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Language lightbulb
I was at a leadership conference a few weeks ago. It was specifically for women in the energy industry, but the nuggets of wisdom I took away are far wider-reaching. I was actually presenting at this conference. I wasn’t meant to be; I had originally signed on to moderate a panel, but when the panelist from my industry had to back out at the last minute, the organizer and I decided I could take that on. Now let’s just say that I dropped sciences and math as quickly as I could in high school. And while I did take one grade 13… Read more…
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Letting go
Last week, I let go of my wedding dress. A few years ago, I wrote a blog about the art of letting go. This was a bit different. In the throes of downsizing, I’ve been decluttering, visiting the dump regularly, selling and giving away excess pieces of furniture. Who knew you could collect so much stuff over 15 years and three children. Finally it was time to box up the contents of my hope chest. Yes, I have a hope chest – a relic from a time gone by when young ladies stitched household linens and stored them away until they married. One… Read more…
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New adventures at work
I’ve alluded to it in several blog posts, but late last month it became official. I’ve taken on a new position and while the potential amount of extra work that comes along with it is slightly terrifying, now that it’s real, I realize I’m excited about expanding my horizons. I’ve worked essentially for the same company for almost 10 years and any communicator will tell you that’s a long time. Admittedly, it’s felt like more than one firm during that time; it started as a crown corporation, was then bought by a public company (but kept very separate) and most… Read more…
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Filling the metaphorical bucket
A Facebook friend recently drew my attention to a New York times piece by David Brooks, who wrote about his moral bucket list. As I read the opening lines and paragraphs, a chord was struck. Brooks writes about meeting people who do valuable moral work and that despite achieving a reasonable level of success in his career, he hadn’t achieved the generosity of spirit he wanted to – resume virtues vs. eulogy virtues. Ding, ding, ding. Bells went off in my head. My own midlife crisis (and maybe this entire blog project) is born out of that same feeling – that I want to be… Read more…
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Time to make a mess
“When humans create,” he said, “it’s a messy process.” I didn’t really pay a lot of attention to those words last Sunday morning. I was more concerned, I admit, about the harmonies in the next piece of music we were to sing. Besides, I’m not so good at “messy”. As little girls, we’re taught that messy is bad. We are taught to sit nicely, speak politely and generally not be the whirling dervishes our brothers allowed to be. After all, boys will be boys, they tell us. And so it sticks. As a grown woman, I like things to be… Read more…
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Little things for the year ahead
I’m sure the “blogosphere” is full of new year’s posts today; full of people extolling their grand plans for the year that sits in front of us as unspoilt as freshly fallen snow. I could write one like that. But I won’t. I know better, from past experience, than to make grand pronouncements of all the things I hope I’ll be able to accomplish this year: the pounds I’ll shed (again!), the great works of charity I’ll accomplish, the calm, unharried professional I’ll be in the office every day, or the perfect parent my children will witness. Those hopes will vanish more… Read more…
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Things I’ve learned at work
They say you should never stop learning. When I look back at my career, I learned a lot of important lessons early on – and I continue to learn important lessons to this day. As a communicator, you work with senior managers – right up to the top of the house – early in your career. One of the best pieces of advice I was given early on was to never, ever, ever annoy the president’s assistant. Because she (and sadly, it still usually is a she) runs the world. While that may not technically be true, she does control…
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Dreaming up the next dream
As I wander through my 40s in what sometimes seems like an aimless fashion, I occasionally find myself feeling completely out of sorts. This malaise is difficult to understand, when so much is going on – and much of it is going so well – in my life. Busy is good, right? Yet focusing on all this busyness can make it hard to see very far into the future. To try and clear the fog from that vista, I’ve started carving out some “me” time in the last couple of years, when I can completely disconnect with my usual world.… Read more…
