the uplift

Here's a peek at Getting Clear Within: Module Two of The Leadership Academy. I explain the half-dozen frameworks you'll learn, and the ways you'll apply them, to practice leadership grounded in trust, psychological safety, inclusion, equity, marketing (gasp!) and old-fashioned kindness. I talk a bit about the research, authors, and ideas behind the content; and share the story of how I learned the importance of talking about your own leadership. For you Badgers trained in the English Dept, this episode is also kind of a love letter to Brad Hughes. 🧡

Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

I also coach women leaders (individually and in groups) and facilitate campus workshops. Learn more at the website.

Have a question about whether I can help you? Just ask! I actually love getting emails from listeners. 🧡

Today I preview Getting Clear Within: Module One of The Leadership Academy. This module guides you in the reflective self-examination that is key to values-based leadership, setting the foundation for you to be an exceptional leader. I give you a sneak peek into the content; talk about the research, authors, and ideas behind the content; and share why I take this approach to helping people build a values-based leadership practice. I also swear a few times. 🧡

Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

I also coach women leaders (individually and in groups) and facilitate campus workshops. Learn more at the website.

Have a question about whether I can help you? Just ask! I actually love getting emails from listeners. 🧡

Meet Archibald McBacon VII, aka Bacon! He's our family's fourth dog, and after 22 years of raising pups - including a year of running a side hustle on Rover - I'm pretty convinced that everything I learned about leadership I learned from our pups. 🐶

Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

I also coach women leaders (individually and in groups) and facilitate campus workshops. Learn more at the website.

Have a question about whether I can help you? Just ask! I actually love getting emails from listeners. 🧡

When PWIs use "race" as the primary signifier of diversity, we burden our colleagues with black and brown skin and reify structural and behavioral racism. We can do better.

Thinking about diversity along two dimensions -- identity diversity and cognitive diversity -- gives us a framework for unleashing all the creative power of everybody in the room, giving them the room and respect to bring their full selves -- all aspects of their identities -- to bear.

Research shows that teams high in cognitive diversity -- especially when identity diversity is present -- are better, faster, and more accurate as problem-solvers.

The key? Psychological safety.

Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

I also coach women leaders (individually and in groups) and facilitate campus workshops. Learn more at the website.

Have a question about whether I can help you? Just ask! I actually love getting emails from listeners. 🧡

You have a strategic plan. You work with focus on your institutional goals and priorities. But when sudden, surprising, big paradigm-shifting stuff happens, you're not prepared.

We've all been there.

We just spent the last two years there, muddling through the pandemic and the way it forced us to make quick decisions with insufficient time to plan.

There's another way, though: using stories to develop scenarios about potential futures, and then "rehearsing" those futures as a means of preparing -- deciding what impact these stories will have for our industry and your institution, and determining ahead of time how you might respond.

You can even use scenario planning in conjunction with your strategic plan. In fact, scenario planning can help you be even more effective with your mid- and long-term strategies because the stories you create will help you prepare for changes as they emerge, making it easier to pivot and still get where you want to go.

In this episode I'll walk you through seven steps you can take to get to good stories about the future by convening diverse teams, preparing them to be vulnerable, and keeping your stories alive. I've also included a free "tip sheet" for you -- a guide to what your planning could look like -- that you can download, share with your team, and use as a starting point.

Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

I also coach women leaders (individually and in groups) and facilitate campus workshops. Learn more at the website.

Have a question about whether I can help you? Just ask! I actually love getting emails from listeners. 🧡

Today I explore the intersection of power, competence, courage, and perception for women leaders on college campuses, specifically in light of the Dobbs decision to strip women's rights. This exploration involves talking about Liz Cheney, Brett Kavanaugh, a person's right to privacy and bodily autonomy, and what you can do about it as a leader on a college campus.

I share excerpts from a few statements made by inspiring campus leaders around the country - including a student association - and help you prepare to lead from your values as students and colleagues return to campus.

Links to everything in the shownotes!

Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

I also coach women leaders (individually and in groups) and facilitate campus workshops. Learn more at the website.

Have a question about whether I can help you? Just ask! I actually love getting emails from listeners. 🧡

Today’s long and rambly title kinda reflects the episode content. This July 4th I’m meandering through my past as a student, and taking some time to look at the three institutions where I  studied – three places where I was particularly vulnerable as a low-income student with no family support – and exploring their responses to Dobbs because I wonder and worry about their students now.

Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

I also coach women leaders (individually and in groups) and facilitate campus workshops. Learn more at the website.

Have a question about whether I can help you? Just ask! I actually love getting emails from listeners. 🧡

Last January I found myself in a terrible situation: I couldn’t take a scheduled week of vacation because my workload was too heavy, in part because my calendar was double-, triple, and sometimes even quadruple-booked. (No lie.)

I’ve spent the last six months fixing that problem and creating systems to prevent it from ever happening again. In this episode I share those tips so you can learn from my mistakes, and plan instead for a rockin’ success of a fall semester. 

In this episode I share my top four tips for approaching your leadership practice to keep you in control and on top of things.

Tip 1: Instead of protecting your time, create your ideal week. 

Tip 2: Instead of letting others control your pace, create white space in your day.

Tip 3: Instead of accepting additional tasks, swap them for meaningful assignments.

Tip 4: Instead of acting like you’re broke, gather and spend your assets. 

To learn more about creating your ideal week -- a calendar-free way to control your calendar -- check out the resources below: 

Amy Porterfield’s Podcast, “Online Marketing Made Easy,” episode #433: How To Create An Ideal Week for Optimal Focus, Productivity, & Well-Being.

Michael Hyatt: How to Better Control Your Time by Designing Your Ideal Week.

Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

I also coach women leaders (individually and in groups) and facilitate campus workshops. Learn more at the website.

Have a question about whether I can help you? Just ask! I actually love getting emails from listeners. 🧡

Hey, welcome back! Today I’m taking a piece of advice from Gretchen, who I met at an event hosted by Doyenne Group in Madison, WI.  Gretchen mentioned to me that she and her husband talk about what it means to be an ally to a female colleague in your academic department. And she suggested that I develop some materials specifically to help folks know what, specifically, they can do to be allies. 

If you want to read the full transcript of the podcast, it's posted on my site at https://theclareogroup.com/blog/#blog.

And/or you can nab the handout I created, Five Ways to be Her Ally, here. All I ask in return is for your email address so we can stay connected. It's a full-color .pdf for you to print out and hang in your office, or even (ahem) on your department's bulletin board. 

In the show I also promised to direct you to the amazing work of Scott Page at the University of Michigan. I listened to Scott's book, The Diversity Bonus, on Audible and it blew my mind. The hard copy is now on my bookshelf. I can't wait to dig in to even more of his work. 

If you're here just for my five tips for being an ally to the women in your department, here they are: 

Tip 1: Halt the He-Peats

Tip #2: Redistribute Housekeeping

Tip #3: Give Her a Power Task

Tip #4: Compliment Her Mind, Not Her Manners

Tip #5: Praise Her Publicly, Especially When She’s Not in the Room

And finally, consider joining us in The Leadership Academy or even The Leadership Community! These are not your typical professional development workshops, and I do accept payment from your institution. Learn more at my website: www.theclareogroup.com. I really hope to see you there!

Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

I also coach women leaders (individually and in groups) and facilitate campus workshops. Learn more at the website.

Have a question about whether I can help you? Just ask! I actually love getting emails from listeners. 🧡

If you’re leading people in any capacity you have likely already experienced some sort of tension between what you want to do based on your sense of right and wrong, and what you’re being asked to do on behalf of the institution. What do you do when someone on your team – and maybe even you – would benefit if you could make the decision you want? How do you decide when to speak up, speak out, push back? To whom, and how loudly? How do you find the balance between representing the institution as expected from someone in your role, and representing the core of who you are? 

When you make decisions based on your values, you’ll come that much closer to leading with joy.

Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

I also coach women leaders (individually and in groups) and facilitate campus workshops. Learn more at the website.

Have a question about whether I can help you? Just ask! I actually love getting emails from listeners. 🧡