Radical empathy is the term I use to remind myself of the skill of employing empathy in the hardest circumstances. Empathy is about putting ourselves in someone else's shoes and imagining what it is like to be them within their circumstantial context. We may not naturally do this when that 'other' is on opposite sides of an issue from us.

When my daughter attended her first preschool, the almost- and barely-three-year-olds would, upon arrival, take a photo of themselves that had been glued to a magnet and place it in either the 'yes' or 'no' column to a question of the day.

I have this hypothesis that our strengths and our weaknesses are not two separate lists of characteristics. I believe what makes us ineffective — our true “weaknesses” — results from the misapplication of our strengths.

Meetings are a tricky topic to teach. My sense is that the advice I give sounds so simple and straightforward that it is underestimated in its power to make a huge difference. I’ll keep trying, though!

Last week, a client had a good question for me. They had been reading Stephen Covey's leadership classic, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and were wondering about the chapter titled "Think Win-Win". The concept made sense to them, but they were curious on my thoughts on how to actually get to win-win outcomes in a group with competing interests.

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, I spent Friday listlessly puttering around the house. My emotional state was a mix of despair at all the free unstructured time, as well as guilt; wasn't free time the thing I have been asking for?

It can be confusing and uncomfortable to wade through our negative feelings at work and come out the other side in a constructive way. But feelings have something important to tell us, if we can capture their wisdom and not let them derail us.

As I waited this week for the creative burst that usually comes in order to write to you, I eventually realized it wasn’t going to happen. My anxiety about the post-election drama is thwarting my creativity. I can feel how there is no room in my brain for new energy and ideas. So this post is about what I did instead.

I live for the 'ah ha' moments and new connections made in the intimacy of a one-on-one coaching conversation. I want to share a story from a session this week because I think it has broad value. Let's see if I can articulate it well, because when I'm in the moment with a client it feels so real and so important, but later it's often hard to put words to.

Last week I wrote about three important coaching skills, and mentioned it was important to know when you even should step into a coaching role with a direct report. Coaching is just one role you exercise as a manager; there are others of course.