Five Secret Ingredients for Leaders to Succeed

For 20 years I studied, recruited, and stewarded executives and organizations through some of the most difficult and uncertain leadership transitions.  My searches (and those of the team of exemplary search consultants whom I was privileged to lead during my time running NPAG) resulted in a higher than industry average for a tenure of placement … Read more

The Confidence to be Wrong

Being wrong sucks.  It’s inefficient, it’s embarrassing, and sometimes even downright dangerous.  It’s a real haymaker right in the old kisser, that’s for sure.  And, it’s also the best thing that can happen to you. Why do I say this?  Because it is in those ego-shaking moments between the realization of wrongness and the interminable … Read more

Rock Your Moxie, Sleeveless or Not

I recently read an article suggesting that studies show that women who wear sleeveless dresses on stage appear to their audience members as less intelligent than their be-sleeved counterparts.  It was based on a study in Yale Scientific that reported that people assign a higher degree of intelligence to those who wear more clothes than … Read more

Be the Party of Possible

Thank goodness for evolution.  You know, evolution: that thing that has trained up over millions of years to (mostly) not do really hare-brained, death-inducing things. Jump off that bridge?  Instincts say no. Stick my head in that lion’s mouth?  Seems like a pretty bad idea. Eat day old sushi from my local gas station market?  … Read more

Who Are Your Giants?

Several years ago, Arnie Miller, my second boss, asked me to escort him to the cemetery to visit the grave of Eli Segal, my first boss, on what would have been Eli’s 73rd birthday. Arnie has Parkinson’s Disease and was told by his doctor that he shouldn’t drive anymore; he is not a man who … Read more

Say Yes Better

So, you’ve gotten a request for your time.  You should say yes, right?  It’s just a little advice, just a little got-a-few-questions, just a little massive disruption of your entire day.  Not so fast, cowboy. First, ask yourself: Am I the right person, the only person, the most important person to help out in this … Read more

The Key to Happiness

Misery is contagious.  It’s slippery, it’s insidious, and it’s sneaky.  You don’t even realize it’s shaded your sunshine until it’s too late.  And then there you are: stuck.  Stuck in a dark vortex of unhappiness, having lost all momentum to live your best life. But, here’s the thing: Joy works exactly the same way. You … Read more

Everything is an Opportunity

I recently read an article which posed a question that went something like, “Why aren’t people from Nordic countries suicidal as fuck?”  I mean, let’s face it: it’s dark, it’s cold, it’s dreary.  And it’s like that for about six months out of the year.  As a Miami girl who has spent 20 years trying … Read more