As a leader, you set the bar of excellence for your business and organization.

If you have a mindset that is about continually learning, improving and growing, then you are more than likely looking at your habits and making decisions of what to continue or change. If you are a bit fearful of change, which we all can be at times, there might be some habits that are allowing fear to have more of a voice than it should. When that happens, try shifting your perspective on change – it’s neither good or bad, it just IS.

It’s the start of another workweek, and you are getting settled at your desk to start the day.

You have your morning tea or coffee in hand and are probably scrolling through your to-do list or emails before you tackle an assignment or head to a meeting.

You come to work to make good things happen, so you want to be as productive as possible.

But do you really know what’s expected of you? Check out part two of this two-part series to make certain you do.

Although it may seem like semantics, the difference is key. When you play to win, you are willing to push yourself.

You're willing to move completely out of your comfort zone, even if you're nervous. You ask for help and trust your teammates to do their part. You have a “can do” mindset, so you are open to possibilities and solutions. You make decisions based on the belief that you will succeed, not out of fear. 

When you play not to lose, you're timid in your actions, and you're not willing to take some risks.

The fear of failure is taking up too much energy, and you may be inadvertently holding yourself back. Playing not to lose also allows that inner critic to get louder and louder and be more in control than that still knowing on the inside and trusting yourself.

But just think – whatever these big, out of your comfort zone goals are - when you show up as the leader you know you are and you’re playing to win – then when you achieve them, it...

It’s the start of another workweek, and you are getting settled at your desk to start the day.

You have your morning tea or coffee in hand and are probably scrolling through your to-do list or emails before you tackle an assignment or head to a meeting.

You come to work to make good things happen, so you want to be as productive as possible.

But do you really know what’s expected of you? Check out this two-part series to make certain you do.

What's the "so what?"

So what does that mean?

When I was in the corporate world, I led many high level visibility projects, including employee recognition events and company trade shows.

And for each of these events, I’d ask what was the “so what?”

To put it another way, if I were to tell my boss or someone who might be expected to attend this event about it, and if they answered “So what – why do I care or want to be there?” I wanted to be able to answer it.

So – what IS the so what?

It’s the why behind the event or project. It’s the reason the event or project is important to do and in some cases, the reason it is appropriate at that time.

It’s the reason why someone wants to be there – not has to because their boss is expecting them to attend. It’s the reason why one project takes priority over another project.

The “so what” answers the question “What’s in it for me?”

It’s...

When you think about where you are in business or life, which word would you choose to describe it - surviving or thriving?

Let me share with you why I chose these two words and why one is where you would want your mindset to be as the CEO of your life. This was inspired by our youngest kitty, Cap'n Jack.

When we found him in 2016, he was between three and five weeks old, in a parking lot flower bed, limping for coverage under a large bush. Cap'n Jack would walk a couple of steps, then gingerly move his right back paw.

After some cajoling and help from a few other animal lovers, we got him and could see his right back paw was twice the size as the others and blue. We took him immediately to our vet who determined immediate surgery to amputate the wounded leg was necessary to save him.

Over the course of a few days, Cap'n Jack amazed me. The vet said within minutes of waking from surgery, he was up on all paws and moving. He seemed relieved and happy. Since then, he’s...

Let's set the stage a bit:  

It’s the start of the week, and you have a list a mile long full of tasks that need to be done.

You take a sip of your coffee (or in my case, tea) and wonder how you are going to get it all done.

Perhaps you start checking email, only to realize you need to make a phone call before you head to your first meeting – either virtual or in person.

After finishing the call, you realize you need to update a few notes to be ready for the meeting, but you still have to get this one email sent before you leave, so you switch gears again and finish the email.

Then with only a few minutes to spare, you scribble some thoughts on a sheet of paper and race to your meeting.

As the morning progresses and you are in another meeting, you realize there are some emails you want to check, so you decide that you can listen to the meeting and respond to a few emails, too.

Does this sound at all like something you’ve experienced?

If so, you probably...

You know your resume is a paper introduction to a potential employer.

You know its purpose is to enable you to stand out from the crowd of contenders and secure an interview.

So how can you improve the likelihood that YOUR resume is screened through?

You make it easy for the interviewer to get to know you by including a resume profile.

Ideally, the resume profile is created after you have clearly explained your work experience. It’s the equivalent of an abstract to a research paper or a book summary on the back or inside of the jacket.

The resume profile has three things:

• A summary statement brings all of your work experience together into a cohesive picture;
• Six to ten bullets that identify your overarching themes; and,
• Personality assessment results, if you have them.

Let’s break these down a little more.

The summary statement

The summary statement is a way to highlight your strongest skills and work experience, so that the hiring manager can get an...

Getting Started

Whether you are entering the workforce or changing jobs, there is one document that is your vehicle to being seen and getting your foot in the door for the interview, and that’s the resume.

There are so many styles and ways to display your skills, experience and extra activities, but if they are hard for the reader to digest or really understand what you did, then the resume is not working to your advantage.

So what can you do?

1) Make it easy to read

Although this may seem obvious, take some time to really look at how the information is laid out on the paper.
• Is the selected font a reasonable reading size and style?
• Is there enough white space to break up the text?
• Are there one or two words that could replace a phrase and still communicate clearly what you accomplished?

The easier the font, the use of white space to break up the text and streamlining words all enable your resume to be easier to read.

2) What's the “so what”?

...