What’s Next?

It Got Personal. Editor’s Note: A number of folks have reached out to me asking why I haven’t written anything for the past several weeks. What a lovely comment to receive. I’m being missed. The truth is, I haven’t had anything that inspired me to write, and rather than just filling your mailbox, I thought […]

One ending, one beginning Sixteen years ago, I walked into my boss’s office for our regular Monday morning meeting and saw Sharon from HR sitting there. It took me about three seconds to realize what was happening. I had just finished laying off someone on my own team as part of a reduction in force,

On the Gifts on a Long Career I had a strange coincidence happen this week. First, I got a call from my bank. I’d recently left a positive comment about the service at my local branch, and the banker called to thank me. He told me they rarely, if ever, hear positive feedback. It was

It may not be what you think I’ve always believed in focusing on strengths. Build on what we do well. Get our weaknesses to a point where they’re not in the way, but don’t spend life trying to turn them into something they’re not. There are skills we are born with that we need to

The closing documents were almost 300 pages. When we signed them, we thought the hard part was over. Sheila and I took the documents to a restaurant on the 40th floor of a downtown building. We found a table by the window and ordered champagne before we even looked at the menu. We had just

The Conversation That Never Happened One morning, I came into the office and began sorting through the mail that had accumulated since the previous day. In the stack was an envelope from one of our staff members, a psychotherapist in the business Sheila and I had built. I opened it expecting something routine, but instead

A What’s Next Reflection I recently watched a video of Dan Pink asking AI to be brutally honest with him. He had it assess his blind spots, walk him through a personal SWOT analysis, and outline 90-day, one-year, and three-year plans. The feedback was direct. Some of it was uncomfortable. Some of it was accurate

Until It is Too Late Chantel did everything right. Strong performance. Solid relationships. The skills for the leadership role she wanted. So when her boss walked into her office with that look, she already knew. She didn’t get the promotion. His explanation was direct. “You’re highly qualified,” he said. “But you don’t have enough visibility.

When where you matter has changed I spoke with a longtime friend recently. We’ve known each other since third grade. It was his birthday, and we were catching up. At one point he said he had a negative critique of my writing. I prepared myself for what he was about to say. Then he said,

I haven’t written a What’s Next piece since early December. Not because I ran out of ideas, but because one question kept circling without settling. A recent Wall Street Journal article helped me name it. The problem no one warns you about in work, and work transitions, is not boredom or inactivity. It is the