Imposter Syndrome Grows Up

  Alice’s Dilemma Alice enters the spacious, dimly lit hotel ballroom. She sees several conference attendees already gathered at the tables up front. On the stage a long table is set with the usual water pitchers, cups, and placards indicating who should sit where. She finds the placard with her name on it. She’ll be […]

Your Workplace “Weather Report”

I first notice the contrast in light – dark blue mountains in the background as the storm clouds grumble away – slapped into retreat by strong western sunlight.  And the lake is a blue expanse mirroring the mountains.  The foreground is bathed in the textured gold of a dry autumn meadow.  It’s the contrasts that […]

Verbal Interruptions: Office No-No? Maybe not…

I’m a interrupter. Guilty as charged. I have been working to correct that obnoxious practice of verbal interruptions for some time, but I have yet to be fully reformed.  I know cutting someone off mid-sentence is irritating.  I know that my diving headlong into my own point of view on a topic is really rude.  […]

Your #1 Weapon Against Blind Stupidity…..

Curiosity is the opposite of fear. You hear that Love is the opposite – well ok, but in actual experience, love is too big a stretch. All kinds of people can claim they “love” the disabled or Muslims or old hippies, but in that context, the L word is almost meaningless. Genuine curiosity on the […]

3 Bias Busters to use BEFORE you make that Next Important Decision….

I get to facilitate a fascinating discussion on Explicit and Implicit Bias in a University setting next week.  The focus is on implementing more diversity in hiring for tenured faculty positions – particularly in STEM subjects, which, over the last 20 years, have shown a whopping 5% improvement in populating University faculty with instructors other […]