A chemistry lesson for organizational development

I’ve been struggling to come up with a better term for generalists–you know, the people who develop a broad range of skills rather than dedicating their life to one very specific thing? People who specialize can be categorized as specialists, and I see no problem with that terminology–the name literally has the word “special” in …

Do you want to change things or run them?

In May I attended my aunt’s graduation from Smith College. The keynote speaker was Ai Jen Poo, a feminist and domestic workers advocate. She addressed the graduates and asked this, in reference to women taking powerful positions: “do you want to change things or run them?” It’s a simple question, but I think it really …

Giggle to guffaw: How laughter can transform work

2019 was off to a rough start at the office. We had some difficult transitions and every day seemed to open with a new emergency. One particularly stressful morning each of my colleagues entered the conference room and promptly burst into laughter. I stared at them completely straight-faced wearing a pair of ridiculous party glasses. …

Prolific lemon tree

Weeding Out Priorities

In the past I’ve prided myself on replying instantly to every request, but as social media has become more prevalent I find that each time I stop to reply to something it becomes more of a “if-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie” type situation. I’ll open my phone to check the weather forecast and notice that I have a text. …

a silhouetted woman doing yoga at sunset

Same challenge, new day

In a previous article I talked about embracing a beginner’s mindset. I thought about this approach again today when I attended a hot yoga class. The format of class is almost exactly the same each time: the temperature of the room, the length and order of the postures, even what the teacher says. The only …

a scene from a store with endless shelves of products next to a scene of a lone raspberry on a vine

Hoodwinked: More is not better

We’ve been duped. Here in America, we have been led to believe that more hours in a classroom will make our kids more successful; more profitable businesses will make our communities more prosperous; and buying more things will make us happier. It wasn’t just one person who told us these lies. It was societal shift …