Dear Madeleine, I am a fairly new manager for a giant tech company, with only one direct report. Over the last year our upper management has been consolidating departments and flattening things out. I am pretty sure my direct report and I are going to be either folded into another group or let go altogether.…
Dear Madeleine, I am 43. Two and a half years ago I needed to get back into working after nine years as a stay-at-home mom. It was slim pickings out there, but I was finally able to secure a job with a local chain restaurant as a marketing person. Today I feel I’ve outgrown the…
Because I have been in the coaching profession for so long, I am often asked for advice about becoming a coach, both as a full-time profession and as an additional skill set. In the case of leaders as well as learning and development professionals, it does seem like an awfully good skill set to have…
Dear Madeleine, I am a director in a global consumer goods company. I recently went through six months of coaching because my boss told me I was an excellent manager, but I needed to be more of leader. The coach did a 360° interview process and uncovered some areas that I needed to work on.…
Dear Madeleine, I am young game designer living in LA. I know I have talent and drive, and I have had some success. But there just doesn’t seem to be any hope for me because it is so clearly who you know, not what you know, that counts. I see peers getting opportunities I should…
Dear Madeleine, I am a VP of sales for a global software organization. I love my job, which is good because I work constantly and have for the past 25 years. It has been rewarding and I have saved enough to be able to think now about maybe slowing down. I have been discussing retirement…
If you are tired of hearing the word millennial thrown around, you can join me in my quest to quell the town criers. I must admit, I even added to this dialogue in the keynote presentation I recently gave on the topic. I think a more accurate characterization of this generational group is what I…
Dear Madeleine, I am an office manager for a mid-sized business. I really like my job and am well treated and decently paid. I am also a single mom of a son who is in eleventh grade. He and I are spending a lot of time planning for his college applications and I have been…
A tour of duty is not just for soldiers. Ben Casnocha, co-author of The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age, shares the idea that the phrase tour of duty can be a good way to look at an employer and employee relationship that has time-limited mutual commitments with focused goals and clear expectations that…
Dear Madeleine, I am a director (eighteen years with the organization) in an old, well established, multinational firm. I have actually worked with a coach who helped me become a better manager and expand my network. My boss—let’s call him Tom—has always been a fan of mine and has helped me to grow and develop.…