Two men are talking in a business setting

A Tale Of A Coaching Session

In corporate, coaching means helping someone do their job by giving them advice. Some examples are "have you considered XYZ?" and "If I were you, I would do it this ...
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The False Dichotomy Between Success and Failure – They Are Not Opposite of Each Other

"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Author and Harvard professor Sarah Lewis mentioned this famous Churchill quote in her book The Rise: Creativity, the ...
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Remote and Hybrid Work Is Here To Stay: How Are You Catching Up?

Even five years ago, calling into a meeting was not very encouraged. But this Covid19 pandemic suddenly turned the culture upside down. Nowadays, organizations are having difficulty bringing people back ...
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Super Mom Katherine’s Time Management Dilemma

On my way to walk this morning, I saw my neighbor Katherine in her signature pink sweatshirt. Both of us were glad to have company for the walk. The weather ...
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Children, foster greater understanding

Conversations To Foster Greater Understanding

Recently this post by an organizational psychologist at Wharton, Adam Grant, went viral on LinkedIn. He said: The clearest sign of intellectual chemistry isn't agreeing with someone. It's enjoying your ...
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Children fighting

From Jerk to Genuine: How These High Performers Built Trust With Their Teams

Result and efficiency-driven high-performing individuals often have a blindspot when relating to others. It can create unintended harm to team morale and trust. Others tolerate such "jerk" behavior as subject ...
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Craft A Vision

Craft Your Vision Even When You Are Not A “Visionary”

As we grow in leadership roles, having a vision and communicating that to our teams becomes essential. Senior leaders often bring it to me as their challenge. Even though they ...
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My cat and I

Life Lessons From Adopting A Pet

A few months after the pandemic started, we decided to get a kitten. Even though my daughter had been asking about it for a while, I was not looking forward ...
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How To Think Of Your Career Growth, Agile or Waterfall?

Anyone familiar with software development knows agile is the way to go when developing new software or a product. But when it comes to a career, what does it mean? ...
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Caterpillars to Butterflies : Human Maturity Stages

When I ask “What do YOU want” people sometimes get confused. Common responses are: "Wouldn't that be selfish"? "I always think about others, I want others to be happy; am ...
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Chess board - Strategic thinking

You Were Asked To Be More Strategic, Now What?

Engineering and STEM Leaders often receive this feedback, "you need to be more strategic," when they are passed up for a promotion. Yet, they have minimal idea of what that ...
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“Never Looked Back” – Is a Myth

Recently I was sharing the story of my career change and someone commented, “...and you never looked back”! I was caught by surprise. The fact is, I did look back, ...
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Feeling – A Vital Missing Part from the Thinker’s Head

“What do you feel now?” I ask my client Tom in the middle of our session. “I think it is, …”, he replies. “What do you feel”, I ask persistently ...
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Sharmin Banu

Why Targeting A Job Title As A Goal Doesn’t Work – Sharmin’s Interview With Ascend Global Media

Q: Why is it important to set an authentic goal? When we are too focused on outside-in recognition like a job title, money, etc., we narrowly define our goal. It ...
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Craft New year Goals

Webinar this Week: Craft Sustainable Goals For The New Year

The beginning of the year motivates us to start things right. Ironically it often creates social pressure to declare a popular resolution rather than thoughtfully develop a meaningful and sustainable ...
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New Year Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Feeling Anxious Setting Goals for The Year? Try These 3 Techniques

A typical "water cooler" conversation around this time of the year is the New Year's resolution. Of course, my standard answer used to be "be more organized," which hardly happened! ...
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Get New Year’s Planning Out of the Way and Enjoy The Holidays More

Holiday's are in the air. You must be looking forward to all the festivities, traveling, seeing the family, or simply winding down. Me too. I am heading for a two ...
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Patterns and Tools: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

A Workshop Emerged from the Themes of Coaching Tech Clients

After 12 years of coaching software engineers to VPs in the tech industry, I found this common theme: feeling fulfilled about our work and contribution is challenging. Managing a thriving relationship ...
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Entrepreneurial Spirit

Entrepreneurial Spirit : Build The Product YOU

"All humans are entrepreneurs not because they should start companies but because the will to create is encoded in human DNA." - Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn. If you are ...
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Goats blocking the street : Image by Dennis Larsen from Pixabay

Career Satisfaction: What Is In Your Way?

"Not enough time," "Not enough support from others," and "Lack of ideas" topped the list for my survey question: "What is in your way of a more satisfying career?" It ...
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Optimize Yourself With a Mind-Body Connection

It was the summer of 2009 when I started my coach training class; the instructor started the session with a guided meditation. The purpose was to be ready and present ...
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Authenticity, a bird showing its colors - Image by wasi1370 from Pixabay

Is “Authenticity” Backfiring On You? Here Is Why

Theresa, a senior developer in a tech firm, said that their management encouraged them to be authentic. It prompted her to be passionately sharing some of her opinions. There was ...
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A Resting Dog - Image by Pitsch from Pixabay

Feeling Stuck and Unmotivated? Invest in Your Emotional Vitality First

 Feeling stuck and unmotivated in your job? Not getting enough recognition or the upward mobility you deserve? Getting feedback that you are not doing enough? A software engineer in the ...
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Applying Software Engineering Concepts in Coaching

Applying Software Engineering Concepts in Professional Growth

A client of mine has a Ph.D. in Computer Science and works on a cutting-edge research project for one of the top tech companies. He has been feeling overwhelmed with ...
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A Zen Approach to Conflict Resolution

Conflict is a common issue my clients face in their workplace. I found this talk, A Zen Approach to Conflict Resolution by Diane Musho Hamilton, insightful to manage such situations.  ...
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Brainstorming Photo by MING Labs on Unsplash

Brainstorming? Focus On 10% Right

As engineers and tech leaders, we are rewarded for our analytical skills in finding code defects and design issues early on. We often keep applying this same trait to the ...
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A Resting Dog - Image by Pitsch from Pixabay

Want To Be Productive? Start With Doing Nothing (Guest post)

"I am busy all day, trying to complete my to-do list before calling it a day. Yet, some things always remain undone, and, worse still, new things pop up. I ...
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Reactivity To Thoughtfulness – A Corporate Leader’s Journey

"He doesn’t work well with others.” “He has issues dealing with bad news.” “He is a star performer, but he is lacking executive presence.”  These are some of the typical ...
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“Why Does It Bother Me?” Why We React So Much By Other’s Opinions

It was the Spring of 2011; I was volunteering as a treasurer for a non-profit organization. My motivation was to hone my accounting skills while expanding my network. It was ...
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A cat is being pampered- Photo by Yerlin Matu on Unsplash

What Gets in the Way of Guilt Free Self-Care?

“Finish your homework before you play “ - Our parents’ well-meaning advice worked well in our early days, but as adults, it is backfiring. These days, most of our work ...
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The Myth of Multitasking

Too many times, I hear that you can’t survive without multitasking. Checking emails during a meeting, responding to a door knock while trying to focus on your work seems to ...
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Q&A w/ Sharmin

The Story Behind “Q&A With Sharmin” Series

I was answering the audience questions during a recent speaking engagement when the host said, "pay attention, Sharmin is coaching.” Even though I was pleasantly surprised that he saw it ...
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Struggling with Time Management? Look into the Root Causes

Time management is one of the topmost challenges for almost every functional human being. When my clients come with this question, I tell them that time is a fixed resource ...
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Managing up/Self-promotion : What To Do About It

In my recent survey, an amazing 79% of people said that Managing-up/Self-promotion is the most challenging aspect of their work. I didn't expect it at all! I then started thinking about it ...
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Image by alan9187 from Pixabay

Know your Strengths, Capitalize on Them

Too often, we send employees to training to fix the areas of weaknesses. We expect people to be well-rounded to be successful. The fact is, excellent performers, are rarely “well rounded”; ...
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Tearing elephant By ArtTower on Pixabay

Use Emotions As Your Ally

Do anxiety, outrage, frustration, or sadness often grip you? Do they get in the way in high stake situations? Do you wonder why you are not getting what you want? ...
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Courage From Within – Conviction And Trust Can Help

Growing up, I didn’t think I was very courageous. One day I saw this quote saying: Courage is not the absence of fear. It is acting despite -- because something ...
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Time Is Fixed But Energy Is Not

“There’s not enough time.” “Time is running out.” “I wish I had more time.” These are some complaints we hear frequently. High-performing, high-achieving professionals often ask for time-management strategies. After ...
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What A Car Can Teach Us About A Successful Career

I was talking to Andrea, a leader in a big corporate here in the Seattle area. Brilliant and hardworking she was; her resume spoke for itself. As a senior director ...
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Video call Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

Beat Your Zoom Fatigue With These Three Tips

A few weeks ago, I had a headache almost every time I was in a Zoom video call. This phenomenon has become a common issue these days as so many ...
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