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What is Poison Ivy Privilege?
Poison Ivy Privilege is a framework to consider the aspects of your identity for which you receive privilege rather than marginalization, and how you can use that privilege to enact systemic changes using the analogy of pulling poison ivy. Prologue: I was wrong. Years ago, I wrote an article about poison ivy and privilege, in…
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“Make One Point, Not Ten”
Did you know there’s a difference between writing a ‘memoir’ and writing your ‘memoirs’? A memoir is a cohesive whole, with a story arc not unlike that of a novel, and often encompasses a smaller portion of the author’s life; memoirs usually refers to a more sprawling tome, covering several distinct sections of life. As…
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How to Give Feedback without Triggering the Fight or Flight Response
If you’re a parent, bring to mind the characteristics you see in your children that come from you – physical/character traits, or phrases they’ve learned up from hearing you say them over the course of years. Needless to say, your child is their own person; they are not you, but they are an expression of…
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Revisiting the Idea of Being a “Student of…” (Not an “Expert in…”)
The idea of being a lifelong learner in your field – a “student of…” rather than an “expert in…” – has come up in a variety of contexts recently, so this seemed like a good time to revisit this article, originally posted in 2021. Have you ever started a conversation with a friend or family…
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What are Unique Diversity and Diverse Unity?
How many aspects of your identity are visible to those around you? How many are invisible, or at least not intuitive? If you’re like a lot of people, your identity is – as we’ve mentioned before – like an iceberg, with the vast majority (90% in the case of icebergs) being under the surface, and…
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“Slavery Isn’t Part of My Country’s History…” – Uh, Really??
Recently I have been part of a few groups with a daunting yet powerful assignment: tracing and sharing your “racial autobiography.” The prompts include personal reflections on your earliest awareness of race, your country/culture of origin, experiences of othering, your family lineage and how it has connected with systemically racist policies, and a lot more.…
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Which X-Men Leader do You Need as Your Work Partner: Storm or Cyclops?
“Who Will Lead Them?” read the caption on the front cover of Uncanny X-Men # 201 – one of the first comic books I bought as a then-9-year-old in 1986. The cover showed two characters battling for leadership of the team: Cyclops, the team’s original leader and a master strategist who had back-up plans for…
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Leading Teams in a Time of Distraction
With so many eyes – and cameras – focused on one particular indictment and arrest in Lower Manhattan, this week seemed like a good time to revisit this article, originally posted in January 2021. How often are you in (or leading) a meeting but finding it hard to concentrate because of something happening in the…
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What are Your Unspoken Agreements?
Screenwriter John August recently asked a thought-provoking question on his podcast Scriptnotes (co-hosted by The Last of Us writer/showrunner Craig Mazin): When someone mentions the 1960s, what comes to mind for you? If you’re in the Western world, your answers probably include JFK, Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, The Beatles, flower power,…
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Is Your Self-Talk Helping You?
Recently I stumbled across an article and chuckled at the title: “How Do I Know If I Have an Inner Monologue?” After all, if you find yourself wondering if you have an inner monologue, congratulations – you’ve just discovered your inner monologue! But it turns out that not everyone experiences that internal voice. As much…
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Anchor Songs: How Music Builds Team Memories
Each of us has certain songs that, when you hear them, instantly bring back a particular memory in profound ways, as if transporting you back in time. Even if you heard that same song dozens of times before that key memory, that’s the moment it will forever be associated with for you. When I hear…
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Hearing vs. Fixing: Are You Supporting How They Want to be Supported?
Have you ever shared a frustration, a sadness, or some other strong emotion with someone, only for that person to jump right into “fixing” mode? Or maybe even tell you why you shouldn’t feel that way? Maybe they even agree with you, but somehow their agreement feels diminishing of your own experience in some way.…
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Is a Four-Day Work Week in Your Future?
Have you noticed the change in TV culture over the last two decades? At least here in the US, there has been a seismic shift from 22-episode a year network dramas (created for syndication and reruns) to 6-8 episode ‘prestige’ dramas (created for streaming). Suddenly it’s a lot easier to catch up on a show…
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All You Need is Love (Notes!)
Every year or two when I go through boxes in my attic, I stumble across some notes that bring a smile to my face. A quarter of a century ago(!) I worked for a summer camp organization, as a team leader and facilitator for camps on college campuses across the US and in Southeast Asia.…
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“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
During tragedies such as the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria, the famous advice for children from Mister Rogers to “look for the helpers” usually makes a resurgence on social media. It’s powerful advice for children overwhelmed by the images of disasters beyond their control; adults, too, can find it helpful and reassuring, although some…
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Don’t Have a Desk to Call Your Own?
Have you heard about the Portuguese island that “created” a village entirely for remote workers? If you’re waiting for a punchline, there is none – sadly for the digital nomads from around the world that moved to the island of Madeira, Ponta do Sol has been rife with unfulfilled promises and astronomical costs. And, of…
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“There is No Such Thing as a Safe Space”
This week, two horrific videos were released to the public: the first, bodycam footage showing the violent hammer attack on Paul Pelosi – husband of former House speaker Nancy Pelosi – in his home; the second, the violent beating by police of 29 year-old Tyre Nichols during a routine traffic stop, resulting in his death…
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Are Your Meetings Lectures, Show-and-Tells, or Labs?
How many meetings have you attended in the last few weeks? How many have you led? If you lead meetings, how did you learn to lead them? By emulating the meetings you’ve attended? Employees who are high performing often get promoted to management without any training in how to manage others – and, as a…
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Can Hybrid Meetings Really be Inclusive?
Meetings are a staple of office life. They play a key role in decision making, and their place in workplace culture is secure. Even in the height of the Covid pandemic when so much of what we thought was fundamental to work got flipped upside-down, meetings still happened – they just took a different form,…
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Making Your Phone Black & White and Boring
Do your devices send you a weekly notification to show the amount of time you’ve spent using the device each day? Mine comes every Sunday morning at exactly 9:08am (I assume there’s a reason why it’s that time in particular, but I haven’t been able to find anything about it in my research); every time…
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Stop Looking at Your Results!
Are you someone who starts each year with New Year’s resolutions? If so, how do they usually go for you? Are you able to stick with them throughout the year? Maybe a month or two? Or do they usually fade away after a couple of weeks, or even days? Assuming the latter (sorry, but let’s…
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Completing 2022 and Moving On to 2023
As we move towards the end of another year full of challenges and growth, successes and failures, many of us are looking for ways to bring closure to the year and recharge for the new year. Depending on your role, a clean break from work may not be possible (if this it true for you,…
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How Going “Goblin Mode” Can Be a Good Thing!
Goblins might seem better suited for Halloween than Hannukah or Christmas, but Oxford Dictionaries announced this week that “goblin mode” has been selected by an online vote as its word (or phrase) of the year, receiving over 300,000 votes – more than 93% of the total. “Goblin mode,” in case you’re not familiar with the…
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Using the “Whoa Test” in Everyday Conversations
Are you familiar with deepfakes? These are manipulated videos using AI technology to make a person appear to do or say something they did not, and they are more than just convincingly believable – it takes active disbelief in what your eyes are seeing to know that some deepfakes are in fact, fake. And deepfake…
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Banquet, Potluck, and Thanksgiving Models of Leadership
While the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US has a controversial history and our cultural retelling of it is inaccurate, the traditional Thanksgiving meal can help us reflect on how we lead others. This week seems an appropriate time to revisit the ideas of Banquet Leadership, Potluck Leadership, and the hybrid model we call Thanksgiving Leadership. If you’ve…
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Wakanda Forever: Acknowledging Grief and Loss at Work
Writer/director Ryan Coogler faced a nearly impossible task in creating Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The sequel to the 2018 Black Panther movie needed to acknowledge and honor the shocking death of the franchise’s lead actor Chadwick Boseman while also finding ways to move on, for the story’s characters, for the hundreds of actors and behind-the-camera…
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Keeping Faith in Authenticity
Formal, structured conversations have a particular feeling unlike any other. Think of job interviews. How many have you been a part of – either as the interviewee or one of the interviewers? Remember the tension in the air? The desire to impress? The fear of screwing up? In the executive coaching work I do, role-plays…
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Keeping Questions Casual
Here in the US, it’s the spookiest time of year. No, not Halloween… Election season! I wonder if you too have been receiving emails (or texts) with calls for immediate action, and questions like “Why haven’t you [donated/called/supported]?!” The uptick in demands – from both sides of the political spectrum – is always alarming during…
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“Zinnias Make Great Listeners” – Who are Your Zinnias?
What was the last high-stakes conversation you initiated? How prepared did you feel going into it? Perhaps this was delivering performance evaluations to team members, or maybe it was applying for a new job, or something entirely different. Such conversations can be as daunting as playing a musical instrument in front of an audience, delivering…
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Stop Solving Problems! The Value of Wondering and Asking
When you were young, did you listen to the radio and hope your favorite song would come on because it was the only way to hear it? Did you go to a Blockbuster Video with options of movies to rent because you knew your first choice might be out? During dinner table conversations, did you…
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Reclaiming Rest: Are You a Victim of the Industrial Revolution?
In 1910, President William Howard Taft proposed that every American worker should receive two to three months of vacation time each year “in order to continue [their] work next year with the energy and effectiveness that it ought to have.” Sounds wonderful, right? Of course, captains of industry – and U.S. legislators – disagreed, and…
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Idiosyncracy Credits: The Currency to Stand Out from the Group?
I sunburn easily. So when I forgot to bring sun protection for an all-day outdoor program I was leading in hot sun last year, I asked if anyone I was working with had an extra hat I could borrow. They did, and I had two choices – a wooly winter hat or a large straw…
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Claiming Space and Creating Space
How often are you talked over by someone in a meeting? How often do you talk over someone else? How often do you find yourself listening to someone go on and on, with no real entry point to offer your own thoughts? How often would others say the same about you? Now think about a…
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A Place to Belong – Holding the Vision Alongside the Reality
When you are at your most comfortable, what does this look like for you? For some of us, this involves being in a particular place – for example, your home, your car, or your childhood town. For others, this is when you’re doing something in particular – speaking to a friend, reading a book, doing…
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What do Racist Attacks on Black Fantasy Actors Have to Do with Your Work?
A few months ago, Obi-Wan Kenobi star Moses Ingram faced an outporing of racist attacks following her portrayal of the villainous Inquisitor Reva Sevander – the first Black female villain in the Star Wars franchise. Ingram wasn’t surprised by the abuse – and Lucasfilm even helped to prepare her for them. Attacks on people of…
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Serena Williams, Power Dynamics, and “Black Exceptionalism”
Were you one of the millions of viewers to watch Serena Williams play (what is expected to be) her final match of tennis at the US Open last week? Just a few weeks earlier, Williams announced her farewell to tennis after a truly extraordinary career. She was careful with the words she used: “I have…
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Why “Quiet Quitting” is More Complicated than it Might Seem
Have you ever felt burnt out by the imbalance between “work” and “life”? Emailing around the clock, arriving early and staying late, helping a colleague out at the expense of your own responsibilities, showing as much dedication to your role as possible – these are extra behaviours that go the extra mile and can result…
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Why You Might Choose to be Translucent (Not Transparent!)
If you’ve worked for any length of time in a large organization in a position other than the very highest level of leadership, you’ve probably experienced being informed of – if not blindsided by – decisions made by others that effect your day-to-day work. You may have left that day wondering why you were not…
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How to Move Forward with a Difficult Coworker
Many things can contribute to work being challenging, but most of us have had at least one experience where the people you work with make or break your experience. Sometimes a coworker or manager can really add to your experience and you’re grateful to be working with them – if so, great! Other times you…
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“I Have No Opinion About This…”
Divisiveness is part of life in the 21st century in a way that it never has been before. The rise of the internet has led to an increase in tribalism – for better and for worse. It’s easier than ever to find people who share your experiences and your interests. Forty years ago most people…
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If Microaggressions Were Mosquito Bites
It’s the time of year when mosquitos are out in force where I live in New England. And mosquitos love me. Much more than I love them. At any one point during late Summer I can have dozens of mosquito bites on my body. And while I’ve been telling people for years that it’s because…
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Where Could You Find Your “New Rope” Excitement?
As part of my repertoire of facilitation, I work regularly with other facilitators at an outdoor challenge course, which offers high ropes activities and team building experiences for organizations and school groups. The facilitator team is much more diverse than one might expect – with the common challenge course stereotype of middle-aged white men in…
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Quicksand and Food Fights
When I was a child, quicksand seemed like a major problem that everyone needed to worry about. From the 1960s to the 1980s, characters throughout popular culture – in movies, tv shows, books, video games, and comic books – were almost certain to encounter quicksand at some point, with peril sure to follow. Over the…
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The “Endless Present” and the War for Our Attention
Who would have thought that so much would happen on July 12, 2022? Between the astounding deep space images NASA is releasing from the James Webb Space Telescope, the seventh public hearing from the January 6th Committee into last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol, the funeral of Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, protests…
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Taking Time Off Work? Then Don’t Work!
How often have you found yourself checking your work email while on vacation? Or still holding your weekly check-in meetings, even on a day off? Whether it’s a break of a few weeks, or a weekly routine of long weekends, many of us take vacation time during the Summer. But how many of are really…
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Busyness – The Toxic Badge of Honor
When someone asks how you are, does your mind instantly bring to mind the word “busy”? If so, you’re not alone. Busyness is a constant feeling in so many of our lives. Indeed, it’s a vortex that we seem to get sucked down into more with every passing season. For a small number of us,…
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Helping Others to be Seen (and Known) in a Hybrid World
What’s your current pattern for where and when you work? Are you working from an office full time? Are you working from home for some or all of the time? Working 9-5 on weekdays? Or flexible hours, working outside of the traditional work hours, fitting around other commitments you have? Is your pattern the same…
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Happy Pride Month! – and the Iceberg of Invisible Identities
In the United States and in many other parts of the world, this week marks the beginning of LGBTQ+ Pride Month. The first Pride March was held on June 28, 1970, to mark the one-year anniversary of the six-day Stonewall Uprising of 1969, a turning point in queer history. As such, it’s important to remember…
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Mentoring Summer Interns, and Finding a New Mentor or Mentee
As we approach Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, your organization may be planning to bring on some interns for the season. Internships can provide incredible hands-on learning opportunities for young people looking to enter a field of work. The interns also bring value to the organization through their labor, their unique perspectives and lived experiences,…
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The ‘Thought-Stoppers’ That End Conversation
How do you transition out of a conversation about an unresolved issue? Some of us do it more gracefully than others, but chances are you have a few stock phrases you use to signal that you’re ready for the conversation to end. Sometimes these phrases take the form of folk wisdom: “It is what it…
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Being a Mental Health Ally for Your Colleagues (and Yourself!)
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, each year millions of Americans (as many as 1 in 5) experience mental illness. In the past, many of us might have believed that mental health was a concern only for those with mental illness, but living through a lengthy pandemic, and all the stresses and repercussions…
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Power Over, Power With, Power To/For, and Power Within
How many choices have you faced today? How many decisions have you made? Most have been subconscious – choosing to get out of bed, choosing to eat, choosing to meet your responsibilities. But each decision point has not been a foregone conclusion. Like a choose your own adventure book, you have faced choices dozens -…
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The “Special Requests” of White People
When was the last time you made a special request because of your circumstances? Working in academia for fourteen years I saw a growing recognition of the need for accessibility services (like live transcription, or additional time for tests) to make the educational experience widely available for those who have traditionally been marginalized or discounted.…
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How Has Mentoring Others Grown You?
We’ve all had mentors. And whether or not you’ve ever held an official title of “mentor,” all of us have at one point or another served as a mentor for others. If you’re a parent, mentoring is intrinsically woven into your daily life – even as your child becomes an adult in their own right.…
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Remembering Rosemary Meehan Tator, 1950-2022
Rosemary Meehan Tator, one of the primary mentors for Building Bridges Leadership, passed away last week following a lengthy battle with cancer. Rosemary had a lot to offer teams who are looking to create authentic community in the workplace, especially as a woman business leader in male-dominated industries. Her 50-year career was full of team…
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Listening During Liminality and Times of Transition
The Covid-19 pandemic brought a lengthy period of change and uncertainty – a seemingly endless time of forced flexibility. It brought the idea of liminality to our culture more so than at any other point in decades, as we all waited for a time when we would be able to see friends, or travel, get…
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Workplace Stretches to Reduce Stress
When was the last time you had a stress headache while working on a major project? Or felt tension in your stomach following an interaction with someone on your team? How do those physical sensations affect the rest of your day? Chances are they don’t support you succeed in your work or have life-giving interactions…
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Napping… at Work? How a Short Siesta Can Help Productivity
When you have a few free moments during the work day, what do you do? Do you get fresh air? Text a friend? Close your eyes and meditate? Stretch your muscles? Last week’s post about the Pomodoro Technique suggested that after each 25 minute stretch of focused work, you would be well served by a…
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Having Trouble Focusing? Try the Pomodoro Technique
Have you been having trouble focusing recently? Whether your mind has been on the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fighting to save their families and their country, or you have been thinking about the complications, concerns, and possibilities of lifting Covid restrictions, it can be hard to stay on task these days. If you’re finding…
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“Teach Me Your Name”
In a few different workshop settings over the past few weeks, I’ve had the chance to take part in variations of the same activity. Whether in a group or in a partnership, each person has the chance to “teach me your name.” This starts off as a simple exercise in sharing your full name and…
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Annexation, Invasion and Sanctions in the Microcosm of the Workplace
Watching and reading about the ongoing situation in Ukraine, it is only natural to be heartbroken and anxious about the lives at stake there. The understandable tendency is to see the Russian leadership, troops and aggressors as ‘the bad guys,’ ‘the villains,’ or possibly even ‘evil.’ Some of us may like to believe that surely…
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Tuning in to Your Team’s Communication Preferences
For many of us, the days of bumping into colleagues in your workplace’s hallway or break room feel like a lifetime ago. These organic interactions either replaced by more formal communications or not replaced at all. Emails, Slack, Discord, and even texts… while statistics aren’t easy to quantify, the majority of workplace communication in the…
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Showing Support for Your Team through Acts of Service
When’s the last time you felt overwhelmed or lost while working on a project – perhaps even paralyzed because you were unsure of your next step? Have others offered “let me know if you need help,” but you haven’t even known what to ask for, or perhaps been too embarrassed to ask? Now think back…
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Notes of Gratitude
Do you remember the last time you received a handwritten note from a colleague or client thanking you for the work you did on a particular project? Or, if not a handwritten note, an email or a small gift as a token of gratitude? How did that acknowledgement feel? In my role at Harvard University…
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Some Do’s & Don’ts of Celebrating Black History Month at Work
Each February, Black History Month celebrates the contributions, achievements, history and culture of African Americans throughout the history of the United States. Originally a weeklong celebration planned to correlate with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass (February 12th and 14th), what was known as “Negro History Week” grew over time into what we know…
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Can You Sleep Your Problems Away?
How often do you face a hard choice, perhaps related to your work team or hiring, only to receive the advice “just sleep on it”? Does that feel like just putting the problem off for another time? Conversely, have you ever rushed into a decision about something only to regret it and wish you’d left…
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Dr. King, and Sitting in Difficult Truths
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a chance each year to reflect and take action on the work that still needs to be done for racial equality. While Dr. King is rightfully held up as a legendary and inspirational figure, this often results in him being seen as a more-than-human icon, memorialized in carefully…
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“We Don’t Talk About Bruno (No No No)” – What Disney’s ‘Encanto’ Might Have to Offer Your Team
If you enjoy the work of Lin-Manuel Miranda (or you have children in your house who devour Disney movies) you may be familiar with Disney’s latest animated movie; their 60th, Encanto. Following the viewpoint character of Mirabel – the only member of the family Madrigal not to receive the gift of a magical talent -…
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Time to Plan a Break Already?
Happy New Year! As we enter our third calendar year under the shadow of Covid-19, many of us are accustomed to a seemingly never-ending need to adjust and evolve. Each “new normal” doesn’t last long enough to really become normal, and plans – both professional and personal – are all subject to change. The only…
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Completing 2021 and Moving On to 2022
As we move towards the end of another year full of logistical – and emotional – challenges, many of us are looking for ways to bring closure to the year and recharge for the new year. Depending on your work, a break may not be possible. But even if you are able to take a full…
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Using the Tool of “Turn and Learn” in Meetings
Have you ever spoken up about an important topic in a meeting only to feel misunderstood? Maybe you didn’t articulate it as well as you wanted, or you just felt like the other people in the meeting focused on the wrong part of what you said. Perhaps you’ve spoken in response to a challenging topic…
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Social-Emotional Learning in Your Work Team
Which squirrel are you today? If that question means nothing to you, you probably haven’t seen the “squirrel scale” – a fun check-in tool used by some schools during remote learning. I was reminded of this tool recently while working with a group of middle and high school teachers, during a workshop focused on building…
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“Thanksgiving Leadership,” Revisited
This week – Thanksgiving week here in the US – seemed an appropriate time to revisit the ideas of Banquet Leadership, Potluck Leadership, and the hybrid model we call Thanksgiving Leadership. If you’ve been reading the Building Bridges Leadership blog for a while, you may be familiar with our distinction between Banquet and Potluck models of leadership. In short, Banquet…
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How Have the People Around You Made You Better?
When was the last time a group of people let you know the difference you’ve made in their lives? Or showered you in praise while pointing out the particular contributions you’ve made to them? Most of us only experience that when leaving a job after a long time, and/or at our funeral when there’s no…
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Team Creativity in Times of Challenge
Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell has often talked about how the challenges she has faced throughout her life have contributed to her lyrics and music; most notably her struggle with mental health and the value that years of therapy has provided for her. Not coincidentally, the cover art of her 1994 album ‘Turbulent Indigo’ is a self-portrait…
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Micro-Mentoring – What it is, and How to Make it Work at Work
Do you ever marvel at a colleague’s work and think to yourself “I could never do that?” Have you ever been amazed by someone else’s slideshow presentation and then felt clueless when creating your own? Has a friend at work ever casually walked you through the steps of how to do something you’ve never understood…
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Partnering for a Change in Perspectives
In your line of work, how often do you work in partnership with someone else? Do you have a regular partner, or partnership team? When was the last time you partnered with someone new on a project or initiative? If it’s been a long time, is that by choice? In my work as a facilitator,…
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When Did You Last Say “I Was Wrong”?
Think of a time you’ve been in a position of authority. A common feeling in those circumstances is feeling like you were expected to know it all, worrying when you don’t, and faking it to show strength and stability for those you are managing. Faking it can work well in a lot of situations, but…
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“It’s All in the Debrief”
What comes to mind when you hear the word “debrief”? If you watch spy movies, it might be James Bond passing by Miss Moneypenny on the way to let M know what transpired on his latest mission. In your work environment, it may look more like a closed-door meeting following the end of a project…
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“Less” or “Fewer”? What Does “Correcting” Language and Grammar Do?
“I think you mean fewer, not less.” “It should be compared with, not compared to…” When’s the last time you remember someone correcting your language or grammar? How often have you had this experience as an adult? Perhaps you use a cultural vernacular which seems to generate a particular reaction in your work community. If…
Keep readingPoison Ivy Privilege
In New England, where I live now, poison ivy is commonplace. But in the UK, where I grew up, there is none. So unlike many New Englanders, I didn’t grow up with regular exposure to poison ivy; nor did I grow up looking out for it, or being able to identify it with a “leaves…
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Who’s In Your “Human Library”?
In her TEDx Talk “What Does My Headscarf Mean To You?”, mechanical engineer, writer and activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied notes that people are often surprised to learn that she designed race cars and ran her university’s racing team. They’re equally surprised to learn that she trained as a boxer for five years. Both break the stereotype…
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“Everything is a Remix” – What are You Remixing?
The process of creation has been fascinating to me for decades. I’m someone who loves listening to demo recordings of my favorite music while reading about the influences behind its creation and the recording sessions themselves. I’m someone who enjoys seeing concept art for movies, or hearing a creator talk about how they made choices…
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Workplace Empathy in the New Academic Year
If you have children of any age – or if you are a student or an educator yourself – the beginning of a new academic year always brings a new schedule, which itself brings new challenges, for the student and everyone else in your household. For many households, this is the first time a student…
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The Benefits and Challenges of Mirroring & Matching
How often have you been with a close friend or family member and noticed after a while that you are sitting with the same posture, and matching each other’s tone as you talk? Do you notice this in others when you see best friends getting coffee together? Such behavior is often simply thought of as…
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Creating a Sense of Belonging in Your Physical Workspace
Before COVID-19 created a seismic shift in how large companies work, many of those same companies were investing heavily in creating more engaging and playful workspaces. Gyms in workspaces had become more common, but there was an increasing trend for workplaces to include amenities like pinball machines, ping pong tables, outdoor lounge areas and more. These…
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“What If…?” – Seeking Nuance and Kicking the Tires
“What if…?” has become a powerful and oft-used question over the last pandemic era – perhaps more than at any point in our lifetimes, as we’ve pondered the many changes that COVID could bring. I recently heard about a March 2020 article discussing our collective cultural responses to the pandemic in three terms: a blizzard (our initial short-term ‘stay…
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What’s Your Team’s ‘Closing Ceremony?’
How often do you reach the end of a team or solo project that has taken hours, weeks, or even months, and move straight on to the next thing? If this is common for you, is this invigorating and motivating? For some of us, it is – we get momentum and forward motion that kick-starts…
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The Fosbury Flop and Raising the Bar for Gold
Watching the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, I have been struck over and over again by the way these games intersect with our everyday lives in the workplace and in our communities. Chief among these, of course, are the important conversations taking place about mental health and self-care, and the disproportionate pressure placed on female athletes of color to perform…
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The Olympics and MI Theory
A few weeks ago I referred to the Good Work Project and the work of Harvard professor Howard Gardner. The work for which Gardner is most known – the Theory of Multiple Intelligences – is always worth taking a look at, and seems particularly relevant during the Olympics. The Olympics provides a dazzling display of athletes using a mixture of natural…
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Using People-First Language for Dignity and Respect
Academia and business are different worlds, with different goals and day-to-day work. And yet, after working at Harvard for 15 years, I find that a lot of the work that resonates with clients most comes from the academic world. Recently I was reminded of the concept of “people-first language” by a Black student, who posted…
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What Does “Good Work” Mean Anyway?
You may have seen some of the recent articles about the ‘giant game of musical chairs’. Huge numbers of workers are leaving/changing their jobs as workplaces around the US are reopening. Perhaps you’re even one of those people who’ve chosen a new job or a whole new career path. While we’re living our day-to-day reality we don’t…
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Fireworks and Your Team
If you live in the United States or Canada, you’ll have had the chance to see fireworks at some point recently – in person or on a broadcast. If you’re anything like me, your experience might be a mix of enjoyment and of sensory overwhelm (though no other display will ever quite compare to the…
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Being A Signal Booster – Amplifying Others’ Voices
How often have you read or heard about inequality, marginalization, or hate crimes against an identity group of which you are not a part, and been left wondering “but what can I do?” If your own life experiences are different than those experiencing these acts, it can be easy to miss the full context and scope; to…
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“CW” & “TW” – What They Mean and How You Might Use Them
When last week’s Building Bridges Leadership email arrived in your inbox and you wondered what the “CW” meant in the preview text, you aren’t alone. Or you may have noticed a growing number of articles and social media posts using “CW” or “TW” at the beginning, followed by a brief phrase describing trauma of some…
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Juneteenth, Black Wall Street, and Honoring Complicated History
A few weeks ago – May 31 and June 1 – brought the centennial of the Tulsa race massacre, one of the worst single incidents of racial violence in American history. Mobs of White residents, many of them deputized and given weapons by city officials, attacked Black residents and destroyed homes and businesses in 35 square…
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Mountain Climbing Guides, Caddies, and You
Last month, Kami Rita Sherpa broke his own record for the most ascents of Mount Everest, summiting for the 25th time, during Everest’s first climb of the year. As his name implies, Kami Rita is a member of the Sherpa Tibetan ethnic group living in Nepal. Many Sherpas are highly regarded as elite mountaineers and experts…
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On the Lookout for Moments of Iteration
The difference between intention and impact has been on my mind a lot in recent months. I have been an observer – and a participant – in a number of interactions where someone’s words were unintentionally hurtful to others. But their good intentions didn’t make the impact any less hurtful to the people affected. These interactions can leave both…
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How Can You “Grow a Row” This Week?
My wife is an excellent gardener, and tends to our vegetable garden, growing a good portion of our food over the Summer months and beyond. This year, from twin desires of getting more connected with our local community and making a small contribution to address local food insecurity, she signed us up to join our…
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Using Optical Illusions to Challenge Our Biases
Are you familiar with the Ames Window Illusion? If not, you might want to take a few minutes to watch this recent video explaining the phenomenon, wherein a rotating trapezoid looks like it is instead wavering back and forth. This optical illusion, like so many others, tricks our brain into seeing something that isn’t accurate. But how does it…
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Building Bridges Leadership
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Building Bridges Leadership 