Imagine if we could nurture love for reading in kids’ to equal their love for iPads and video games. That was our ambitious goal for our children. We knew the pursuit would still benefit them greatly even if we didn’t fully achieve it. Raising kids in the age of social media and constant screens is challenging. Immediate gratification is everywhere, making cultivating the ability to wait or...
Virtual meetings are here to stay. How you participate in or run them can boost or sabotage the meeting, your team’s productivity and morale, and, ultimately, your career growth. Research by Yale shows virtual meetings are often less engaging and more challenging than face-to-face interactions. We must bring the same focus and reactions from in-person meetings to our virtual ones. Lean in...
A couple of months ago, my wife and I reluctantly started watching Ted Lasso. Last week, we started watching it all over again! Ted Lasso is a football coach who becomes a soccer coach. I won’t say more; please watch the show. I genuinely love everything about this show, especially Ted’s character. His energy, thoughtfulness, leadership style, team building, flaws, vulnerabilities...
I just learned the term “intrapreneurship,” so I thought I’d write a blog post around it 😁. We often hear stories of daring individuals who quit their day jobs to pursue their passions, leaving the rest of us wondering if we’re doomed to a life of unfulfilling work and missed opportunities. In a world where entrepreneurship is often seen as the ultimate path to success and...
Adaptability: One of humanity’s incredible blessings. Adaptability has saved us and helped us for thousands of years. This NYU publication explains how early humans survived and spread from Africa to Eurasia because of their adaptability. This adaptability allowed them to change and diversify, ultimately enabling them to thrive. These findings suggest that the ability to adapt was a...
(This story came to me during a conversation with a family member. As we talked, I noticed that this person tended to focus on what they hadn’t yet achieved rather than recognizing their successes. It inspired me to create a story about the importance of appreciating the journey, celebrating current accomplishments, embracing challenges and discomfort, and living in the present moment. I...
Let me clarify the title of this post: This guide is not the "ultimate guide" to building a working out habit because it's the best, but because it's as good as any. Do you find yourself reading many “ultimate guides” to habit formation, but still waiting for that magic moment to start working out? Time to stop spending time researching and watching videos on how to build habits. The...
Do you really need courage to lead? Is bravery the most under-appreciated quality in leadership? When discussing leading teams, we often focus on skills like communication, leading meetings, check-ins, and technical expertise. However, the backbone of effective leadership is more primal and potent: courage. Let’s start with my favorite book and one of the most compelling stories of courage...
As Software Engineering Managers Through Leadership, our full-time job at a high level is learning about and understanding every single member of our team: their strength, weaknesses, and personality. And then coach them to improve their weaknesses, help them leverage their strengths, and shield them from the unnecessary stress from upstream politics. This approach will pave the way for each...
More than a decade ago, I faced digestive system problems and IBS issues, running to the ER at 3am kind of issues. Traditional medical approaches didn’t seem to work for me. Even when I asked my GI doctor if I should make any dietary changes, I was told it wasn’t necessary. Unfortunately, the antibiotics didn’t solve my problems, either. They actually made them worse...