Why am I doing this? At some point in your career, you’ll ask yourself this question. It might be triggered by the pressure of relentless deadlines, or an executive who expects you to be available 24 hours a day, or a daily assignment that never sparks joy. Early in my career, I worked as a […]
Read More… from Is It Worth It? Focus On Your Goals To Navigate A Career Lull
Slowly. Slowly. I’ve been seeing a lot of high-energy motivational posts with the start of 2023, messages that encourage me to believe that I can be/achieve/lose/gain whatever I set my mind to, as long as I don’t wait. But, in my experience, it’s the slow and steady, gutting-it-out approach that is much more effective. Careers […]
Read More… from Stepping Into The New Year: Moving With Purpose On The Spiral Staircase
My first real experience with negotiating happened very early in my career. A consulting firm offered me three times my salary if I would leave my employer and join their organization. I loved my job, but this was a significant pay increase, so I went to my manager, tenured my resignation, and explained why I […]
Read More… from Ask For What You Want: Tactics For Successful Negotiating
I bristle a bit when I’m asked to asked to speak to the “quest for authenticity,” especially in the context of women’s leadership. I’ve seen authenticity and vulnerability depicted as uniquely female skills that are even described as leadership “superpowers.” But my worry is that authenticity and vulnerability are often oversimplified or conflated in a […]
Read More… from Authenticity Is Overrated: Building A More Effective Leadership Style
Whenever I speak with women about the importance of taking ownership of their career, I think about a conversation with my dad. This conversation happened when I was in college. We were talking together, and I was complaining about something. I don’t remember what had upset me that day, but I’ll never forget how my […]
Read More… from Take Control: Questions To Help You Advocate For Yourself
Dear Leanne, I’ve been with my current employer for five years. I consistently receive top performance evaluations. I’m always willing to go the extra step, work weekends, and take on projects no one else wants. Yesterday, I saw that my company has posted a senior-level opportunity that I’m fully qualified for. I can’t believe that […]
Read More… from Ask Leanne: What’s So Bad About Being Perfect?
For most of my life, the end of summer and the arrival of fall have signaled the beginning of a new year. It’s easy to measure the passage of time when you put on a school uniform and realize that it no longer fits, or discover that the backpack that worked well in elementary school […]
This summer, I’ve been speaking at diversity and inclusion conferences and women’s leadership forums and sharing strategies to help women accelerate their professional success. It’s a topic that I explore in my new book, Climbing the Spiral Staircase. After many months spent working remotely and finalizing the book’s content, I’ve been grateful not only for the […]
Read More… from Intentional Networking: Building Purposeful Networks Of Influence
Auslaut. Erysipelas. Saxicolous. Geeldikkop. Before you reach for your Translate app, you should know that these words are all English. They are also a few of the words that have been successfully spelled by winners of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. It’s that time of year when spellers from across the country and around the […]
It’s graduation season, with commencement celebrations and speeches and plenty of photo ops of proud students. Milestones like these are important—a way to acknowledge a significant ending and a beginning of a new chapter—and I’ve been delighted to learn that many new grads are being gifted with a copy of my book, Climbing the Spiral Staircase. Those […]