Every semester, when course evaluations are released, I feel a mix of anticipation and curiosity. I genuinely enjoy reading them. It is meaningful to see how students describe their experience and what they took away from the course. Those comments remind me why I am an educator. And then something predictable happens. I can read 20 positive comments and feel encouraged by them. But one critical comment will often stick with me far longer than the rest. For a long time, I tho

Open and honest questions create space for people to think, feel, and make sense of their own experience. I learned the value of this approach at home before I ever applied it in a professional setting. For many years, when my wife started to describe a problem, my instinct was to solve it. My attention focused on diagnosing the issue and responding with suggestions, based on the belief that helping meant offering answers. Over time, I realized that much of the time my wife w

Earlier in my career, I worked with someone who responded to feedback with silence. After I finished sharing my thoughts, there was no visible reaction. No nod. No follow-up question. No verbal acknowledgment. We would simply move on. Over time, I noticed how my mind began assigning meaning to that silence. I had a judgment: This feedback clearly is not valued. I formed an opinion: This person probably does not want coaching at all. I even thoughts to myself: Do you want this

In all my years of reading about, working with, listening to, and interviewing business leaders, it won’t come as a surprise that not one has ever suggested they chose their line of work because they love email. However, almost all of them acknowledge email is a big part of how work gets done in their organization and sending/receiving email accounts for a significant portion of their work day. Since email continues to be how work gets done in most organizations, we all need

Leadership is enacted through communication. When it comes to speaking, leaders have many opportunities to influence others from high-stakes strategy presentations to ceremonial remarks at internal functions and public events. Authentic leaders convince audiences to care and are better able to accomplish their goals. Boardroom presentations matter, but they only account for a small portion of a leader’s communication. Informal interactions during small meetings and ceremonial

While I was completing my MBA, I was also working for someone who taught me an important lesson about leadership and communication. During the orientation process, my supervisor reviewed with me a prepared list of her expectations. One of the categories she reviewed was communication. She shared how she liked to work with her employees, how often we would have one-on-one meetings, and how to decide whether a topic required face-to-face communication, a phone call, or an email

As I coach high achievers that are in the process of finding their professional identities, I’ve observed that some believe they need to...

The idea of a bucket list - things a person hopes to experience before they die - was popularized in the 2007 film The Bucket List. In...

Think of an interaction that has gone well for both you and the person you were communicating with. Now think of an interaction that didn’t go as well as you would have liked. In the first interaction, you were likely communicating from above the line. In the second, you were likely communicating from below the line. When we communicate from above the line, we are open to new ideas, we ask questions, and we are committed to growth and learning. Conversely, when we communicate

Think about someone you’ve met and admired but you have lost touch with. You may have shared a common interest with the person, they may have been there for you during an important moment, or you may have only had a brief conversation with them, but that conversation impacted you in a special way. These are often people we want to maintain relationships with, but for a variety of reasons we don’t. The good news is that it only takes a little effort on our part to reconnect. T