Niki’s Notes February 9, 2023

Hi,

How’s your February going? Mine’s kinda awesome. Celebrated another birthday (whew, made it!) and am excited about launching the Philadelphia chapter of The Connective. I’m going to be sending information to the business development executives and other leaders in my network. If you don’t see an email about this, and are interested in learning more, please reach out. I’ll be happy to tell you why I’m so excited and what it can mean for your business.

This week’s shares are a hodge podge but sometimes there’s a theme I don’t see, so if you see a pattern I missed, shout it out! 😊

• Let’s talk a bit about Imposter Syndrome, because it’s a topic that seems to rise and fall in the mainstream media, and for some reason, I’m seeing a lot about it again lately.

What I’d like to do this time around is to suggest that even if you aren’t currently, or have ever, experienced this phenomenon, please read these 3 pieces from different perspectives on the topic and think if there is anyone in your circle: on your team at work, among your friends and family, etc. who may be having bouts of confidence issues that they are internalizing and perceiving as unique. You may find opportunities to help them see around this common syndrome that affects people of all ages:

• From The New Yorker: deep, long piece that presents imposter syndrome in a different light that is all about 3 perspectives of self.

• From one of my marketing agency’s team members who presented their views without a byline for our company blog (three cheers for bringing up the topic and working through it with us).

• And this from one of my favorite communications coaches, Michael Piperno. It’s not specifically about imposter syndrome, but rather a call for honesty around a core truth: sometimes there’s no lesson in a failure—it just sucks. When we can be “real” about that and not seek to soothe ourselves by uncovering a lesson in the crap, we do ourselves and others a favor by dealing in the reality of the situation and not the “social media wonderful” view of it. Nobody is perfect, and sometimes there is no silver lining. That’s okay too. You can’t feel like an imposter if you’re facing the highs and the lows of reality with equal balance.

• EVERYONE appreciates being appreciated. That shouldn’t surprise any of us. But did you know that 74% of the executive women surveyed by Chief about leaving the workforce in 2022 said that feeling more valued would be a reason to make them consider staying. 74%!!! Other big issues: pay transparency and promotions. Insightful research and analysis, read more here.

• I had lunch with a business associate recently, and she arrived a little rattled by an incredibly rude person she had unfortunately, inadvertently ruffled. I felt for her, because it’s so seldom that we directly interact with a truly rude stranger. And then I saw this BuzzFeed piece with readers sharing similar experiences with people who are quite cluelessly going about their lives. Just had to share so we can collectively shake our heads and send some good energy their way in the hope they redeem themselves.

• Logitech has developed booths that provide more immersive video calls to better simulate being in a room with others. I think it’s cool, but somehow not cool enough. If we need the booths, it harkens to phone booths for me. Anyone else with me on this throwback innovation?

Do Good Spotlight
🌟 Episcopal Community Services Philadelphia 🌟

Episcopal Community Services Philadelphia transforms communities by helping people improve their lives and achieve economic independence. Some of their impactful programs include programs for kids after school, rapid re-housing, and health and wellness. See their impact: Episcopal Community Services Philadelphia.

• New study out from Scoop: The Flex Report. Offers lots of data culled from 4,000 companies employing more than 100 million people about the state of hybrid work in the US. Sliced and diced and great visuals for easy digestion.

• This quick, thinky piece by Ryan Wong for Fast Company talks about the issues from 2022 that are continuing into 2023, with a focus on, you guessed it, where, how, and why we work. Here’s a snippet: “But time on the clock is a poor indicator of performance, especially for creative roles. In fact, Stanford researchers have shown that while quantifying simple tasks, like some steps of manufacturing, can improve productivity, attempts to quantify complex work actually drives productivity down.”

• Luciana Paulise, writing for Forbes, talks about the leaderships skills necessary for growing teams regardless of the physical environment they work in. Good thoughts, including this, “5) Support team in understanding and defining their own metrics. Understand and share results, monitor, and verify them as a team. As a result, employees will know better and detect faster what requires attention in their processes.” [Me: Output can no longer be judged by time. We’ve got to build systems around measuring what counts and time to complete a task is no longer a reasonable metric.]

That’s it for this week’s issue. I hope, as always, that I’m sharing info and insights that make your job as a leader easier and perhaps more fulfilling, too. We’re in this together. Keep your energy at a good frequency and look for opportunities to help someone else. Don’t forget to ask for help when you need it.

Niki