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The Most Revealing Sentence a Leader Can Say
“Can recruiting send me three juniors for Project Delta?” I still remember sitting in a recruiting meeting when one partner said exactly that. Not because he needed people – but because of how he spoke about them. The sentence reminded me less of building a team than of ordering supplies. “I need three pallets of water in aisle four.” “I need three graduates for Project Delta.” Different words. The same structure. It made me wonder: When do people stop seeing individuals and start seeing headcount? The strange thing is this: I have never met a graduate who wanted to be treated as interchangeable. We all wanted someone to see us,…
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How do I decide what to do first?
From Anonymous Notes to Open Appreciation
Why it’s a good sign when your job feels boring
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From Anonymous Notes to Open Appreciation
It’s more than ten years ago. I can still see the conference room — too dark, too quiet. I had been asked to design the agenda for a department’s off-site. The leaders wanted to lift the mood, to spark something positive in a team that missed a personal touch. So I built a day full of rhythm and light: exercises on collaboration, time for feedback, moments of laughter in between. And at the end, I wanted to close with something small but meaningful — a gesture of appreciation. Each person would write a few kind words for another. A note to take home, a reminder that what we do matters.…
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Why it’s a good sign when your job feels boring
Starting a new job is exciting. Meeting new people, getting to know the tools and processes, learning about the industry and diving into unknown challenges. Every meeting and task requires concentration. The brain is on fire and one is wondering whether this job can ever be mastered. Time flies – and way too soon the day is over. This sensation usually keeps up for a few weeks or months – until a certain routine settles in. The key people are met, the main meetings are known, the content can be handled. You are still on a learning curve but it is not as steep as in the first weeks. You…
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The Hidden Cost of Reinventing Yourself
Your positive attitude is fake
Who is your heir?
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RoL – return on love
„Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return.“ The Bible, Ecclesiastes 11:1 The picture of shipping grain across the sea implies uncertainty. Back in the days, you couldn’t know whether your ship will reach it’s destination. You didn’t know whether the grain was still good when reaching the harbor; or if the goods were valuable at the market. After many weeks, your sailors would return and you would find out what you get in return – Spices? Salt? Fine linen? … or just some average payback? Despite the risk of not getting a return, people continued sending grain over the sea, trusting that…
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“I’m Not That Important.” Or Am I?
If you want a career, this is important
Do I need to leave my job to follow my dream?
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Who is your heir?
While doing a career we can be so focussed on our own success that we hardly think of the next generation. But this one-way-street thinking incorporates the risk of missing valuable support along your career journey. This support comes two-fold: first of all, you need people who fill in your position once you move on to your next step. And secondly, a hungry next generation pushes you to progress as it generates a healthy competition that ensures that you don’t become lazy (which you don’t want to become anyway). Ideally, this next generation is part of your network and wants to see you bloom as you want to see them…
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Your list of „Why not“ kills your career
Finding passion
How to start a consulting career in time of crisis
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Why should I even head for a career?
Whenever I ask women what ‚career‘ means to them, I hear ‚personal development‘, ‚having impact‘, ‚developing others‘ and further more. What is never a driver is ‚money‘, ‚power‘ or ’status‘. Interestingly, most coroporate careers offer exactly that: status, power and money. They are tightly connected to the hierarchy levels within the ranks. And ‚running through these ranks or ‚climbing the ladder‘ is the general definition of doing a career. As this system has been designed by men for men, it is no surprise that there are little incentives that are attractive for women. Unfortunately, a lot of women do not pursue a career because the immediate gratification seems irrelevant to…
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Leading by opening stages
How often do I have to call my mentee?
Get into first row!
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When silence kills your team spirit
I remember a team call that went horrible bad. For some reason the atmosphere already alternated from ignorance to arrogance of the participants and not one idea made it through the devastating critics of the outnumbered naysayers. As a result noone wanted to share any idea, thought or update. It hit climax when the boss asked an important question and noone of the management people in the call wanted to answer. The silence weighted heavier than any argument could have. I was reminded of this call when I recently went into another team call in which one team member ignored the question of the moderator. Even after offering three time…
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You can change the world today
Stop Trying to Make Yourself Smaller
Words have power
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Showing appreciation in virtual teams
In this podcast you get inspiration on how appreciation is perceived, how it looks like in a virtual team setting and what is relevant when appreciating people. Each section contains a coaching question. Take some time to reflect for yourself, how you want to appreciate your team based on the inout given in this episode.
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What social work on sunday morning at 6am taught me
It is early sunday morning. Cold. Dark. Rainy. The group of people meets to work together for a few hours for a social cause. ‚How is the energy level‘, the leader of the group asks and smiles into the tired faces. You can call a 5 on a 10 scale a good average. One person puts it quite nicely: „Now I am a 5, put I am here because I know that at the end of our session, I will be a 10.“ Four hours and a lot of work later, the group gathers for the wrap up. Everyone smiles and is happy. The work ran smoothly, there was time…
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My life is f***ed
How to start a consulting career in time of crisis
Your narrative determines success or failure – but differently what you expect
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Why focussing on your people will bring your business from good to great
„A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected“, is commonly quoted. In business, this principle of human behavior can bring companies, projects and teams from good to great. And as business leaders thirst for greatness, they are looking for techniques of how to trigger the apprecition-button of employees in order to get the result. But human beings only feel appreciated when they sense it is about them as an individual. We have quite precise antennas to determine whether someone likes us as an individual or only the contribution we can bring to the P&L. Therefore, it is true that people who feel appreciated will contribute…
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Revive your magic spell
Your list of „Why not“ kills your career
Why does my boss earn so much money?
