The Heart of the Matter
The Heart of the Matter is a free newsletter for motivated professionals who want to create meaningful change in the modern workplace. Delivered to your inbox twice a month, this newsletter is designed to help you lead with greater clarity, confidence, and authenticity.
You are so lucky to be here.
“You are so lucky to be here.” The Founder spread his arms wide like Oprah as he welcomed my "class" of new hires to our prestigious real estate firm. Twenty-somethings squeezed into suits we couldn't afford, we were lined up in front of him to listen to his rags-to-riches story, which left us simultaneously inspired and intimidated. Other leaders echoed the same message: we were special because they’d chosen us. Learn to do as they did, and we’d succeed. We were desperate to prove we...
The Heart of the Matter: Let Wisdom Be Your Advantage
Resource Roundup: Your monthly mix of fuel for action and food for thought. "When you learn, teach. When you get, give." Maya Angelou Every December of my childhood, my parents held a holiday open house that stretched from noon until night. People would drive an hour just to be there, and without fail, friends of mine and of my brother would gravitate to the living room where my father sat in his chair. By late afternoon, they'd be clustered at his feet, drawn in by his warmth and genuine...
Do you know how to recognize wisdom?
Pay attention to who people seek out when problems get complicated. They're probably the wisest in the room. Nate stood apart from the credentialed experts at the executive search firm where I worked. We'd been brought in to diagnose why a client's hiring operation wasn’t working and to offer solutions. While the traditional consultants analyzed the client’s processes, Nate analyzed their people. He spent extra time with them, asking unexpected questions and noting the differences between the...
The Heart of the Matter: Make Your Anger Work For You
Resource Roundup: Your monthly mix of fuel for action and food for thought. “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” James Baldwin Last newsletter, I told you to get pissed off. Genuinely, righteously pissed off enough to confront whatever holds you back, stop waiting for permission or the perfect moment, and insist on recognition that matches your contributions. That struck a nerve. I heard from many of you with your own stories of being...
Sometimes the best career move is to let yourself get pissed off.
Sometimes the best career move is to let yourself get pissed off. If it's been over a year since they promised you that promotion, let's call it what it is: a lie. You keep a level head when things at work don’t go your way, but after months, or even years, of patience, what do you do when you still don’t see the progress you’ve earned? Lawrence, a senior manager I coached, spent eighteen months waiting for the director title his boss always promised would come in "just one more cycle."...
The Heart of the Matter: Six Questions to Move Beyond Self-Imposed Barriers
Resource Roundup: Your monthly mix of fuel for action and food for thought. “Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.” Rumi The biggest barriers to growth are usually the ones you've put there yourself. Think about it: How many of your limits are actually beliefs you’ve inherited from others or self-doubts that you've just accepted as truth? If you ever find yourself hesitating to pursue something meaningful or talking yourself...
The cost of playing it safe at work
One of my coaching clients has gotten really good at playing it safe. Project after project, he volunteers for the same, mostly operational tasks that are well within his wheelhouse. He’s reliable and valued for being so, but when his manager asked if he wanted to lead a new cross-functional strategic team, he immediately deflected: "I think Kiran would be better for that." He admitted to me later that he’d never really paused to imagine anything beyond his usual scope of work. A strategic...
The Heart of the Matter: Tools for the Globally Minded
Resource Roundup: Your monthly mix of fuel for action and food for thought. “Every profound innovation is based on an inward-bound journey, on going to a deeper place where knowing comes to the surface.” W. Brian Arthur Two executives attended the same conference, sat through the same sessions, and scribbled down the same wisdom and references. Both left feeling inspired. Weeks later, one of their teams was thriving while the other was falling apart. The first executive tried to redesign her...
You're qualified. You're smart. So why aren't they calling back?
She satisfied every criterion in the job description. Ten years managing cross-functional teams. An MBA from a top program. Strong technical skills. A referral from someone on the hiring committee. After her final interview, the feedback was diplomatic but unhelpful: "We decided to go with someone who brings a different perspective." "Ginny, I'm doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what," she emailed me late that night. She'd applied to nearly 150 jobs over six months, customizing...
The Heart of the Matter: May Roundup
Resource Roundup: Your monthly mix of fuel for action and food for thought. “If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution.” Steve Jobs The most profound leadership lessons come long before you encounter any formal training. Your earliest influences—parents, mentors, caretakers—demonstrate responses to difficulties that shape your leadership instincts, whether you consciously internalize them or not. In my last newsletter, I introduced you to my earliest leadership model:...
The Heart of the Matter is a free newsletter for motivated professionals who want to create meaningful change in the modern workplace. Delivered to your inbox twice a month, this newsletter is designed to help you lead with greater clarity, confidence, and authenticity.