Dear Madeleine, I have a long-time employee who is very smart, understands his job, and gets things done. He manages a small but powerful team of individual contributors and his people really like and respect him. We recently invited him to join an elite group in the company to do visioning and strategy work. It…
Dear Madeleine, What should I do about all of the requests I get from people who want to “pick my brain” or schedule an informational interview? My friends’ kids are all reaching the age where they are getting serious about having lucrative careers and satisfying jobs, and they’re all following the advice they’re getting to…
Dear Madeleine, How do you guide a recent graduate—someone new to the work world—to not be so confident of his own work? How do you convince him to check his work, question his solutions, and search for the best answer instead of the first one? I don’t want to tear down anyone’s confidence, but this…
Managers who understand how to conduct useful management, coaching, and mentoring conversations can address the needs of their employees quickly and effectively. The challenge is knowing when each conversation is most appropriate. Without clear distinctions it is easy for these conversations to blend together and overlap. And once that happens, managers may find themselves attempting…
Dear Madeleine, I had my first baby three years ago and now have another one on the way. I am an attorney in a New York law firm and the main breadwinner in our family. My spouse works from home and does the lion’s share of the child care. As soon as I started showing…
Dear Madeleine, I am a COO in a multi-national import business. Our founding CFO has a foot out the door and we want to promote our comptroller, Bridget, into the job. She is lightning fast, ahead of the curve on international issues, articulate, and can really stand up for herself in what is—let’s face it—pretty…
Dear Madeleine, I am a manager who has done well at a professional services company. I run a large and growing group of entry level professionals who manage logistics and customer service for the entire organization. I absolutely love my job. I enjoy helping people be successful as well as being seen as someone who…
I went whitewater rafting down the Kern River this week with my husband and friends. (That’s me, underwater, at the front of the boat.) We had our choice of several guides, and we all agreed the guy with the grey hair looked like he had more experience than anyone else. We were correct. Our guide,…
I was recently in a coaching conversation with a client—now a friend—who was working through getting a new job and negotiating salary. In a paradoxical twist, as it seems to always happen, she had some amazing insight that has helped me understand my value both professionally and personally. She told this story: In the 80s…
What do riding a bike, being a first-time manager, and coaching have in common? You’ll soon find out. Over the weekend I spent some time in the local park enjoying a bit of sunshine and doing some people watching. For several minutes I watched a young couple as they were teaching their son how to…