When I was working in the corporate arena years ago, I had the great misfortune of reporting to and working with a number of extremely toxic colleagues and managers whose behavior hurt me and was also a complete mystery to me. I couldn’t understand their raging, their defensiveness, they inability to be challenged or questioned, or their penchant for drumming people out who were not obsequious and total “yes&rdq...

I just happened to be walking past the TV not too long ago and saw the Today show’s third hour, the one where they deal with less serious topics. The anchors were talking about something they were doing all week, a “complaint cleanse.” Turns out, they were inspired by a social-media post from a poet. That poet, Cleo Wade, you might say, complained about complaining: “Complaints have no magic,”...

In the bygone era, prior to the late 1980s, life in corporate America was good. It was comfortable. Predictable. Secure. All you had to do was go to college (or not), get a job, work your way up, and then, 40 years later, retire with a full pension. By 1988, “downsizing” had come into favor as a quick way to boost both shareholder value and earnings per share. In 1993, IBM, which had previously never reduced it...

Aggressive people are hostile, adopting the “my way or the highway” stance. Passive people give up their power and are easily taken advantage of, which creates a surefire recipe for burnout and resentment. You want to be a happy medium—an assertive person and assertive communication. Assertive people seek out win-win scenarios and make their desires and beliefs known. Confident and assured, they approac...

One of the biggest factors I see impacting many people’s pursuit of their employment goals stems from making excuses for not getting things done on time — or, in some cases, ever. When asking someone why they didn’t carry out their objectives for the week, I’ve heard everything from the usual “my dog ate my homework” to “I couldn’t do it because I had to take my dead cat to th...

Friday, June 21, 2019, was the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere. It was the longest day and the shortest night of the year, and the beginning of summer. The summer solstice is honored in several cultures as the union between heaven and earth. As we emerge out of spring, where we were in a period of renewal, birthing new ideas, and shedding icy layers, we slowly grow into summer, a time of manifestation and ripenin...

As a recovering workaholic, I strive regularly to integrate life and career to honor my personal relationships and my professional ambition. My life often resembles a roller coaster with ups and downs of activity and never a steady balance. This reality check has allowed me to navigate the ultra-busy career times and offset them with precious down time for me. I’ll admit that in previous years, I have not taken al...

When the company taps you on the back, don’t look back. Think about what you need to do (and what not to do) to make yourself successful in your new role. If this scenario hasn’t happened to you, or not recently, it is surely something you dream about. You’re called in to the boss’s office for a meeting. There, you get the happy news that you’ve been tapped for a new role at your company, po...

A Sensitive Striver is a high achiever who is also more sensitive to their emotions, the world, and the behavior of those around them than most people. Sensitive Strivers are innately predisposed to process information more deeply than their less-sensitive peers. Because of this, they have a heightened stress response. They are highly attuned to their own emotions and the emotions of others. They can pick up on subtle chang...

What good is performance feedback if it occurs in isolation? It's just like the saying: 'If a tree falls in the woods...' “This is where it’s important to have a system that enables a company to join up performance feedback simply and in one place, where they can get a quick view of everything,” says Cheryl Johnson, chief human resources offer at payroll company Paylocity. Paylocity uses a propri...