Dear Ask Madeleine readers, It is coming up on one year since I started this column. On the occasion of the Thanksgiving holiday, I want to take a moment to thank you so very much for checking the Ask Madeleine post every Saturday. In my travels to conferences and gatherings, I have met a few…
Dear Madeleine, I run the Americas finance for a large global company. I am very good at my job and people give great feedback about working for me. Their only real complaint – and mine – is that the workload is crushing. We all work absurd hours and when we need to prepare for big…
Dear Madeleine, My boss is a total jerk. I don’t know how else to say it. He obviously doesn’t like me or respect me. The problem is, I really love my job. I am good at it and have great relationships with my direct reports. Nobody likes or respects my boss, who is the owner…
I’ve received various letters asking about the wisdom of taking personal time off when work is crazy busy. So in honor of July 4th—a very important holiday for those in the U.S. that falls, sadly, on a Saturday this year—I have decided to devote this week’s post to the issue of vacation time. (Spoiler alert:…
In the world of coaching, we’ve long practiced and shared the concepts of mindfulness with clients because we’ve seen and felt the results. Mindfulness as it’s practiced as a part of leadership development can take many forms, from something as simple as NOT multitasking or as intentional as active listening, or regulating self-talk. So, how…
When Ken Blanchard and Don Shula’s book Everyone’s A Coach was released, professional coaches took umbrage. Some among us thought Well, that’s just not true. Not everyone is a coach. But over the years, I have come to see that anyone who is in the business of helping and serving others really can benefit by…
Everyone finds themselves in a rut from time to time and the new year is a time to look ahead and refire! The takeaways from Ken Blanchard’s soon-to-be released new book, Refire! Don’t Retire: Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life, apply to work and life, and they can supercharge your new…
It’s the New Year, and I hope you’ll forgive one more post on resolutions—although this one might be a little different from what you expect. Because our topic is the well intentioned manager and the mistakes they make, what you aren’t going to hear from me is a lot of ideas on what you could…
To borrow from Pharrell Williams’ hit song “Happy:” It might seem crazy what I’m about to say… But I really don’t care if you’re happy at work. In fact, I think all the hype about happiness at work is a bit misguided. Now, before you blow up my Twitter feed with negative feedback or blast me…
At this hectic time of year—when the focus is on giving to others—it might be even more important to give yourself a gift to keep stress at bay. One of the best ways to do this is to set boundaries that allow you to refresh and recharge so you can better engage with others. The…