As I was proofreading my son’s book report last night, I thought about how written communication is a window into our personality. My son had a few misspelled words and a word or two that was missing a letter altogether. It wasn’t the neatest either. He’s 13 and always does things in a hurry, just like his dad. This is evident in his book report and most areas of his life, including his messy room. On that note, I thought about resumes and how they also provide a glimpse into who we are. I facilitate an online career development class
The sink is piled high with dishes. The trash is overflowing. Laundry hasn’t been done in days. The baby is crying, and the third grader needs help with homework. And my husband is playing Xbox. I don’t want to have to ask for help, I want him to notice I need help and do it. My urge for him to read my mind and miraculously unload the dishes and clean out the sink without me having to ask is temporarily outweighed by how bad the dishes piled up are bothering me. “Could you empty the dishwasher and reload it, please?”
“Would you rather me 1) give you a high five or 2) work on a puzzle with you?” I asked my five and nine-year-old over the holiday break. It was one set of about twenty force choice questions from the Five Love Languages for Kids quiz I was giving them in order to explore how my husband and I can continue to be mindful of how we can best customize our parenting to each child. Both easily answered, “Work on a puzzle with you.” The Love Languages quiz started in romantic relationships and describes five primary love languages: Physical Touch
I have the opportunity to coach a lot of middle managers. Quite often they are middle-aged men, and I’m working with them because there is some issue with how they lead (or actually don’t lead) others. Through some type of feedback mechanism, these men are described mildly as “aloof” or “disinterested” (always related to how they are with people, not necessarily the tasks or functions of their job) to more extreme words like “jerk” or “a**hole”. I’m brought in most of the time to try to fix their “personality”. Making them more caring and a better leader of people is
“I can’t turn little Johnny into a Stanford bound student,” said one school principal when I was meeting with him. “These parents expect us to take a B or C student with a 21 on the ACT and create Ivy League individuals. I get all the hype about growth mindset,” he said. “It is everywhere in my world, but the truth is, I can’t take your five-foot-nothing kid that can’t jump and turn him into Michael Jordan no matter what I do.” I get it. Some goals are realistic and some are just delusional. He was quite funny sharing these thoughts,