Not too long ago, a new friend and I came to the hilarious realization that we had both worked for the same difficult boss at some point in our careers. We laughed and laughed as we compared and contrasted: How did you handle him when he... Did he ever tell you to... How did you survive????? It was a funny moment. But neither of us found it remotely funny when we were working for him. You know the situation. Your boss is disorganized, conflict-avoidant, takes credit for your

I had quite a few mentors early in my career. They were lovely people who saw something in me and were willing to spend time guiding and advising whenever I asked. I was even a part of a mentorship group where a few of us women met once per month to talk about our careers. I will always value the effort they made and the kindness they showed. The thing is though, none of those mentors had the power to actually get me promoted. Who did? My sponsors. Those were the people in se

I remember the first time I saw office politics in action. I was 25 years old and in my first real job as a marketing analyst at a newspaper company. I was thrilled to be invited to a meeting where senior leaders were discussing how to position the paper for the 21 st  century (yes, I’m that old). The advertising department had their view, the newsroom had their view, the circulation department had their view, and there was a lot of fascinating conversation.  Then the publish

I bet you've been in this situation. You've been in back-to-back meetings all morning when your phone buzzes. It's a colleague (who you actually really like) asking if you can "jump on a quick call" to review something or other. Your calendar is already packed and you're up against a 3:30 PM deadline. Your fingers hover over the keyboard, and you catch yourself typing: "I'm so sorry, but..." Stop. Right. There. Why "Sorry" Undermines Your Professional Boundaries When you apol

You're good at your job. You deliver results. You've earned your seat at the table. But something feels off. Often, your ideas get attributed to someone else. Your contributions are overlooked in meetings. You're given plenty of work to do, but no raises or promotions go along with it. You might be experiencing unconscious bias— and trust me, it's not in your head . Unconscious bias refers to the automatic associations and stereotypes that influence how people perceive and ev

GUEST POST by ALI MILLER, The Ethical Aesthete Have you ever agonized over an interview outfit? Thought twice about mascara at work? Skipped a pencil skirt that could alert colleagues you've been doing squats? Oh, hi. You must be a woman. I know because I'm a woman, too. I too have made the thousand quiet, sometimes even subconscious, calculations about putting my "best foot forward" — from how far forward to whether that shoe is too sexy for work. Why are we doing this? Are

I once watched a colleague hover over the send button of an email for about 10 minutes. What was she doing? Reading it over and over. And over. I watched another colleague miss a critical launch deadline for a website because he was debating a 5 pixel difference in the size of a logo. That's an unrecognizable difference to most people. I once spent so much time obsessing over a Powerpoint document that I literally fell asleep with my laptop open and my finger on the track pad

Why people-pleasing might be sabotaging your leadership—and what to do about it.