Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from April, 2026

How To Transform Self-Empathy Into Your Most Valuable Professional Asset

  Today brings a highly personal, timely and compelling book for coaches, clinicians, executives, and leaders who want to create sustainable success without sacrificing their humanity and while putting self-empathy at the core of their professional role.   The book is Leading From The Heart: The Essential Guide to Self-Empathy & Self-Compassion by Dr. D. Ivan Young , a renowned behavioral neural science expert, and ICF Mastered Certified Coach.   “Empathy invites us to pause, to witness, to connect, “says Dr. Young, “It is a quiet, unhurried force that creates and builds bridges between us. At a time in which we increasingly interact with technology and artificial intelligence, practicing empathy allows us to be and feel truly human with one another.”   In the book’s forward, Carrie Abner, Head of Credentialing for the International Coaching Federation, she explains that empathy allows leaders to connect more deeply with their teams, listen beyond words, suppor...

12 Data-Driven Steps To Finding A Job You Love

In 2024, I named  Be The Unicorn: Data-driven Habits That Separate The Best Leaders From The Rest ,  by  William Vanderbloemen , as the  best new leadership book  of that year.   The book is timely, incredibly practical, and immediately usable for any leader wherever they are on their leadership journey.   Through extensive research of more than 30,000 top leaders and proprietary data, Vanderbloemen identified in the book the twelve habits that the best of the best leaders have in common. These superstar leaders are the unicorns – highly desirable but that are difficult to find or obtain.   And recently, Vanderbloemen followed up that gem of a book with another terrific book called,  Work   How You Are Wired: 12 Data-Driven Steps To Finding A Job You Love . It’s a great companion book to  Be The Unicorn .   Those 12 steps align with these 12 personality traits/interpersonal habits: Fast Authentic Agile Solver Anticipator Prepar...

How To Uncover Your Blindspots To Become A Better Leader

What you don't see about yourself can hold you back as a leader. That's typical for many leaders. What we don't see is what we  can't  see: we have  blindspots . Your blindspots prevent you from achieving your greatest success.  “It turns out that we're often not great judges of ourselves, even when we think we are. Sometimes we're simply unaware of a behavior or trait that's causing problems,” explains  Martin Dubin , author of the new book,  Blindspotting: How To See What’s Holding You Back As A Leader . “Bottom line: until we uncover these blindspots, we can't move forward. The good news is that you can learn to do your own  blindspotting .”   “Most of us understand the idea of blindspots in a general sense—areas we can’t see, to take the term most literally, or places we have gaps that we may not even realize, to be a little more abstract,” says Dubin.  “But in the context of this book, I’m defining blindspots quite specifically: They are...

How To Be More Playful To Build Resilience, Navigate Challenges And Find More Joy

  “Research reveals that playful adults excel at problem-solving and stress management and consistently report higher life satisfaction,” explains Piera Gelardi , author of the new book, The Playful Way .   The Playful Way is a mindset that transforms how you experience everything from airport security lines to career transitions to navigating grief.   More specifically, Gelardi says playfulness is:   Finding humor and lightness even in tense moments. Staying open to possibilities rather than fixating on one “right” way. Experimenting rather than seeking perfection. Bringing an ethos of curious exploration to difficulties. Finding wisdom in the body when the mind’s tied up in knots. Tuning your attention to notice details and find wonder. Reimagining dull tasks through reframes and games. Improvising when things go sideways.   Gelardi guides readers in uncovering the mental barriers and inner critics that restrict playfulness, offering practical techniqu...

How To Unleash The Most Powerful Force In Business

In Marcus Buckingham ’s latest book, Design Love In: How To Unleash The Most Powerful Force In Business , he details the one hidden skill at the heart of all the best leaders today—and what you can do in your own working life to cultivate it. The skill is leading lovingly —what Buckingham calls Design Love In (DLI). Being a leader, whom people say they love working for and for whom they’d walk through walls. A leader who gets the absolute best out of their employees and who builds the kind of team employees desperately want to be on.  “Love fuels our resilience, sparks our creativity, and bonds us together as collaborators,” shares Buckingham. “Love means a passionate commitment to something or someone. Love means deep loyalty. Love is advocacy. And, of course, love can also be hard-edged, hence ‘tough love.’” Buckingham recommends leaders create experiences that: Make employees feel bigger. Allow employees to feel safe enough to open up. Help employees flourish. Further, Buckingh...