What I learnt from doing the work of others

Last month I read “How Women Rise” by Marshall Goldsmith and Sally Helgesen. The book starts with a story of how Goldsmith and Helgesen once did a conference together. Goldsmith didn't prepare much and was pretty disorganised but won everyone over with his charm and subject knowledge. Helgesen spent hours preparing and worrying about how she would come across. Towards the end of the conference, Goldsmith finds out that his flight leaves earlier than he thought it did (did I say he was disorganised?), rushes off and leaves Helgesen to close on her own - which completely throws her as it wasn't in her plan.

Self-improvement - your way

"5 tips for living your best life”, “lean in”, “self-improvement made easy”. The internet is full of tips, memes and headlines on being your best self - quite often aimed at women. But what if we don’t want to be on our A-game every day of the week? What if we are tired of putting 100% into everything, of striving, of feeling inadequate every time we see the latest 28-year-old entrepreneur profiled in HBR?

Getting unstuck, Career ProgressionSophisticated Cloud9 February 2022Goal setting, Ambition

How to self promote without feeling like you’re selling out

According to Tara Mohr in her book “Playing Big”, girls, in particular, learn at school to keep their heads down, do a good job, and assume their success will be noted. When success involves getting good marks in homework and exams, that works. But in the workplace, not everyone sees the good work we do. And with so many distractions for leaders at the moment, we need to work harder to make an impact.

How can you secure that promotion post COVID?

Getting promoted is not an easy task—it takes patience, tenacity, self-awareness, dedication - and probably some luck. Despite the pandemic, organisations in most sectors are still looking to promote. Still, a hiatus last year at the height of the COVID crisis is now leading to a "backlog" in the promotion pipeline. So what can you do to make sure your name is in the frame?

Why you may be holding back from success

When speaking to people about coaching, I often hear why they’re not ready for it just yet. Sometimes they have too much going on at home or work to focus on; sometimes, they’re not prepared to open themselves up to the level of self-awareness required; sometimes, what they actually need is therapy.

Getting unstuckSophisticated Cloud9 February 2022coaching, self-awareness, leadership development

Where does our self-worth come from?

Our self-worth is about how we value ourselves - whether we see ourselves as "worthy" - worthy of love, respect etc. I see self-esteem as being slightly different from self-worth. Self-worth gets to the very core of our being; self-esteem is the product of our self-worth - how we think and feel about ourselves based on how worthy we feel. Our self-esteem in turn then drives how we act and behave.

Getting unstuckSophisticated Cloud9 February 2022promotion, self-worth, self-awareness, confidence

How do you know when it's time to leave a job?

“Should I stay, or should I go?”. Yes, these are the words of a Clash song, but also words that many of us find ourselves saying when we’re not quite sure whether we should stay in our current role, or leave for pastures new.

Career ProgressionSophisticated Cloud8 February 2022staying in a role, leaving a role

How do you make an impact in a new role?

Last week two people mentioned the same book to me on the same day - “The First 90 days” by Michael D Watkins. One of them was a new coaching client, who was day two into a new job and was already wondering “what if they’ve hired the wrong person”?

Career ProgressionSophisticated Cloud8 February 2022Impact, career progression, visibility, confidence

Blog

Accreditation