organizational changes or world events start impacting our teams. By responding poorly, leaders will create a lot more strife down the line. So, when a fraught issue arises, how can we help our organization move forward in a way that actually builds rather than breaks trust? read more
How To Evaluate Your Leadership Impact On A Performance Review
Given that identifying visible, measurable progress in leadership work is a challenge, how can you evaluate your impact as a leader? And when it’s performance review season, how can you describe the impact of your work to your manager, human resources department and others who are evaluating you? read more
What to do when your employees are in crisis mode
Years ago, Paloma Medina—whose name you may be familiar with, since she’s the person who developed the BICEPS core needs acronym—taught me how to quickly spot when someone’s amygdala has been hijacked. Folks in fight-or-flight mode will commonly display one of these five forms of resistance: read more
The art of the tick tock doc
Let’s say you need to get a critical new message out to your team: like a teammate’s departure, or a significant change to the business strategy. It’s time to get familiar with the art of the communications plan: a step-by-step strategy for sharing new information throughout an organization. read more
Updated! The New Manager Care Package
In a year when celebrations have been very difficult to come by, I hope you’ll lend a little extra support to those you care about—with helpful management tools and some newly updated goodies. read more
We need to talk about your Q3 roadmap
As people complete their vaccination schedule, as the world around us continues to burn, and as the product roadmap chugs along, something’s gotta give. And I think it’s going to be your feature plans—because the humans behind them need time to recuperate. read more
What if you dread 1:1s with a direct report?
How I’ve improved my remote presentation setup
When I wrote Demystifying Public Speaking, I based nearly all of my research and advice around how to brace yourself for, and give, in-person presentations. And for the first three years of being a self-employed trainer and coach at Wherewithall, 90% of my presentations were in-person: at company offices, conferences, and meetups. read more