Holiday Professionalism

A Happy Thanksgiving for US-readers if you celebrated this weekend. We are at the beginning of a holiday season. The holidays are not, contrary to common belief, a career development wasteland. In fact, December & January can be a powerful time. One of the types of career development actions we can take in December and January is to meaningfully connect with the people that matter in our professional life.

How

Consider how you can leverage these three types of connection opp…

I am in the process of onboarding a part-time executive assistant service and in support of that, this week I read a book by Michael Hyatt titled Your World-Class Assistant (Hiring, Training, and Leveraging an Executive Assistant). Each of us has key accountabilities that drive our success. These are our highest level priorities. And yet, we are buried in a wide array of work and personal tasks. It isn’t always clear which directly supports these priorities and which don’t.

More Time. More Impact…

Career management is not crisis management

I wanted to share with you an important lesson that I was reminded of from two full-process career transition clients that I started working with this week. If you want a career management definition, let's start with what it is NOT. You see, both of these clients, independently, communicated the same thing: If they could go back in time, they would have put more attention, while in the job, on their external profile, network, and relationship management…

Great Books on Professionalism

As a follow-up to my previous article on building a professional development reading habit, here's a selection of the 21 now 22 professional development books I've read (not including fiction and general interest non-fiction) so far this year.

Atomic Habits

Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear: At least 70% of our daily actions are done by habit. If you want to find ways to install good habits and get rid of bad habits, this is the book. Huge recommend.

What…

Do You Have a Growth-Oriented Daily Reading Habit?

The cumulative impact of reading about personal and professional growth-oriented subjects on a daily basis is one of the surest ways to expand as a professional and a human being. This year, I increased my professional development reading commitment: frequency (daily), quantity (shooting for 30 books) and breadth (outside of my comfort zone). For me, the results have been explosive including expanded self-awareness and effectiveness, increased un…

Employee Disengagement Common - Globe & Mail Interview

I did a lead interview a few years back on employee disengagement for Canada's national newspaper, the Globe & Mail. Is your job satisfaction low? Do you feel disengaged with your work? More to the point, if you think that you have a pattern of self-sabotaging your career or feel disengaged with your job, is to analyze the situation: Is it the job or is it you?

"Certainly a cause of disengagement could be bad times -- layoffs, continuous…

Start 2019 With Smart Action: Take the Free Career Management Assessment

Are you excited about what's possible for your professional life this year? Do you have a plan to grow? We are already into February and it is very normal to lose sight of those goals or ignore the power that a new 12-month cycle brings. I'm going to guess that as the New Year rolled over, you had one of three states:

(1) excitement about continued success and growth,

(2) resolution to figure out how to fix a bad or just so-so…

Are you excited by what's possible for your professional life this year? Do you have a plan to grow? It is very normal to lose sight of those goals, or ignore the power that a new 12-month cycle can bring us. I'm going to guess that as the New Year rolled over, you had one of three states:

(1) excitement about continued success and growth,

(2) resolution to figure out how to fix a bad or just so-so professional situation, or

(3) resignation/settling that you'll continue to coast or endure your pro…