Graduation speakers, romantic comedies, and even our best friends from our freshman year of college have all, collectively, sold us a bill of goods. It turns out, you probably won’t get hit by Cupid’s arrow with “love at first sight,” either in your romantic or your work life. In fact, there’s strong evidence that most people are never going to find a great passion in life. Nope, most of us...

Why We Over-apologize Apologies, when warranted, are a sign of empathy in the workplace. But over-apologizing— or excessively saying sorry when you don’t need to — is a bad habit that can undermine your authority. More importantly, it hurts your self-esteem. Recently, there’s been a great deal of talk and controversy about women apologizing too often in the workplace. Research shows that women...

Avid gardeners know from experience that accelerating the growth of a tree…requires pruning it. To make it grow bigger, you have to cut it back. That counterintuitive principle also applies to professionals. If we want remarkable business growth, we need the courage to prune things back, our schedules, our projects, and our commitments. We must be willing to drop our dependency on some of the things we’ve a...

A substantial part of my work is helping people identify why they are unhappy at work and figure out what they need to do about it. The other end of that is helping them carry out their plans successfully. Although there are many ways to change someone’s experience inside of their current employment scenario, it’s not always possible to do that. There is a variety of reasons someone may decide to change: they de...

The global economy is in flux and the outlook for the future is not as rosy as it has been. Before the inevitable downturn occurs safeguard your career with these strategies. Be visible — in a good way! When I worked in outplacement a lot of very talented individuals were stunned to find themselves downsized out of a job. Afterall, they kept their heads down, did good work and didn’t cause any trouble. Why...

We can make every effort to be objective, rational, and open-minded when making decisions or contemplating new ideas, but there are several roadblocks that may get in the way. The first one is cognitive bias. We simply can’t escape its effects. I’ll give you an example. You’re presented with a new business opportunity. Naturally, you’ll look at the forecasts, the spreadsheets and the potential...

Does the thought of giving negative feedback to an employee make you want to call in sick? If so, a fear of conflict may get in your way. But you’re not doing anyone a favor by avoiding conflict. When problems go unaddressed or are swept under the rug, everyone suffers—including you. Avoiding conflict doesn’t just keep you from fulfilling your responsibilities, it also erodes your self-esteem. No one li...

As an executive joining a new organization, you are expected to achieve a higher level of productivity within the first few months with a lower learning curve than other employees. Executives must be ready to make an immediate contribution once they’ve accepted their job offer. You can achieve this by knowing everything you can about the organization, its culture, your team, your executive colleagues, and the Bo...

You’ve made your career a top priority. You strive for excellence and may have even made sacrifices to advance in the workplace. When life throws you a curveball, it can be challenging — and somewhat disorienting — to stay on track. Major life crises, like a family member being diagnosed with cancer, financial troubles or other life events can (rightfully) consume a lot of your time and attention. If yo...

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...