Dear Madeleine, I am at a crossroads in my career. I am 63 years old and have held positions of plant manager and operations manager. I currently serve as director of operations at a company that offers overhead crane and hoist design, manufacturing, and maintenance services. My past has been challenging; I have reinvented myself…
Dear Madeleine, My boss is the Chief Revenue Officer for a billion-dollar, publicly traded company, and I am watching her melt down in real time. She has been in the job for two years and has made one spectacularly bad decision after another. Sales have tanked to an all-time low. I know for a fact…
Dear Madeleine, You have answered many questions about being a mentor—but as a young person in my first job, I wonder how I can find a mentor. How do I go about it? How do I know if someone is the right mentor for me? Once I find someone willing to mentor me, how do…
Dear Madeleine, I am a senior analyst at an insurance company. I want to start building my leadership influence. I know my position is not at manager level yet, but I think leadership can happen at all levels. I am also very young compared to my colleagues who are at the same level in the…
Dear Madeleine, I am really worried that my company is going to replace my entire team of graphic artists with AI. What can I say to people who have spent decades to get really good at their craft only to see themselves replaced by technology? I am literally losing sleep over this. I would appreciate…
Dear Madeleine, I manage an operations department for the headquarters of a large media company. I have six direct reports and about 70 workers who report to them. One of my direct reports recently left, and I was absolutely shocked at the things he told HR in his exit interview. He worked for me for…
Dear Madeleine, I am fairly new to the workforce. I have a degree in accounting and got a great job right out of college, working in the finance department. I’ve been in this job for almost two years now. I like the company, the products we make, my manager, and my work. My issue is…
Dear Madeleine, What advice can you provide about how one can develop more confidence as an aspiring leader? Aspiring _____________________________________________________________________ Dear Aspiring, This is such a great question. I have been thinking about it all week. The answer could be an entire book—and, in fact, there are countless books on the topic. But of all…
Dear Madeleine, I work for a national mortgage company and recently took over a team from a leader who had led it for 37 years. Every single person on the team is more experienced in the business of the team than I am. And every one of them is very disengaged because their former leader…
Dear Madeleine, I have been offered a promotion and need to make a recommendation for the team member who will be promoted into my job. I have one very likely candidate: my most promising employee. She is consistent with her deliverables and has led some projects for the team with great results. She gets along…