Here is the statistic that knocked me over. Right after a training class, employees apply about 62% of what they just learned. Six months later, that number drops to 44%. After one full year, only 34% is still in use. WHAT?! I am sorry, but that one shook me. Companies invest in training. Schools build entire curriculums. Parents pay for tutors and camps and music lessons. Coaches design programs. And after a year, only about a third of it is still showing up in behavior?

I gave a presentation last week on how to stay organized at work, and right at the start I told the audience to brace themselves. Because here's the thing. If I'm up there talking about how to be organized, you might assume one of two things. Either I'm wildly, terrifyingly organized, or I'm a total imposter standing behind a podium pretending I know what I'm doing. Spoiler alert. It's option C. I'm not perfect, and I totally own it. And I told that audience exactly what I'm

Right now I'm in the middle of something big. I'm sitting down with every team across the organization and rebuilding our expectations from scratch. Not just one team. Every single one. Each work group. Each small team. Each large team. Then I'll keep going, group by group, until we've worked our way up to the full organization. That's a lot of conversations. And I'm doing them on purpose. After 20+ years in HR, I've learned something I keep coming back to. The words you en

“I don’t know what you’re doing, so you must not be doing anything.” That’s what a coworker from another department said to me. Not in a joking tone. Not as a question. As a statement. The logic was apparently this: if they couldn’t see me working, I must not be working at all. I was shocked. And honestly, I was hurt.

This week, I sat across from someone in a meeting who disagreed with me. Not a small "let's tweak the wording" kind of disagreement. We could not have seen the issue more differently if we tried. I shared my perspective. They shared theirs. And when I walked out of that meeting, I noticed something interesting happening in my own head. Part of me wanted to take it personally.

Here's where I am sitting today as I write this. Graduation is May 9th. I'm not walking. There won't be a ceremony for me, no cap, no stage, no speeches. And yet, somewhere in my brain, I've decided I am not allowed to celebrate until after May 9th. Why? I don't have a good answer. The work is done. The degree is earned. But there's some invisible permission slip I'm waiting for. Some "official" moment I think has to happen before I am allowed to mark this.

Change is hard. Some people love change. Some people resist it. But honestly? Whether you welcome it or dread it, change is still a challenge. Picture this. You're at work, somewhere you've been for a long time (in my case, 20+ years). You know the systems. You know the people. You know how to get things done. Then someone new walks in with fresh ideas, a different perspective, and a totally different way of thinking. Suddenly, the way you've always done things is up for de

There is a phrase that has been rattling around in my head lately: perfectionism is the enemy of done. That is not permission to do sloppy work. It is not an argument for carelessness or cutting corners. It is a recognition that at a certain point, the extra hours we pour into something rarely return anything meaningfully better than what we already had. The energy we spend chasing perfect is energy we are not spending on the next thing, the next person, the next project tha

A few weeks ago I read Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter, and I have not stopped thinking about it since. Easter spent years researching why our brains default to wanting more, no matter how much we already have. What he found is both unsettling and completely liberating once you understand it. Here is the short version: your brain evolved in a world where resources were genuinely scarce. Food, shelter, safety, warmth. Getting more of those things meant survival. So your brai

Here's my honest take, and yes, I know some people will call me a Pollyanna for saying it: I think the vast majority of people are reasonable. Most people, when given accurate information and treated with respect, can understand what is and isn't possible. They can handle a "no" if it's explained well. They can work with timelines, constraints, and the reality of limited resources. I have spent over 20 years working in public sector HR, mostly in local government and public

You might be wondering how that's even possible when you've heard the material before. The answer is two things: the people in the room, and where I am in my own life. The attendees rotate. So even on a topic I've seen before, the perspectives, stories, and examples are completely different. And honestly, so am I. Three years of living, leading, and learning means I hear things differently. Ideas that didn't land before suddenly click. Things I thought I understood hit me at

Here's what this year has taught me: you learn by doing. By setting goals. By having dreams and actually sticking to them. By living it. A year ago, I set a goal to share my leadership experiences through this blog. I didn't know if anyone would read it. I didn't know if I'd have enough to say. I didn't know how it would fit into my already busy life. I had doubts. I had fears. I had a million reasons why it might not work. But I set a plan. I created a path. And I dove in.

If you're reading this and wondering how self-aware you actually are, that's a good sign. People who completely lack self-awareness don't ask that question. Here's how to develop it: Pay attention to the cringe. When you look back at an interaction and something doesn't sit right, don't dismiss it. Explore it. What about it bothers you? What would you do differently? Notice the patterns. If you keep having the same problem with different people, the problem isn't them. It'

The pace of change isn't slowing down. Technology like AI is transforming how we work. Generational dynamics are shifting as new generations enter the workforce and older ones retire. Best practices evolve. Leaders who stay curious adapt to these changes. They learn new tools. They understand new perspectives. They adjust their approaches based on new information. Leaders who think they already know everything become increasingly irrelevant. They keep doing things the way t

Here's the thing. Procrastinating having a difficult conversation doesn't make it easier. It actually makes it harder. Most of the time, the conversations aren't those that I didn't have, because I am not afraid to have a difficult conversation. It's that I waited too long to have it. Let's use a performance matter as the example. Then let's put ourselves in the shoes of being the person with the performance issue. How would you feel if your boss came to you and told yo

When you're decisive, even when you're wrong sometimes, people trust you more than when you're perpetually uncertain. Because they know you'll move things forward. They know projects won't languish. They know you'll take responsibility for the direction you're setting. And when you do make the wrong call, when you realize your hiring decision was a mistake or your strategic direction needs to change, your decisiveness shows up there too. You acknowledge it. You adjust. You m

I worked with someone who wouldn't take accountability for anything. Well, unless it was taking credit for something. For that, credit would be taken. If they made a mistake however, the finger was pointed. The idea they were presenting suddenly became someone else's. The decision they had made became a decision they were overturning. Often this person did all of this behind the backs of others. We watched relationships crumble and trust fail and had no idea why.

Adaptability isn't about being a pushover. It's not about abandoning your values or flip-flopping on important decisions. It's not about saying yes to every change that comes along. Adaptability is your ability to adjust your approach when circumstances change. To stay effective when the plan falls apart. To lead through uncertainty without pretending you have it all figured out. It's recognizing when the path you're on isn't working anymore and being willing to find a diff

I'm very imperfect in communication. Not to say I don't study what works, what doesn't, and make many attempts to regularly do better. But effective communication is hard. The line between too much and too little communication is so fine it's missed often. And here's what makes it even harder: the location of that line changes based on who you're working with, what the topic is, the day or time, the feelings of the other person, and so much more. A perfect way to communicat

Early in my career, if I had a question, I asked it. Didn't think twice about how to phrase it, how it would be received, or whether it might upset someone. I just charged ahead, oblivious to the wreckage I was leaving behind. If something frustrated me, you knew it. My face told the whole story before my mouth even opened. I thought passion and authenticity meant wearing your heart on your sleeve and letting people know exactly how you felt in every moment. I wasn't entire