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Ordinary People Taking Action
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My first job.4/2/2018 That first paying job. It’s exciting and scary, and so often, it begins to shape our attitudes around work. As a sophomore in high school, I took my first job as a stockperson for Nordstrom. I remember it clearly. My job was to clean out the dressing rooms, hang or fold all the clothes, and restock the items on the sales floor. My department, referred to as “Brass Plum”, sold clothing for teenage girls. It placed no limits on the number of items brought into the dressing room, a policy our customers seemed acutely aware of. It was not uncommon for me to face twenty, thirty or more clothing items, crumpled on the dressing room floor. “Oh, just leave them, someone else will put them away,” I’d hear the girls giggle. They were right, someone else would. And that someone else was me.
I worked hard in this job. I quickly realized that stocking dressing rooms was not for me, so I wanted nothing more than to prove that I could be a cashier, and then a salesperson. I wanted to advance so badly for two reasons. One, it would provide more customer interaction. Two, it was a way to contribute more to a company I loved working for. I felt that I truly mattered. As my new employee orientation made clear, people within Nordstrom cared deeply about the employees – at all levels. My onboarding taught me the following:
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Guest Post By: Jenna Powers
Director, HR at Amazon What would you do if you knew you would fail? You read that right. What would you do if you knew you would fail? This past weekend was the 22nd running of the Barkley Marathons, a 100 mile race in northeastern Tennessee that likely first reached those outside the ultra running world with the documentaries Where Dreams Go to Die and The Race That Eats Its Young. I won’t detail all the race quirks in this post (you can read more about it here); the most important thing to know is that this race is hard. Far more difficult than a standard 100 mile race, of which there are dozens in the US and globally every year. In 22 years, the Barkley has been completed just 18 times. Given the number of entrants each year (a process which is tightly controlled; the race is extremely difficult to get into), that means there is a 2.5% finishing rate. That means some years there are no finishers. 2018 was one of those years.
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I call bullshit.3/27/2018 Author: Joshua Miller New Book: I Call Bullshit: Live Your Life not Someone Else's Announcing Thinking People Consulting's first book club. Date: Monday, April 30, 2018 from 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PST Registration Information I hope this note finds you well! Wait, I take that back. I hope this finds you more than well. I hope you’re living a life that’s both fulfilling and full of joy because you’ve shaped it by making choices in tune with who you truly are as your most authentic self. Is that not the case? Are you actually doing things the way you think you should be doing them rather than how you want to be doing them? Guess what? You’re not alone—the bulk of your team is feeling that same nagging feeling of there has to be more than this, and they want answers.
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Who is your Wicket?3/26/2018 I know that not everyone is a dog lover. But for those who are, you know what I am talking about when I say that dogs just have a magical way of getting into your heart. This post is about a dog, recently named Wicket.
It’s a long story of how Wicket came to join our family, but I’ll give you the short version. A few months ago, interested in adopting a Pug, I left my contact info with a local animal shelter. Last week, they finally called to tell me that a Pug, approximately 7 years old, had been brought in. The dog had a severe eye infection that would require his eyes to be removed, was extremely skinny and had a major skin infection. He needed surgery immediately and was thought to have been overbred and neglected. The surgery went well, and two days later, he was up for adoption. Sarah from the shelter reminded me that he is an older, special needs dog. I left work immediately to meet the dog at the shelter.
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Lemon Trees and Human Potential.3/22/2018 Every Mother’s Day, my family asks for hints before they head out to shop for a gift. Last May, I let them know I wanted something a little different – a lemon tree. Why a lemon tree? Well, for starters, I am a huge lemon fan. Lemon blueberry cake is a top request on my birthday, and when I am in the mood for a sweeter drink, a lemon drop is my first choice. Lemonade on a summer day is a slice of heaven. Then there is lemon juice squeezed over a salad or piece of fish – delicious. Just the smell of lemon trees makes me happy. So, it was settled – I would ask for a lemon tree.
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Unknown impact of “weak links”3/20/2018 When I reflect on the impact of my network of friends and colleagues, I see an amazing tangle of connections that has led to outcomes no one could ever predict. Take my friend, Tony, for example. Tony and I met in junior high and attended high school and college together. I am not sure we saw each other as friends at the time, although we had overlapping friendships. It’s not that we didn’t like each other – we just never really knew each other.
Several years later, a post I made on Facebook motivated Tony to submit his resume for a job. Through our connection, he was invited for an interview and today, over seven years later, Tony is still with that same company. For the longest time, people who met Tony and I at work thought we were great, life-long friends. Although that wasn’t the case, it would be accurate to say that through the years, we became friends. Amy is my neighbor and I reached out to her over eight years ago to build me a website. I then referred her to my friend Kathy, whose website she also built. Several years later, I hired Amy again for support with an internal website at a non-profit I worked for. And, most recently, I hired Amy to design and build my current website. Through the years, people have assumed because we are neighbors and have worked together several times that we are great friends. And, as with Tony, I would say that through working together, we have become friends. The world is an interesting place when it comes to people we know – and don’t know – and kind of know.
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I have spent the last 10 years of my career interviewing, hiring, training, coaching and promoting millennials. I have spent just as long working with leadership teams, especially middle-managers and executives, on how to communicate with and support millennials. Yet, recently, the shift is turning – millennials are working their way into executive management positions. Yes, that is correct, millennials are at the tipping point where they are becoming the leaders.
Depending on sources, it’s said that millennials were born anywhere from around 1980 to the early 2000s. Some sources report the millennial span as 1976 – 2004. Doing the math, that means that some millennials are just tipping their 40s or late 30s – which aligns to enough experience to be entering the ranks of senior management.
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Are you the ASKER or the ASKED?3/16/2018 Friday Guest Post By: Kathy Clifford, Founding Director at Kathy Clifford Are those who ASK more successful in life?
Who are the Askers in your life? At your workplace? Last night, my 10-year-old daughter asked if we could go to the drugstore to look at eyebrow pencils. I said no, we are not going to the drugstore tonight - it's not a priority. Then 5 minutes later in the grocery store, she asked for potato chips. I said no…and then changed to okay, but…you can't have them tonight. Then back in the car, she asked again to turn right and go to the drugstore…pleeeeezzzz! I said, NO - we are not going there tonight. Give it a rest! And then I said, "but good for you to keep asking. You are a great asker and that is one of your signature strengths. Hang on to it! You will go far if you just keep asking". She doesn't take the "no" personally, she doesn't spend any time worrying about it, she just moves on and asks for the next thing she wants. Kaya is most definitely the asker.
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Coaching to Improve3/14/2018 I’m a mom of two middle-school-aged children who are both active with sports. My son plays basketball and soccer; my daughter is a dancer and cheerleader. Before settling into these activities, they both went through various years of trying different sports. My son, as it turned out, became a phenomenal baseball player in elementary school. Stay with me for a moment while I talk about his 7-year baseball career, and how I think it relates to the professional world.
It was spring 2009 when we registered Jake, then 5 years old, for his first team sport. Although he looked awesome in the baseball outfit, the baseball skills weren’t quite there. If memory serves, there might have been more playing in the dirt than playing baseball that season. We – really, he – stuck with it.
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The Gift of Feedback3/8/2018 In our front hallway closet sits a stack of seemingly unrelated items – this would be our re-gift pile. Gifts that either people have given us that we don’t fit or don’t like, or gag gifts from white elephant parties over the years. Next to the re-gift pile is the return pile – gifts that we have the intention of returning. The ones we fail to return often make their way over to the re-gift pile. Throughout the rest of the house, gifts are carefully placed. Placed on shelves for all to see. Placed in drawers to pull out when appropriate. Carefully hung in the bedroom closet or folded in the dresser. These gifts are used numerous times and often become some of my absolute favorite things. I’ve noticed throughout the years that my taste changes – that impacts the response to gifts. There are some classic items that I’ll never turn down, some trendy items that are quickly outdated, and things that I started out loving and then ended up not loving so much. Conversely, there are some gifts that I was unsure about at first but learned to like – or dare I say love. Years ago, I came across the recommendation that feedback should be considered a gift. At first it struck me as odd to think about it that way – especially unwanted or unasked for feedback and most definitely feedback that I didn’t agree with. How could that be a gift? |