Dear Madeleine, I recently took a director level job with a huge Fortune 50 organization. I have been thrown into the deep end and I am worried about completely bombing out. I have had zero onboarding, so I am constantly making errors and spending tons of time backtracking and clearing things up. I am really…
Dear Madeleine, I am fairly new to managing a large team in the property management industry. I was a team member for a long time. One of the reasons I was promoted was because I was a work horse. I have a lot of energy and was used to putting in ten- and twelve-hour days…
Dear Madeleine, I recently interned at a company where my project charter was to “create a competency based interview process and standard operating process for talent acquisition.” My project guide, who is head of talent acquisition, asked me instead to create an interview evaluation sheet based on competencies that were already in place and a…
Dear Madeleine, I supervise five people in a global logistics company. I am three years out of school with an accounting degree, and I really like the job. Here’s my problem: My boss just came to me and asked if I can do a presentation to the senior leadership at their offsite retreat this summer. I…
Dear Madeleine, I work in HR in a small company and recently had to let someone go. The process is never pleasant—and to make matters a bit more complicated, the terminated employee was a bit of a gossip. Now that she is gone, many employees are upset and have been speculating out loud about the…
Dear Madeleine, I was hired five months ago by a local business. I had no experience in finance but my new boss assured me that he could teach me what I needed to know. Five months have gone by and my boss has just told me that he doesn’t have time to train me after…
For anyone who might have read my previous blog post, you’ll know I’ve been training for a 54-mile cycle ride from London down to the south coast of the UK, ending in Brighton. When I say training, I mean I’ve looked at the bike and bought a new pink cycling jersey. That’s about as far…
Grit is the ability to push through barriers and be extraordinary. It is part of what makes a person stand out from their peers. I’ve been reminded about the importance of grit twice within the last few weeks—first from a keynoter, Linda Kaplan Thaler, who is an expert on the topic and author of the…
Perhaps you got your New Manager position with the help of your boss. Perhaps you inherited a supportive boss when you got your job. Maybe your excellent boss arrived after you did. However you came to work with your “best” boss, losing that person rocks your world. When the stars line up perfectly, you have…
In a new column for Fast Company, Scott and Ken Blanchard share some of the best thinking from their recent leadership livecast on Doing Still More With Less where over 40 different thought leaders shared tips and strategies for getting work done during a time of limited resources. Feeling a little overworked and under-resourced yourself? …