DRIVEN Blog
Retooling My Brain, Part One: Tales of an Adrenaline Junkie
Last year, our specialist Kathleen Brady taught our community about the dynamics of energy. I’ve since been successful using the tools she offered to reframe situations in my life and shift my energy, resulting in a healthier attitude. I have…
3 Great Steps Toward Maximizing Time: My Lessons From Laura Vanderkam’s 168 Hours
Much acclaim is associated with Laura Vanderkam’s exploration of the myths, misconceptions, and outright misallocations of time that contribute to sabotaging our lifestyles. 168 Hours: You Have…
What I’m Reading: Farnoosh Torabi’s When She Makes More
I’ve been captivated by the topic, concept and possibilities of and for women as breadwinners for the past two years. I began researching it as I was founding Women’s Advancement Compact, inspired by the wish to see my niece Ashley feel the freedom...
EQ Times Seventy: Anger Sure Draws a Crowd
Anchin, Block & Anchin, LLC made their WAC event sponsoring debut last Wednesday, for a community event that I have been eagerly anticipating since the topical conversation between Ginny Brown and Deborah began a couple of months…
Mindful Change: The Habit-Forming Practice of Forming Habits
Growing up, the concept of a habit to me always assumed a negative connotation (smoking, swearing, cracking one’s knuckles). Now at age 40, I’m finally realizing the reason: in my experience, the word “habit” was, more often than not, preceded by “bad”— conceivably a…
Choose Your Hard
A few weeks ago I was struck by a quote I saw on a fitness website that I often visit. It said, “Losing weight is hard. Staying the same weight is hard. Gaining weight is hard. Choose your hard.” I’ve been thinking about that ever since…
Cold, Rain & Snow: Utilizing Down Time
The middle of last week saw bitter cold weather like New York hasn’t experienced in decades; you know what else it saw?….Me, making my way into the city from my toasty-warm suburban home, only to find Manhattan’s streets practically abandoned, and most of my…
Self-Compassion: My Word Of The Year
I’m savoring Olivia Fox Cabane’s book, The Charisma Myth. It’s like preaching to the converted. We totally see eye-to-eye on so many practices. My favorite: being present is a key to executive presence. Non-verbal communication is SO important…
Angry at Work: When Emotions Interfere with Progress
The workplace can be a fascinating study in emotion, principally in relation to anger. There are those coworkers who appear void of any angry tendencies, and those who seem to be the embodiment of rage, flying off the handle on a daily basis. We’ve all witnessed the…
Tool or Torment? Making Email Work for You
Ah, email etiquette. We read articles and hear talk show segments about it all the time, but how many of us truly put such thoughtful advice into practice? This special function has revolutionized the way we communicate in business but to our…
A Window of Opportunity for Anyone With a Boss
When I was first introduced to a self-improvement exercise named the Johari Window, my instinct was to group it in with the countless gimmicks associated with the self-help industry, and just move on. The name alone seemed a contrived attempt to tap into our hunger…
I’m Only Human, and Sometimes It Sickens Me
It can be argued that I am one of those people who inadvertently preach “do as I say, not as I do”. Evidence of this can be pinpointed in my advice to my colleagues, blog followers, friends and family that we all should make a strident effort to accommodate others, but…
How Assumptions Relate to Energy
Kathleen's quick lesson led to deep discussion.One thing is for sure: We all tend to make assumptions in life. What we fail to recognize when we act on those assumptions is that assumption is directly linked to perception— an enemy of focus, productivity, happiness and relationships. This proved a valuable…
The Trials and Tribulations of Working From Home
Things are changing in the workplace; working at home is becoming a more common occurrence. However, as appealing as working from home sounds, it requires a disciplined work ethic the same way an…
Powering Down Helped Empower Me Up!
I was determined and, frankly, a little scared. A colleague had challenged me to not only unplug for two full days, but to do NO WORK AT ALL for those days. I don’t consider myself a work-a-holic, but I do work every day. My logic is that by working ½-days on weekends, I won’t fall…
Citi Bike: The Most Efficient Way to Travel in NYC
Interacting with a city by bike is an optimal way to take in a landscape at eye level. A two-wheeled velocity keeps pace with urban streets and yet you move slow enough to observe and absorb the city’s unceasing energy. I rent a bike when visiting new places to achieve this very sensation. I can…
Divide and Conquer! Two observations and a conclusion
Office Support… Observation #1: In her book Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg references an incident in her life- where a male colleague cut her off during a meeting. Her boss came to the rescue by suggesting that Ms Sandberg hadn’t finished her thought. This was a moment in the book where some women could glaze over…
Polling Post #3: Put the Phone Down and Step Away Slowly
One of the questions asked during the Women’s Advancement Compact kick-off event was: When was the last time you unplugged? While some scoffed at the notion of turning off their blackberry, iPhone, iPad, laptops, etc., others might have come to the harsh realization that…
The Women's Advancement Compact Launch: An Inspiring Night to be Remembered by Many!
High Energy Networking, Thought Provoking Conversation, and Great Food & Wine – oh my. An energized crowd overfilled the room at Alston & Bird on Thursday, May 9th to join the Women’s Advancement Compact launch and recognize our new community. David Wolfskehl verbalized the precise goal of the evening when he conveyed: “within 10 seconds…
An Action Oriented Discussion with Dr. Anne Marie Slaughter
At the Princeton Club on April 10, 2013 Hearing Dr. Anne Marie Slaughter and Andrew Romano speak about work/life balance at the Princeton Club left me energized, hopeful, and armed with an action plan. When Dr. Slaughter analogized this paradigm shift to the evolution of smoking- from commonplace to near extinct, I understood that advancement begins slowly.…