“I am a really good #2. I don’t want to be #1.” “I really love the job I’m in and don’t want my boss’s job. It just seems too political.” “I think I could do my boss’s job, but I don’t really want that much stress in my life right now.” “My kids are young, I’m already working as hard as I can, I...
Coaching Advice
6 Lessons Learned on the Work Life Jungle Gym
Sheryl Sandberg contributed many valuable insights to professional women in her book, Lean In. The one that hit me most squarely was her analogy of a career as a jungle gym instead of a ladder. Truer words have never been written, and I think this is a major contribution to the discussion of...
Career Burnout: 3 Signs You Are At Risk
I’ve always admired the leaders of get it done, change the world companies and their CEOs; companies like Apple, Facebook and Spanx. But before I get too starry-eyed and wanting to emulate leaders like Jobs, Sandberg and Blakely I have to stop and remind myself that 96% of corporate leaders are...
3 Leadership “Truths” Women Should Ignore
Leadership advice runs rampant on the internet, which is fine because most of it comes from a place of wisdom and reflection. If you’re a woman aspiring to lead, however, there is one tiny problem with this spew of “how to” and “Top 10” lists. Since our dominant leadership culture is male,...
Manage Your Time and Your Sanity
Time management isn’t just an issue for busy executives. When you’re in the volunteering stage of your work-life it is a much needed skill. Volunteers often over-extend themselves and also feel that they should be able to complete 99 tasks and projects at home just because they are not “working”...
Executives: 10 Tips for Working With Them
By: Lea McLeod At some point in your career, it’s inevitable that you will discover the opportunity to work with executives. Whether it’s a joy or a trial is up to you. It could be an executive in your organization, the executive of a customer or maybe even a big donor in your non-profit. No...
That’s Not Who I Am
Yesterday morning I had coffee with a fellow mindfulness teacher in the tiny town of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. As we swapped stories about how we were led to this work, she spoke of helping couples who had been through some sort of trauma – an affair, addiction, etc. – but were trying to repair...
How Being A Working Mother Made Me A Better Leader (Part I)
My second son just graduated High School and heads off to VA Tech next Fall. He’s the last one out of the nest and it’s got me thinking about the first half of my parenting life – the half where they are children. I’m grateful for so many things about being a parent, not the least of which is...
How To Excel At Work In 3 Easy Steps
We've all been there. Having a great day. Checking things off the to do list. Then boom! You hit a wall worse than a marathoner bonking at mile 20. You want to crawl under the desk. It takes an hour to get back to the same level of productivity. That's an hour you’ve either lost or you have to...
9 Steps to Changing Careers and Getting the Life You Want
There are two questions I get asked most frequently when I meet new people and tell them my story. The first is, “Why did you decide to leave law?” and the second is, “How did you make the change?” I recently got an email from a woman explaining that she was stuck in her career path but she wasn’t...








