Quick Hits

Some countries are starting to legislate if and when work communications can happen. I asked Jona Ohm, Frank Galindo, and Brandon Mahoney what they thought. It is worth noting that we are all from and based in the US. It is possible that a conversation with a more international panel would have come to a different conclusion.

The two other Quick Hits I mentioned during the course of this discussion can be found here:

To learn about the panelists, please visit their LinkedIn profiles:

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on various subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me.

I approached this topic from a personal/individual standpoint while Rick Alcantara took the corporate/public angle. Dr. Bob Choat and Karen Loomis added great points and real-life stories as examples.

Do you have any tips for sharing bad news?

Thank you to all the panelist for sharing their insights and perspectives on this challenging subject. To learn about them, please visit their LinkedIn profiles:

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on various subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me.

The advice to "just shine your light" is common enough that there are memes about it. But there is also this idea that it is possible to make others look/feed badly by being "too good." 

The easiest example is someone feeling guilty for having dessert or a drink if you choose not to; but there are countless other situations where you might be asked to "dim your light" so others don't feel bad.

I ask Diane Helbig, Christina Kelley and Atif Agha for their thoughts on the subject. The conversation was different than I expected. That is part of what makes Quick Hits so much fun.

What do you think? Should we worry about "outshining" others?

This is the quote that Diane mentions: 

To learn about the panelists, please visit their LinkedIn profiles:

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on various subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me.

They are the same thing - sorta - both are letting someone know they did something incorrectly or that they can improve something. 

And yet, they aren't the same at all. After asking Audrey Cooper, Michelle Brady-Palmer, and Brandon Mahoney what they thought, it seems the difference is intent as well as how the information is received. 

It is entirely possible for someone to think they are giving feedback but for it to be taken as criticism or even as an attack.

In this conversation I shared an example of my trying to give someone feedback and them telling me I was wrong to feel the way I did.

Listen in and then let us know what you think. How do you distinguish between feedback and criticism? 

To learn about the panelists, please visit their LinkedIn profiles:

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on various subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me.

Change is a reality of life and being able to roll-with-the-punches is one of the few things that keeps stress at a minimum and happiness at a maximum. 

I asked Domenico Ciarallo, Diane Lang and David Horsewood for their thoughts on what mental flexibility actually is and how to better incorporate it into our lives.

Listen in and then let us know what role mental flexibility plays in or doesn't in you life. 

To learn about the participants, please visit their LinkedIn profiles:

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on various subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me.

#stressmanagement #reslience #grit

I feel like small talk is an easy and useful part of regular interaction. By contrast, my husband is not a fan of it at all. I asked Doreen McGettigan and Stewart Wiggins about their experience and how they use small talk. Near the end of our conversation they even had a little impromptu small talk conversation that turned out to be a great example of why small talk is useful.

How do you use small talk in your every day life?

To learn about the panelists, please visit their LinkedIn profiles:

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on various subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me.

There seems to be a divide between people who think everyone should be tough-as-nails and just suck up abuse and those who think we should be kinder, gentler and leave space for each other. 

I grew up in the rub-some-dirt-on-it world. At the risk of being called a "snowflake" I tend to be in the second group now.

I invited Ed Samuel, Cole Galloway and Wayne Buckhanan, to have a conversation with me about psychological safety. It did my heart good to hear their thoughts and where they stand on this subject.

What does psychological safety mean to you and  who do you think is responsible for creating it?

To learn about the panelists, please visit their LinkedIn profiles:

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on various subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me.

#psychologicalsafety #psychologicalwellbeing #snowflake #psychologicalhealth #psychologicalabuse #safety

We know we "shouldn't" allow other people to control our emotions but when it comes to shame, some people seem to have a direct line to us feeling less-than.

I asked Deidré Wallace, Gareth Russell and Tiffany DuBois-Morales for their thoughts and experience with the intense emotions of shame and humiliation. The conversation went deep right from the start.

To learn about the panelists, please visit their LinkedIn profiles:

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on various subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me.

I invited James H. Lee, Rick Alcantara, and Atif Agha to share their experiences of the pros and cons of being friends at work.

By the end of the conversation I felt like I am more cautious and see more downside to close friendships in the workplace than my co-panelists seemed to express. 

What do you think? Is being friends with the boss or a vendor a bad idea?

Also of note - my stopwatch failed to start at the beginning of this conversation so I had to guess at 10 mins. Which, sadly, made this conversation a bit shorter than it could have been.  

To learn about the participants, please visit their LinkedIn profiles:

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on various subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me.

#conflictofinterest #FriendsWithTheBoss #workethics

Maybe the 9-5 workday has always been a myth. Covid, global client lists and 2-day delivery have certainly changed the landscape of the hours people are expected to work.

I asked Simon Coles and James Blair their thoughts and experience with working hours and what they expect to see happen in the future. Simon opened with some really strong points and the conversation was off to the races.

What do you think? Are there still jobs that have set working hours? Will the 9-5 be a thing again at some point in the future?

To learn about the panelists, please visit their LinkedIn profiles:

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on various subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me.

#workinghours #overworked #worklifebalance