Hi,

The leaves are changing, and the smell of pumpkin spice is everywhere. Even if it’s not your favorite season, enjoy walks in the crisp air, pull up your chair to a firepit, and enjoy a warming drink (or two) with good friends.

We were a bit short on content to share last week and have made up for it this week, so let’s jump right into the list of content sets I thought you’d enjoy as you lead your team through the challenges of 2021 with compassion, EQ, and with your sights set on the future:

• How many of “you” do you bring to work every day? According to this article by Roxanne Fequiere from Chief about the work of Ritu Bhasin, only your adapted self should be showing up. As a leader, bringing your adaptive self-empowers your team to bring their best business selves too.
• Facebook released another deep dive report into small businesses and the effect of the pandemic. While there has been some recovery, there are still ways to go.
• Everyone has blind spots, and leaders are no exception. I had a situation many years ago with a toxic manager who reported to me. They were well behaved in my presence, not so when I was not in the room, so I didn’t realize there was a problem until team members bravely approached me about it. I had no idea what they were going through and will always be grateful they trusted me to listen to them. If you think it can’t happen in your company, you’re already on a path to major headaches. This Harvard Business Review piece by Mita Mallick talks about what to do when your employees are being “gaslighted” by their manager.
• I saw this article about how a teen’s TikTok video accidentally disrupted surveys by the survey platform called Prolific. And then coincidentally, I met someone from a new kind of survey platform for businesses called RAADZ. The basic premise is they use gamification techniques and rewards to survey employees or consumers about what they think others think, rather than asking the respondents what they themselves believe. I’m still getting my head around their process and the outcomes, but it’s intriguing so I wanted to share it here.
• The New York Times introduces Jonathan Malesic’s essay with the header: The Pandemic reminded us: We exist to do more than just work.” The essay is entitled, “The Future of Work Should Mean Working Less,” and it talks about the various reactions people everywhere are having about work and what work means to them. The dignity in work. The lack of appreciation for work and workers. How people do—or don’t—internalize work. It’s wide ranging and there are lots of alarms being sounded that you will want to be more aware of than you may already be. There’s no such thing as “business as usual” and this piece does a great job of amplifying many voices. We need to be listening…
• If you plan on spending more of your rediscovered time with friends, have you really checked in on your friend count lately? Think about it for a moment…do you have a lot of great connections but not so many you would call friends? How do you make friends as an adult? This article from Fast Company talks about why our close friends tend to be people we met in our earlier years and why it’s a challenge to add meaningful relationships as we get older. If you’re yearning for real friendships beyond your business connections and current social circle, especially if you’ve recently relocated, Art Markman offers 3 great strategies.
• Has your business been impacted by the childcare worker shortage? If it hasn’t yet, it may be. As hourly workers in many industries begin to make strides for better wages, those industries are pulling workers from daycare and elder care. This is putting added strain on working parents. This piece in the Washington Post does a good job of outlining what’s going on. If your business relies on hourly workers, directly or indirectly, you’ll want to stay on top of this trend.

Do Good Spotlight on: HealthLink Dental

We learned about this organization through our association with 100 Women Who Care (Bucks County), a network supporting charities. HealthLink Dental is a free dental clinic serving uninsured, low-wage earning adults and veterans in Bucks and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania. We donated and here’s where you can learn more about the good works being performed by HealthLink.

I hope this issue got you thinking in new directions or deeper into important angles you were already considering. Please let me know how you’re doing, feel free to suggestion not-for-profits for us to feature in upcoming issues, and remember: Stay Strong, Stay Focused, Stay Successful!