Knowing when to act…

“What if you did nothing for twenty-four hours?” said my friend Marla as I related to her an incident that had me close to coming undone.  Her calm advice couldn’t have been more foreign to me at that moment.  I was in a leadership role that I believed compelled me to act.  To address. To solve.  To direct.  What was this ‘stand down’ approach?  Could it possibly work? Continue reading…


Transition: Crafting an approach

“I wasn’t interested in leading a double life,” said AJ a former colleague of mine who co-founded Infuse, a not-for-profit entrepreneurship program for inner-city high school students in Silicon Valley.   Her dual risk arose because she works as a program manager at Infinera, a publicly traded optical networking company.   It’s easy to get inspired when speaking with AJ.   She is a bundle of energy and passion.  Aside from being enthused about her work at Infuse I’m fascinated by her dual dilemma ‘approach.’  Continue reading…


Valentine’s Day and Transition: A Common Link

It hit me yesterday as I was fielding a call from a former colleague who happens to be in transition.  She was reeling from what sounded to me as a normal twist in a job pursuit cycle.   Maybe you’ve seen this movie too.  You finally find a target company or role that is perfect for you but the cavernous void created by online recruiting puts obstacles in your way.  My friend’s plight was amplified by a heaping tablespoon of self-criticism.  Even if it wasn’t Valentine’s Day one might suggest that there were two answers for her; networking and chocolate. Continue reading…