This week, we got a call from a client who asked to meet immediately. He came into the office and said he was “freaked out” after a meeting with a key client. He explained that, as a consultant himself, he’d gone to meet with a client—an important and quite large corporate client—and the COO had implied there were concerns about a project he’d worked on for the company. He said that he’d been professional and open in the conversation, but…
As executive coaches, we often work with teams to help move an organization forward. Recently, in one of those team meetings, someone reported out about an activity that was taking 10-15 hours a week to complete, and bemoaned that the employee responsible for it simply didn’t have time for it anymore. People grumbled a little to hear that the employee was not keeping up with the activity, and then began to discuss who they could get to complete the activity…
Finding a good job takes time—but also an emotional investment. After an interview goes well, you usually get psyched up and imagine yourself being offered the position. But not everyone gets the job. The sad truth is that good candidates can get passed over. Sometimes you come really close… but ultimately the position goes to the other person. The process by which employers choose employees can leave us feeling confused and, when we aren’t hired, doubting our worth, our value,…
Over the past few years, one of our great privileges is running small groups for women in the process of claiming their power. Taking small steps consistently over time, these women make major changes in their lives and their world. This week, in one of these groups, one of the women talked about the surprising twists of this last year and seemed to almost feel apologetic for how difficult her life has been. Quite often, we see our clients…
One of the hardest things about being human is that sometimes life hits us with very powerful and very painful experiences—emotions that we can’t just ignore. Emotional pain is one of the great disrupters in life and in the workplace. Good leaders don’t ignore pain, but they don’t succumb to it either: they lead through it and they find ways to help others do the same. When confronted with pain, a good leader will acknowledge it and then determine the…
We have a friend who has one of the most beautiful kitchens we’ve ever seen. This kitchen has everything: amazing appliances, workstations, lighting, and amenities. It would make professional chefs drool and is truly an inspiring sight to behold. When talking about the kitchen, we asked, “Who’s the chef?” We know that our friend (let’s call her Sara) can barely heat soup and so we were curious about who was going to be using this amazing kitchen. Sara stated, “Well,…
We recently came upon some great research that describes the 5 habits that can derail a career. We thought this was a great list to help you as you lead and manage others. David Maxfield of VitalSmarts interviewed managers from different industries who identified the five top career killers they’ve witnessed in their employees: Being disorganized and unreliable. This person doesn’t spend the necessary amount of time planning, organizing, communicating, and coordinating with others. They fail to follow through on…
One of the biggest complaints we hear from people who are passionate about leading others to success is that they have trouble getting them engaged and on board with important decisions. We’re not just talking about your work team or organization, we’re also talking about your family, your friends, a board you’re a member of, etc. So today, we want to share with you 3 simple questions that you can ask that will engage people with the decision you’re considering…
We were so touched by your responses to our recent post, Broken. It’s powerful to realize that we’re all broken in life in many different ways and celebrating how we’ve put ourselves back together is an important part of honoring how our brokenness has contributed to who we are now. This week we want share with you a way to think about life’s challenges and the difference between those that get you closer to your internal beauty, and those that…
When Linda was in graduate school in psychology, she was influenced by an amazing family therapist, Cloé Madanes, who wrote an article on parenting that Linda found life-changing. The article talked about the fact that children deal with many rules from their parents and that those rules often change, making it extremely hard for kids to know what’s really important. Madanes suggested that parents need to land on 3-5 rules so that kids know what is expected of them, parents…
We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with leaders, teams, and individuals who are passionate about growing in their leadership and in their ability to create cultures of psychological safety and engagement.
Carpenter Smith Consulting is a Women Business Enterprise, Oregon Cert ID 7047.
