Activating the best of you!

Local Writer’s Fascinating Stories of West Sonoma County

Dear Readers, I’m learning that Sonoma County has a bounty of unique and creative people with unusual career paths and a mix of great talents.One of those is Andrea Granahan, who has been living, writing and working in Sonoma’s west county for decades. She just wrote a truly wild and wonderful book of true stories […]

Holiday parties in these sensitive times

Dear Readers, Last year I wrote about some Do’s and Don’ts for your office holiday parties; including some light-hearted and humorous messages about not dressing ‘sexy’ or drinking too much, not getting stoned or high, or mistakenly thinking you were partying with your friends. But it was written a bit tongue-in-cheek, knowing that there might […]

Another career phase: Retirement

Dear Readers, Retirement is not a period. Retirement is a comma! Many people go into retirement planning for up until the day they retire. They put a lot of time reviewing the financial aspects of retiring, carefully considering where they will live, and they might make some travel plans. What’s missing? What’s missing is that […]

Good boss, bad boss -Different leadership styles after the fire.

Dear Readers, The wide range of human behavior never ceases to amaze me! BAD BOSS Yesterday I was talking to a someone who works for a large Santa Rosa organization that was severely impacted by the fires. He was complaining about his manager, the new executive director.  The executive director was a fairly new hire […]

A Community in Stress Goes Back to Work After the Sonoma County Fires

Dear Readers, Everywhere I turn, from family to friends, to colleagues and acquaintances, I hear the following complaints and concerns:    * exhaustion  * headaches  * distraction * irritability  * anxiety and fears  * memory problems *  disorientation        * sleeping issues  * eating issues * depression Not surprising that our county’s mental health […]

After the Sonoma County Fires: How Can We Get Along at Work?

Dear Readers, Getting back to work after the devastating fire is not easy. It’s most difficult for those who lost their homes and those that are still displaced. But all of us in the NorCal fire region are experiencing collective grief and weariness.  Given that stress, how do we strive to get along? We are […]

NorCal Fires: How Do We Get Back to Work?

Dear Readers, How the heck do we get back to work after the devastating fires that hit our community? Some of us had our houses burn to the ground. Most of us have friends, family and community members who have suffered great losses. Businesses, parks and lands have gone up in flames. Some neighborhoods and […]

Learn how to get right to the point. It’s a 1-2-3 strategy.

Dear Readers, Do you ever find yourself rambling on when a question has been posed? Have you ever been in an interview, answering a question and as you’re talking you realize you have no idea where you’re going? If you’ve had this problem, you are not alone! Many clients in job seeking mode admit that […]

We Make Mistakes at Work. Then What?

Dear Readers, This is a sticky topic and one that most people prefer to stay away from: Errors at Work. We all make errors; they are part of normal human functioning. We are not error-free beings. But the magnitude of the mistake and how it is perceived and responded to by our bosses,  managers or supervisors, […]