I’d been absent from the air waves for a couple months. Why? Mainly because of one key decision in 2018: to take the Portland Underground Graduate School class, Financial Freedom 101 (FF101).FF101 blew so many things out of the water for us in terms of what we “thought” we had to do in order to retire. It taught us things about money and time that we just can't "unsee" now. We realized we have options to "buy our time back" sooner but only if we make some different choices.  Choice … [Read more...]

Several years ago while visiting my mom, I stopped by to find her watching "Shark Tank," a TV show where entrepreneurs seek investments from wealthy "sharks" to help them take their business to a new, and sometimes substantial level. Back then, my mom was a little old lady in Indiana with no illusions of starting a business. I asked her why she watched it and she said she got a kick out of the show, that the sharks were "characters," and that she really loved that Mark … [Read more...]

Raise your hand (or drop me an email) if you love being told what to do! I’m guessing there aren’t a lot of hands raised out there nor will I get a lot of emails from most of you.   Whether you’re a teenager being told to pick up your socks or professional going through a process or system change, most of us don’t like being told what to do.  It’s common for people to want control over your own destiny or, at a minimum, to feel like you are being brought along on the … [Read more...]

DIY: Live the Life You Love with a Career Map The job market has been HOT the last year or so and yet many people feel edgy, like we are living in uncertain times. Maybe it's the summer heat or the crazy politics in Washington. who knows!  Whatever the reason, there is one thing you can do NOW to take charge and feel confident about your future. Build your own career map. Let's begin with two simple truths... 1) Only You Can Own Your Career. No one can do it for you, nor should … [Read more...]

Power to the People - It's Not A Generational Gap “To Give Anything Less Than Your Best is to Sacrifice the Gift.” – Steve Prefontaine Last month we talked about Millennials in the workplace and debunked a few myths.  I also promised to continue the theme and focus on the other workplace generations this month. Since then, I realized that it's less about generational gaps and more about making ALL employees a central focus because most people want the same thing from work: to be … [Read more...]

Recently I went to Vegas to speak at an HR Strategy a conference. I was so zero chill about this trip because: Well, it’s Vegas of course, YOLO (You Only Live Once) If I hadn’t accepted the gig it would have led to a major FOMO (Fear of MIssing Out) Okay, okay, some of you probably have no idea what I just said and others of you are probably laughing your ass off because I’m totaling destroying your slang. For a short glossary of terms, scroll to the end of this … [Read more...]

Joseph Campbell once said, “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.”  Reading a quote like that takes me to a mythical place,  somewhere lofty,  and expansive, where I wonder what it would be like to make a  BIG difference to an entire  company, country or all of humanity. And then my email dings, and I snap back into the present and I start to think about a different kind of heroics.  The kind I hear about with certain types of clients … [Read more...]

Insights Color Energies model

Milk-Bones. Frozen fruit pops. Italian soda. Gluten-free crackers. That's all it took for me to “misplace” my husband at the supermarket recently. Shopping doesn't tend to be a team sport for us. But one day after golf recently we stopped by the store for a few things. For most of the trip we were side-by-side and in lockstep. But then, as we neared the end of our list, we went our separate ways: me to get fruit pops and him to get the Milk-Bones. And that’s where the problems … [Read more...]

Dog flying with a cape

What’s the one thing all superheroes seem to have in common? They go from being average, vulnerable, and maybe even a little nerdy, to being superheroes in a matter of seconds.  The next time you need to make a quick change in your team, wouldn’t it be great if you could step into a phone booth and step out a few minutes later with everything in place? Or, start getting better results in minutes or days instead of months? I've asked the Superheroes of Change Management and they weighed … [Read more...]

It’s been 3 years since I started Positive Disruption and in that time there’s been a lot of reinvention. Like reinvention from my cushy corporate life to the nail-biting that can sometimes come along with starting up a business. There’s been any number of iterations on what is it that I really do, or don’t do – are you a consultant or a trainer, do you do coaching, or what? Finally, in the last year it became crystal clear to me:  I am at my best helping client teams navigate the … [Read more...]