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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My DYI Project – A Video Introduction

Last year, when everything went virtual, I had to create videos for a couple of online events. It allowed me to hone my video shooting and editing skills. Recently, we ...
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The author on a spring afternoon in Seattle

What life stage are you in – Survival, Success or Significance?

I have been feeling highly spirited all day watching US Presidential inauguration ceremony. This topic I found from Pastor Rick Warren on the Oprah show seemed appropriate for this week's post ...
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Image courtesy Pixabay.com

Having A Hard Time Getting Your Voice Heard In Meetings?

Tim is an engineering leader at a hi-tech company in Seattle. He is very good at his trade, has a profound understanding of the technology stack, and has decent ideas ...
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Meeting : Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Challenge Responding To Senior Leaders During Meetings? Quality Listening Is Key

Two Leaders, Similar Challenge Tory, a senior director was in charge of a critical customer-facing component of the business. During big meetings, he had to answer the senior leaders about ...
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New Year - Mohammad Hossain Pixabay

Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail and How to Make it Work

Almost half of the Americans make New Year’s resolutions, but fewer than 10% successfully achieve them(source)! The most popular resolutions are staying fit, work-life balance, and personal enrichment. All these ...
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courtesy pixabay.com

What Intrinsically Motivates Us (Hint: It’s not money)

David, a tech leader and a father of two, was in a big dilemma about a job offer. The money was higher than what he was making in his current ...
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Flat tire- Image courtesy Pixabay.com

How is Your Emotional Tire Pressure?

“I am just busy,” “I could use a nap,” “I am so tired.” Does any of these sound familiar to you? If yes, you belong to a very large group ...
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Powerful Questions Image Pixabay.com

Empower Your Teams With 4 Coaching Questions

Six-skills are in demand in the post-pandemic workplaces, said Gwen Moran in her fast company article. Five of those six, self-direction, adaptability, empathy, communication skills, and motivational skills can be cultivated ...
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Forest tree roots Image by Allan Joyner from Pixabay

Cultivate Resilience For Challenging Times : 3C Model

Today (Nov 4, 2020), Americans are anxiously watching TV and browsing news sites and social media feeds following the result of this historic election. A few days ago, The American ...
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Compelling vision - Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

The Fuel of a Good Goal Is a Compelling Vision: 4 Ways to Craft

All of us are familiar with setting goals and achieving them. Goals are our vehicle to success. But often, we have a hard time making headways in our goals. The ...
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Goats fighting: Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

Are Disagreements Hard For You? EQ Analysis Can Help

A very passionate, competent, and committed gentleman, Nathan was a Product leader at a medium-size cutting edge tech company. Disagreements, differences in opinions, were a regular part of his job, ...
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Reconnect With Self – A Leadership Lesson from CBS’s Madam Secretary

In an episode of CBS's Madam Secretary (Meaning of Life, May 13th, 2018), there is a side story where Russell Jackson was prescribed by his doctor to find a relaxing activity ...
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Are You a Mom, Thinking of Going Back to Work?

Rebecca was a 39-year-old woman and a mother of two (8 and 10). She had a college degree and a 10-year of corporate experience. Rebecca was happily married to her husband ...
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What Makes Seahawks’ Pete Carroll A Great Leader

The Seahawks began the 2020 season with a good all-around showing in a 38-25 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday (source). Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the more recent ...
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courtesy pixabay.com

A Happiness Model For the Graph Lovers

Have you ever wondered if there is a mathematical representation of Happiness? The answer is Yes! Tal Ben-Shahar, a renowned researcher in positive psychology and a popular lecturer at Harvard, ...
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Two People Talking Over Coffee

Why Hire a Coach When There Are So Many Books, Podcasts?

It will be almost impossible to find someone who hasn't read a self-help book, listened to a podcast, watched a TED talk, or any other YouTube videos that tell you ...
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Fire and Water - Image by Iván Tamás from Pixabay

Stressed About a Situation? Either-Or Thinking Could Be The Cause

Case Study 1 Helen, a mid-level leader, was frustrated with her boss. He told her one thing, but his behavior during meetings was saying something else. She was confused, and ...
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Interview with the International Voice

My Interview with The International Voice

A few weeks back, Japnit Sethi from The International Voice, reached out to me to be a guest in his new show on YouTube. Japnit, a Computer Science graduate student ...
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Curb Your Anxieties Using This 3C Model – How to make good choices during the home quarantine time

We are living through an episode of world history. The way we know life has come to a halt. The leaders, scientists, the medical community, and all the essential service ...
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Work from Home

COVID-19 Amplified The Working Parents’ Struggles: What Can We Learn?

This pandemic has exposed the vulnerability in every system, both large and small. Working parents with young children are one example. Three key points came up from the parents' and ...
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Superhero

Working on Your Confidence? Watch Out Your Go-to Words and Root Cause

Confidence is a common topic my clients bring to coaching. Anyone working on it knows that confidence is not a simple binary thing. It shows up as a part of ...
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Managing a Virtual Meeting – Learning from my “Big Fat” Family Zoom Call

This pandemic has done one magical thing; families, far and near are coming together via video calls. Like many others, my family is spread globally across six time zones spanning ...
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Work from Home

Working From Home — The Employees Are Leading The Change (Guest Post)

Tara (not her real name) from our finance recently rang me on a late evening for online approval of a bank transaction. It was unusual because we encourage people to ...
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Cultivating Resilience: Small Acts of Self-Care Goes a Long Way During These Trying Times

It's been a few months since we are in the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No matter how hard it is to accept, this is going to be a ...
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We Now Can Relate To The “BBC Dad” – How Covid19 is Reshaping the Way We Work and Live

A few years ago, the BBC Dad video went viral on the internet, evoking compassion, some criticism, and mostly, amusement. Ironically, in these last two months of home quarantine, we all got ...
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Does Home Quarantine Feel Like Someone Gave You a Lemon? Make some Lemonade Using these 3C-s

We all are going through an enormous challenge. Almost every country in the world is now affected by this COVID-19 pandemic. The way we know life has come to a ...
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Why You have a Hard Time Saying “No” – Look into these Root Causes

A client of mine said she is always too busy with other peoples' requests and she struggles to complete her own work. Her manager advised her to say "no" more ...
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Leading in the Era of AI

How far are we from machines replacing humans? While much of the corporate research and development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is happening under Non-Disclosure Agreements, a recent demonstration of a ...
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Courtesy: Prawny from Pixabay.com

The Essential Qualities of Leadership – Examples from My Grandmother and Other Situational Leaders

What are the most common traits among successful leaders? What process did they all go through? What’s the must-have quality of a successful leader? How my grandmother became a leader? ...
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The Myth Of A “Perfect Day”

There are not many days like this. Yesterday it seemed like an out of the ordinary perfect day for me. Client #1 made significant progress in an area he was ...
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Take The Fear Out Of Feedback Giving

Imagine your boss is saying, “I have some feedback for you” - notice what reaction you get. Very often it feels like a threat, as “We have a problem”! According ...
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