After "poaching" my handyman, my neighbor begged me to spill my secrets in a blog post. She said she never bothers vetting contractors anymore—if I hire them, they must be good. She also couldn’t understand how I manage to find the best people while juggling work, kids, and life chaos. The truth? Years of running high-stakes sourcing operations in my supply chain career have made me a master at sniffing out the best suppliers—whether it's for a multimillion-dollar project or fixing a dishwasher flood in my kitchen. And trust me, last year put my skills to the test. Between a challenging teen, health issues, a flagship product launch, layoffs, and a house that seemed determined to self-destruct (think: water damage, electrical fire, appliance issues, rats, termites, black mold—you name it), I had to streamline my contractor-finding process. The result? I found great contractors, saved about 20%, and stayed (mostly) sane.

A fellow executive came to me for advice. Her company was restructuring, and she had two choices—accept a role that felt meh... or take a package that would let her step away for a year. My response? Definitely don’t do the thing that resembles the grim reaper. And if it were me? I’d take the year off in a heartbeat before finding a new role.

A good friend recently let me know that someone was trying to ruin my professional reputation. It was hard to not feel bad. While we hopefully never have to experience public shame like Monica Lewinsky, we all know how it feels to take hits to our ego. I hope by sharing how I navigated my emotional landmines in this situation, you can quickly get to lighter, happier place the next time someone takes a swing at you.

Ever wonder why some of your goals are easily achieved while others remain unobtainable? The key to successful goal attainment is to empower your subconscious mind to achieve the goal for you. However, letting your subconscious mind take ownership of your goals isn’t 100% straightforward. The subconscious requires a certain set of conditions to get the job done. By incorporating these tips, you will achieve your goals with more fun, less grind and better results.

Adding some simple habits into your week can free you from fear and enable you to do what you love.

The majority of us go to work to raise our families and maintain our lifestyles.  If you have been in the workforce, you have likely experienced layoffs, reorganizations or worked for people who fill you with dread.  We have all experienced the fear of being let go or having to make soul sucking decisions to pay the mortgage.…

Sharing my approach towards facing hard decisions. Whether it is tough decisions about sustaining your business or personal career choices in these uncertain times...hope you find this framework helpful.

A former employee, Kay, recently reached out to me for coaching. She was leaning towards walking away from her heart’s desire for certainty…

Thoughts on surviving and thriving as a working Mom.

If you are an ambitious woman, one challenge is that the biological clock ticks loudest typically right around the time you've gained enough experience to be up for a major promotion…

What feedback about your leadership style has followed you throughout the years and how do you challenge yourself to grow over your career?

For the first decade or so the consistent feedback I received was “I’m intimidating”.  I was valued for my intellect and drive, but only other A type, analytical thinkers enjoyed working with me.  Luckily I had many great (and a great many) managers giving me feedback…

Thinking about authenticity, showing that you’re connecting in the moment is huge. Knowing many leaders, particularly in the tech industry feel compelled to always be on and tied to their phones, what’s your personal philosophy on being available via email and mobile? What do you expect of your team and/or peer group?

In any endeavor, whether you are leading a multi-billion dollar organization, rebuilding an engine or cleaning a bathroom, focus and clear thinking results in great work.  I’m very clear when I introduce myself to a new team that our focus is everyday bringing our greatest version of leadership and every moment should be spent supporting the organization’s trajectory.  Very rarely does that mean that we should be consumed with email every waking hour and sitting in bad meetings responding to email….

How do you create a high performing team using genuine or authentic leadership?

High performing teams are teams with PURPOSE and TRUST. Truly high performing teams don’t need a principal leader; each team member leads within their area of expertise or capability. A “leader” can help inspire and focus the group on a shared PURPOSE…

How do you look to assess one’s high-performance capability with candidates using your genuine and direct approach during the interview process?

Interviewing is unfortunately flawed.  There are people who just can’t verbally communicate their talent and others who are great at telling you what you want to hear, or better yet, let you do all the talking.  But, for lack of a better means of assessing the unknown, there are three questions I explore to at least try to assess if they are right for the organization…