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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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Is your boss a psychopath?
We all know colleagues, bosses or people in management positions who misuse their role to pressure others, act in aggressive ways or even disparage subordinates. Maybe we ourselves know the challenge of acting kind despite tight timelines, bad quality in contribution of team members and colleagues as well as sleep deprivation. But somewhere in that mix of ‚people being people’ there are some who seem to enjoy the misuse of the power that comes with their role. How can you tell with whom you are dealing? Let‘s start with a definition first. For simplification, let’s say there are 2 groups: There are normal people acting under pressure – resulting in…
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Why leading a few is harder than leading many
Attention: trap ahead!
This crisis kills my empathy
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Don’t consult your people for leadership
“What a shitty weather”, he complains while his car is fighting through wind and rain out of the city heading to this place in the middle of nowhere. The navigation system points to a spot along the lonely road. His assisstant had sent him the coordinates with the information to take a warm jacket. His boss requested him to come. Something about leadership – if he remembers correctly. But why on a Saturday? and why at this place? Through the fog, a parking lot unfolds. He reduces the speed and turns right. His colleagues are already there. Nice. Now he needs to spend a weekend with the same people he…
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Millennial? Don’t get hooked by this trait
I want that promotion. Now!
Finding passion
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Contradictory leadership skills
„What are the most important leadership skills?“, I challenge my team. Amongst several valid skills ‚empathy‘ and ‚resilience‘ come up. As we discuss what each one means to us, we are realizing that these two skills can become quite contradictory. But before we look deeper into that matter, let’s understand what each skill means. Empathy – n. the ability to imagine and understand the thoughts, perspective, and emotions of another person. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095750102;jsessionid=299D66408E0C979792F904B31354D677 We use empathy in client and staff meetings to understand the perspective of the other party. We comprehend or even feel the emotions of the other person. In consequence, we act according to the situation in the room.…
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Are you smarter than a 4-year-old?
Attention: trap ahead!
Your ugly ego kills your career
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You need to love the process over the result
„This project is hell“, my colleague concludes. Many months the whole team is working hard. Some meetings are okay, most of the meetings are hard – sarcasm raises to a peak to deal with the daily nonsense. A few years later, 50% of the team is still doing a career in consulting, and the other 50% went into a more regular job. If everybody was happy at this point, the decisions were fine. But unfortunately, the cap in learning curve and slower promotion cycles in a corporate position hit hard on the colleagues choosing this new path. As I have seen these pathways again and again, I was wondering what…
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Walking with purpose
Why I don’t want your advice
What is your superpower?
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How my mindset influences my skillset
“I am such a looser.” “Everyone else gets the tasks done – but I am again running detours.” “Of course, this bad luck happened to me. As always.” Do you know any of this negative self talk? If you ever say these sentences aloud, chances are high that your inner talk is filled with messages of self-doubt. Have you ever wondered why you think this way? Our brain is amazing: once we start thinking certain messages, our brain learns that we need this information and builds its network accordingly. It gives us quick access to certain thoughts until they become routines and we need less energy to access them. Unfortunately,…
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Use feedback to speak potential
Why should I even head for a career?
Wanna keep your job?
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Your detours write history
Every good storyline evolves around a person who needs to overcome challenges – a big loss, an unfortunate turn in life, a challenge too big to overcome alone. We get intrigued by those kind of stories and suffer with the main cast until the (happy) end. Yet, in our own lives, we are quite upset once even a single little step doesn’t work – the delayed promotion, the reduced bonus, the unfair feedback. In movies, we can acknowledge how obstacles strengthen the hero of the story. In our own lives, we cannot even accept a little hurdle. We feel that the missed chance to get to the one great university…
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Resilience through thankfulness
How to handle pressure
Your narrative determines success or failure – but differently what you expect
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Your passion is welcome at work
“Are my passions relevant for my job?” “What if Excel isn’t my hobby?” “What does it mean to bring my whole self to my workplace?” Maybe you are familiar with those questions. Since school we get taught that there are topics for which we are graded – and only these topics seem relevant for getting a job. Consequently, we devide our life in school and hobbies – and later in life in work and hobbies. Unfortunately, during this process we miss to find out which passions actually drive us. We somehow feel unfulfilled in our day-to-day job but we cannot articulate where the reason is. Hence, many people start questioning…
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Meaningful Team Calls – but how?
Contradictory leadership skills
Teambonding
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What should I do next?
„What should I do next?“, the applicant asks. „What does my CV need?“ Although I highly value that people want to get good degrees and the entry ticket into certain jobs, I am wondering whether these are the wise questions to ask!? Because ‚your CV‘ is a reflection of your life and the time you spent in certain tasks (job, univeristy, family). And I am wondering whether ‚someone‘ should tell you how to spend your life. And even if it might be smart to ask good mentors for advice, the question must be asked when you will stop asking ‚what does my CV need‘? What isn’t transparent to students and…
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Do I need to leave my job to follow my dream?
Why you need to defend your team culture
You need to love the process over the result
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Career (un)planned!?
Talking to business people, you realize quickly that most people have started their careers with some sort of plan. You can see it in their CVs, too: elite university, year abroad, the right internships But are these colleagues the most inspiring ones? When I recall the happiest and most inspiring leaders and colleagues, they all had one thing in common: some sort of unpredictability crossed their life that led them to their current position. They took their chances when they had the option: the musician who went into consulting; the consultant who took a sabbatical and biked through african countries; the doctor who started a career in business coaching. They…
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Leadership is a talent
Walking with purpose
Do you have ‘career DNA’?
