Elizabeth Sandler

Celebration! It is the five-year anniversary of Echo Juliette and its original tagline “Mindfully Leading the Next Generation.” When I created that tagline it was because I had spent nine months studying mindfulness and meditation. After weeks of intensive Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher training I started to recognize the power, and de-railers, hidden in human brains. A month before launching I flew back to London for drinks with three women I used to work with and I told them what I discovered about how to be a mindful leader. They laughed, “Elizabeth, you were always a mindful leader, that’s not new, it’s what made you so special.” And here I thought my self-awareness had been my secret to success! But they were right. I had always incorporated principles of mindful leadership into my people management approach.   – I focused on listening multiple layers beneath people’s words to ask the right questions– I paused when I felt an emotional response coming on to acknowledge my feelings before engaging my voice – I saw the humanity in my colleagues differences, preferences, and I practiced non-judgment – I role modeled humility, vulnerability and trust, allowing even my insecurities a seat at the table – I was transparent about my values, thereby attracting equally like-minded high integrity, human leaders to my ranks Most of this I did naturally because it was how I wanted to be treated, some of it I had to work at. That’s what I meant by Mindfully Leading, so what did I mean by the Next Generation? No, I didn’t mean Gen Z or their younger siblings, Gen Alpha.   I meant the next version of all of us, regardless of age, geography or demographics. In 2019 when I started this company I not only knew that we weren’t using our brains in a way they were most effective, I knew that we were about to be downgraded from being the most intelligent species on the planet. I had seen a few demos of Artificial Intelligence applications that made it clear to me humans weren’t going to possess superior intelligence for much longer. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Doomer – the term for people who think AI is going to take over the world and destroy humans. They believe we should slow down its development to allow more time to build in ethics, safety and controls (good luck with that, we’re clearly more arrogant than intelligent.) I’m also not an Accelerationist – the group that feels we need to go faster in our development of AI so that we can solve the world’s greatest problems before humans destroy it. Again, it is more likely that once we reach a certain frontier AI will set the pace of its own development and we will be along for the ride. Apparently I am closer to what is now called a Bloomer. Someone who rejects nihilism and is hopeful, even optimistic, about the future, often pursuing deeper meaning, wisdom and understanding from life… but is a realist about where advanced technology, particularly super-intelligence fits in. Does that sound so bad? Does that sound like something you could get on board with because I’d like some more Bloomers to hang out with! Not only do I believe there will be a next generation, I believe we can partner with AI to solve humanity’s biggest issues and preserve human existence at the same time – by Mindfully Leading the Next Generation.   That Next Generation includes AI. For the last 20 years I have been encouraging leaders to be more mindful in how we interact with humans in our workplaces — our people have been surviving despite our less than mindful approach to managing each other and the planet’s resources. Now, with some degree of urgency, we are going to have to be more mindful in how we lead Artificial Intelligence. That is why I am once again promoting our tag line, Mindfully Leading the Next Generation. I am so passionate about this topic that I have decided to make a change in the publication of The Executive Maven in 2024.  It will be published monthly instead of fortnightly and in between I will be issuing a new Newsletter called The AI Humanist. The Executive Maven will continue to focus on mindfully leading and provide you with deeper workplace wisdom to ponder when you have time for more than just a quick post. The AI Humanist will be written in collaboration with ECHO, an AI Bot that is an integrated part of my team and will be challenging us to engage in Next Generation thinking. Does that sound strange to you? Is it weird that I have an AI bot as part of my team? Welcome to the Next Generation. From the Executive Maven Toolkit My mindful leadership toolkit is a bit overflowing so selecting a tool for this topic wasn’t easy.  Instead I am sharing two slides from my popular Masterclass “Hacking your Brain to Work for You” because these are common brain de-railers that I see in executives I work with. If you’re not familiar with what mind-wandering labeling and counting is, it means that you pick something you want time and space to think about.  If you catch your mind wander from that topic you give it a label such as “grocery list” or “vacation plans” and then count how many times it happens.  Not only does this help your mind get back on track quicker, but it increases your awareness.  Similar effect as meditation without the silence or breathing! From Elizabeth on LinkedIn My most popular post over the last month was (and this is a new genre for me) is a poem I wrote a few years ago called Maybe. With my 50th birthday on the horizon I thought back to my 35 year old self and how hard she was working, but also that she was fairly mindful of the fact she was NOT the best

What is difficult and time consuming to build, but can be lost in an instant? That’s right, it’s Trust and it is both hard to come by and eroding quickly these days. Earlier in my career I took a role as the right hand person for someone I didn’t know who had a reputation of having high expectations and being a bit volatile when those expectations weren’t met. Day one I walked into his office ready to tame the beast and he sits me down to say, “okay, we need to trade a secret. Something we don’t want anyone else to know.” “Uhhh, why do we need to do that?” I was clueless as to where he was going. “So that we build trust.”  He gave me the “obviously” look I have seen countless times since then. I was amused more than insulted and made him an alternative offer — give me six months to earn your trust in my way and if I still don’t have it by then we can trade a secret. He agreed and I spent the next six months demonstrating to him that I was a good listener, a results-driven team member, and put our business first. I shared transparently about my strengths, my insecurities, and when he let me down by not backing me up in a stressful meeting I walked into his office and told him so. His apology was sincere and he thanked me for speaking up. Six months later I went back into his office and asked if he trusted me. I was rewarded with the “obviously” look and I walked out muttering, “then I guess we don’t need to trade a secret.” It’s easy for me to build trust, not because I’m trustworthy, most people are. It’s easy because I’m willing to be vulnerable. I would rather live authentically and be less successful than be blustery and convince people I’m someone that I’m not. Earning his trust wasn’t enough to be successful in that role. I had to earn the trust of my peers — including the dozen men who also reported to him, the heads of all our support functions, and the other COOs for our adjacent businesses. I will pause here to acknowledge that this is easier said than done, particularly the more underrepresented you are in your workplace. Contending with biases and less than inclusive cultures often makes it risky to be vulnerable. As one of the few women I was constantly on guard with the “information is power” scheme and having to be cautious of people who would use my vulnerabilities against me (it definitely happened.) As I said, building trust is difficult and time consuming, but you get to show up at work every day being and feeling trusted.  Trust allows you to take risks, to demand support, to challenge people, and to free up the mental energy you would otherwise use for politics, protecting yourself, and engineering your work persona.  High-trust teams are more efficient, more effective, and generate better ideas and results. If you aren’t part of a high-trust team right now then I humbly encourage you to make this your priority for 2024 (see DIY tips below.) A high-trust workplace and team is more effective and more enjoyable, trust me. From the Executive Maven Toolkit I didn’t have to dig too deeply into the library because this is the most important tool I use in my Leadership Teams business. This is The Five Behaviors, based on Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a team. I use his assessment and methodology with leadership teams across the globe and before that I used it with the leadership teams I was a part of. And it starts with Trust. Here are some DIY tips for building trust as a leader: From Elizabeth on LinkedIn My most engaged (I won’t say popular) post in the last two weeks was unfortunately about the log that I have been keeping on abusive workplace stories. Too often I hear from people that HR is “part of the problem.” HR plays a unique role in any organization’s trust-building and if that trust is broken then there is little chance it exists elsewhere in the company. Let’s collectively make sure we set HR up for success and that we address cultural issues at the top of an organization before we expect employees to build high-trust teams.           Research and Expert Resources No discussion of Trust is complete without mentioning the Edelman Trust Barometer. Their results can be divided by country so I am spotlighting the US report here and picking two elements that relate to us as business leaders. First, Americans are more likely to trust scientists than in the past, but the group they trust the same amount are co-workers. This is significant when it comes to building trust and maintaining trust in a workplace. With our co-workers expecting us to be more trust worthy than any other group it is essential that we demonstrate trust. Second, Business is the only institution seen as both ethical and competent for the third year in a row, although the assessment of competence is decreasing slightly. People are expecting us to be competent, ethical and trustworthy leaders. Links and Resources For a limited time I am offering “Module 1: Building Trust” from my full-day Leadership Team program as a stand-alone 90-minute workshop for any size or level team.  This includes a short-survey and a facilitated discussion of your team’s results as well as personalized action steps the team can take to build greater trust. If you plan on investing in your team next year then starting with Trust is critical. DM me on LinkedIn or email info@echojuliette.com if you’re interested in bringing this workshop to your team in 2024.

I intentionally delayed this issue so that it could coincide with International Men’s Day. It’s a day dedicated to acknowledging the issues men face and their contributions to the world. You may recall that I made July “Men’s Month” and every day in July I shared a post intended to celebrate and support men and the role they play in making workplaces (and the world) better, so I’m not going to use this issue to do that. Instead I’m going to do something that most women don’t usually do. I am telling men what it’s like to be a working woman. Wait! This isn’t going to be a rant about how difficult it is to be a woman at work; I promise it is going to be about something truly wonderful for all of us. But first, I would like to level-set on the prevailing social gender norms we live with daily: This is why the concept of “work-life balance” was created — because women who choose to have careers are still seen as the domestic caretaker, leaving them responsible for balancing two major social roles when men only have one. Women who choose careers find themselves very isolated in business, particularly in the most powerful, wealth-creating industries such as finance, technology, and manufacturing. They work side-by-side every day, with and for executive men who mostly have wives without careers. Now that we are on the same page as to the historical challenge, let me share with you how women have responded to this challenge and how grateful I am for what it has done for us: Authentic pride, deep friendships, and energy balance are the secret formula that working women have figured out and this has made being a woman in business truly fulfilling. Before you accuse me of strict gender stereotyping let me say, many men can check the boxes above and many women do not, but that’s the point. If we move past historical gender stereotypes and social norms then we can have workplaces where everyone benefits from being more well-rounded, thinking-feeling humans. This topic was intended as a gift to men for International Men’s Day and as a reminder to women that we have created something beautiful out of adversity and it would be wonderful to share it with the gentlemen in our lives. From the Executive Maven Toolkit As mentioned above, for this issue I have dug out my cheatsheet on Energy Balance to share with you. If the idea of “masculine” and “feminine” is too restrictive for you then change it to Yin/Yang or Right/Left. The titles don’t matter, what does matter is understanding that each of us is designed differently, but we share the same breadth of traits we can draw upon. Several times when I have shared this diagram people have pointed out that many of the most financially successful people in the world demonstrate the “Out of Balance” masculine traits. Yes, I think that’s true, so if financial wealth is your sole definition for success then that is a strategy you can deploy.  However, if you want success, fulfillment and meaningful relationships then I invite you to consider finding a better balance. From Elizabeth on LinkedIn My most popular post in the last two weeks was about the film screening of Deconstructing Karen which I organized two dozen women to attend in New York City. This is a provocative film about how well-intentioned white women engage in learned behaviors that make life more difficult for women of color. You can find the film on iTunes and Vimeo as well as buy the book written by the film’s creators. Next time I’m going to get a group of men to join us.                  Research and Expert Resources Equimondo’s report State of American Men 2023 highlighted where men are and what we can do for them. Two-thirds of young men feel that “no one really knows them”, and reveals the fragility of their connections and relationships. Links and Resources Kathy Caprino, the acclaimed coach, author, speaker, and host of the top ranked Finding Brave podcast had Ludo Gabriele as her guest in honor of International Men’s Day. Ludo is the founder of Humen Leaders, a leadership advisory practice devoted to advancing healthy masculinity in the workplace and beyond. They discuss the key challenges facing men today, but also how to avoid zero-sum thinking in our efforts to create gender equity. If you’re not familiar with Kathy’s podcast definitely check it out and subscribe. I’ve been listening for years and it’s long been a dream of mine to be a guest, and remember, dreams do come true… 

In the last two weeks I have been thinking about networking groups and what makes them effective. I joined my first Employee Resource Group (ERG) on September 14, 2001.  I was the most senior woman in the Office of the CEO and the Global Head of Diversity called me to ask for my support convincing our company not to cancel our 2,000 attendee women’s conference scheduled for a month’s time.  Given the events of 9/11 canceling was perfectly justifiable, but she felt women wanted it, even needed it. Long story short, even though I hadn’t met her before and wasn’t involved in the conference or the women’s network I went all-in and made it happen (note: it wasn’t easy!) After that I joined the steering committee for the next year’s conference and then the leadership team of the women’s network. It connected me to other women who shared my experiences and challenges.  We were supportive of each other and put together events that provided inspiration and encouragement, but we weren’t measurably impacting women’s careers. It wasn’t until we created an initiative that selected 19 senior women leaders who had the potential to make it all the way to the top of the organization that we started seeing an impact. We created a directory with these women so that leaders across the globe would know who they were. Our CEO got the idea to invite them to the Senior Management Conference which had only had 7 women in attendance, out of 250, the year prior. Those 19 women then started formally mentoring the next level of women. Providing them with career guidance and directly advocating for their promotions.  For the first time in my career I felt a strength in numbers effect from being a part of a women’s network in a male-dominated industry. Two years after joining the program (I was one of the original 19) my business was moved from department to another and the second day after meeting me our new boss offered me a promotion and an international move. He told me he had been looking for someone externally for over a year.   After we were working together for some time I asked him, “I was here the whole time, did you even bother to look in the senior women’s directory?”  Neither he nor HR had.   I had that role for 3 years until I was promoted again. When it came time to replace myself I asked the recruiter to show us external candidates – he only brought me men.  I also introduced my boss to an internal woman I knew through the network.  He chose the woman. During my 15 years in the women’s network I would say that it helped my career 5% and helped me personally 95%. Part of this was because there weren’t any women more senior than me and the men weren’t integrated into the network in a way that benefitted women. Two keys to having a network that benefits women’s careers. Now I am part of several other networks.  Namely, Chief, which is a global network of C-Suite and Board Level women and The Upside, which is a curated members group for B2B consultants and advisors. Both of those networks have their own % Career / % Personal benefits and are transparent about what they offer to benefit each.   I am also in two smaller 100% Personal groups, one working on racism and one on mindset and spiritual growth because those personal development topics are challenging and require both close knit support and healthy conflict. We all know that time is valuable and limited, so the more intentional we are about how we spend our time, the more fulfilling our lives will be. I leave you with these two questions to ponder: – What groups and networks have you incorporated into your career and life?– Are you clear on the impact objective of those groups? The critical success factor for any network or group is that the objectives are transparent so that members can be as aligned as possible.  If the members are expecting a group to be something it is not, then everybody loses. From the Executive Maven Toolkit Since we are talking about networks and employee groups I have pulled our ERG Assessment out of our library to share with you. I will caveat this by saying that just because something is on the list doesn’t mean it is right for you.  We should learn from what others have done but make sure that we are designing systems that best support our unique organizations and employees. I work with a lot of ERGs and they all have different objectives and constructs, the key to success is to be intentional. From Elizabeth on LinkedIn My most popular post in the last two weeks was about my new LinkedIn Top Voices Badge.          I am always humbled (if not a bit embarrassed) when the post of the issue is related to me and not to you, but it says a lot about you – always showing up to support me! However, I think this post is actually about you as well. It is no secret that my superpower is developing High Performance Teams. Many of you have been on those teams, others of you have hired me to facilitate your strategy off-sites, and some of you have asked me to partner with your leadership teams on becoming Five Behaviors® high-performance powerhouses.   You enable me to say I am a High Performance Team expert and I wouldn’t have earned this badge without all of you.  Thank you.     Research and Expert Resources Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are still being rolled out daily, but did you know they started in the 1970’s? This report from Boston College shares a comprehensive history and benefits of ERGs. Note that there are a lot of benefits listed, in my opinion, almost too many.  I think that it is more important

There is a major lesson for the future of work happening in the Middle East right now. We have lived our whole lives with war and terrorism.  So much so that we have created a line that says war should be respectful of innocent human lives.  We should not bomb schools or hospitals because that’s “inhumane.”  If you cross that line you are a terrorist and are not “fighting fair.” By creating this line we are accepting that war and violence is a normalized part of the human condition. Please keep this global socialization in mind as I segue to the workplace because our desensitization to the value of human life and acceptance of violence comes with us to work. Every day people at work put their mental and physical health at risk in jobs around the globe. I’m not being hyperbolic (okay, maybe just a little) I am being as factual as possible. I am also not minimizing the atrocity of those currently dying in Ukraine, Israel or elsewhere at this very moment; I am instead offering an olive branch to those of us who are feeling hopeless and useless in the wake of this violence. The impact we can have on stopping pervasive inhumanity begins with our daily actions at work. It starts with little things that we can observe, call out, and stop in both ourselves and others, such as:– Yelling at or around employees– Disrespecting their personal time– Minimizing their contributions or questions– Allowing biases to impact our decision-making– Passively, or actively, inhibiting someone’s career progression– I’m sure you can come up with other examples And most importantly, not allowing differences in political views to hide hatred. Not allowing people to hide under the banner of “freedom of speech” when they use words that rob someone of their humanity because of how they look, where they were born, or who they worship. Should we really have to come to work each day ready to fight? My targeted tone for this newsletter is usually one of wisdom and empowerment; I stay away from self-righteousness or preaching how you can be a better person. I prefer to encourage you to be a truer version of yourself, not some ideal as myself or others define it. So my suggestion for each of you is that if you’re struggling to make sense of the horror in the world right now, if your empathy and outrage are paralyzing you then start with micro-kindness.  Look for opportunities to reverse the downward spiral of humanity in whatever small way possible. Not fake niceness, that doesn’t serve anyone, but real respect for our fellow humans.  If you find yourself currently wishing for violence or revenge, I don’t blame you, but I do invite you to inquire as to whether that is a path to ending the cycle of inhumanity. From the Executive Maven Toolkit This issue’s tool is the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Modes Instrument which I didn’t develop but I use often. As an authorized partner of the Five Behaviors methodology I believe that the best teams engage in an unfiltered, constructive debate of ideas — what we call healthy conflict. There are five different conflict modes and while we have a default preference we can also adapt to partner with our colleagues in ways that transform conflict into results. For example, I’m a natural collaborator but I have learned that this style can sometimes be slow to achieve results so I learn a great deal from compromisers who help me prioritize what’s important and not “sweat the small stuff!” Take a look at this simple tool and see if you can plot both yourself and your teammates.  From Elizabeth on LinkedIn My most popular post in the last two weeks was about inclusive product design and my frustration trying to read the bottles in my hotel shower. If you missed it you can see the post and take your own version of an eye test here! I’m also sharing the results of my poll about your phone Lock Screen image.  I bet someone that more people would have a person or animal than an inanimate image on their Lock Screen.  Thankfully I didn’t bet on the actual percentage.  Even though my Lock Screen is a landscape I was sure that 75% of people would have people or pets. Although I technically won the bet I do realize that my survey was flawed as not everyone has a pet to select from and in all the “other submissions” there were a lot of inanimate images. Thanks to all of you who voted and shared screen shots of your Lock Screen! Research and Expert Resources Keeping with our theme of conflict, here are some fascinating statistics about conflict in the workplace. (Not the healthy kind of conflict that results in the best idea generation of course!) Human Resources plays a significant role in conflict resolution and they are largely of the opinion that we as managers and employees could do more to reduce conflict. Links and Resources I am suspending sharing any business links for this issue. Click here to support Save the Children in Israel and Occupied Palestine.

You will not hear me say, “find your purpose.”  That’s because I believe we all have the same purpose and it is to explore who we are as individuals and try to make sense of our place in this complex world. A simple yet challenging common purpose. People often think that having a purpose means you need to have some lofty, world-changing personal mission that impacts millions of people in measurable ways. You don’t.  Or at least not everyone does. For some people (Group 1), who they are and how they can best make sense of their existence on this planet means they need to be an activist or a philanthropist or a life-saving researcher or a radical innovator. For others (Group 2), it is more one-on-one in nature.  First, about connecting with yourself, and then with another person, and another, and another, until you start to build a picture of who you are and the fingerprints you are leaving on the world. People in both these groups, and along the continuum between them, can find success and fulfillment, the more important issue is to make sure you enjoy the journey, regardless of which approach is right for you. For Group 2, the pressure from thinking you are supposed to be in Group 1 can create a great deal of stress.  We may feel that our worth comes from the number of people we impact and how measurable that impact is — that we are somehow lesser if we are not transforming the world in big, bold ways.  That’s just nonsense. If we want to find a valuable lesson from the COVID pandemic it could be this — even casual contact with another person can spread something from a community, to a country, to the globe, and fairly rapidly. The number of interactions we have on a daily basis create an endless opportunity to “infect” others with our individual formula of humanity. The more human connections we make with each other, the more practice we get being our fullest selves and the more clues we receive for the driving philosophical questions “who am I and why am I here?” In the 1980’s Heather Locklear was in a commercial for the shampoo brand Fabergé Organic where she said, “when I first tried (this shampoo) it was so good I told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on.” My suggestion is that people ditch trying to “find their purpose” and instead focus on living on purpose, with intention, fostering curiosity, and appreciation, one person at a time.  If that leads you to large-scale mission-driven work then so be it, if not, start by telling two friends how good your shampoo is. From the Executive Maven Toolkit This issue’s tool is Ikigai, the Japanese word for “reason for being” and one of the many longevity secrets of the centenarians of Okinawa. I consider it a better alternative to “finding your purpose” as it helps you build a life complete with mission, passion, vocation, and profession.   A lot of you have seen this tool, but haven’t sat down to complete it yourself. It is one of the simplest ways to do some self-discovery and map your connectivity to the world. Give it a try and let me know how it goes! From Elizabeth on LinkedIn My most popular post in the last two weeks was my announcement of being accepted as a member of The Upside, a co-operative of B2B consultants who work together to grow their businesses.  Thank you for all the congratulations, but since this post was about me I’d like to share my second most popular post as well. I spotlighted Greyston Bakery for the Open Hiring practices last week and it resonated with so many people.  We can and should be more innovative and open-minded in our hiring practices.  Here is link to the post so you can read more about them. Research and Expert Resources The 2023 Reimagined Workplace research report from The Conference Board shared HR Leaders top 3 current challenges: 1. Finding qualified workers (80%)2. Getting people back to the office (73%)3. Filling leadership roles externally (68%) The report also highlights the double bind HR is currently facing. Those companies implementing cost-cutting measures to improve the financial health and security of the organization are having knock-on negative impacts to the mental health and security of their employees.  The report shares some of the creative solutions organizations are implementing to create more employee flexibility in an attempt to address the talent acquisition and employee engagement challenges. You can read The Conference Board’s full report here. Links and Resources All the photos of Juliettes in this newsletter were created by me using Generative AI.  If you’re interested in learning more about how to use GAI check out the Bootcamp I did with Lori Mazor here.

Even those of us without children can feel the change of season from summer to “back to school”.  Maybe summer casual dress is over, maybe your work colleagues are sporting a post holiday glow, or maybe everyone seems a bit more revved up for the final 1/3 of the year. Year end.  That’s the season that follows back-to-school and it can mean a race to the calendar finish line for many.  That race can result in long to-do lists, packed days, too many holiday parties, and cause exhaustion, frustration, or even depression. Yesterday I ran a Masterclass for the women in Juliette Lifeworks on recognizing, preventing, and addressing BURNOUT.  It’s a popular class with employers this time of year because they know that when employees are overly busy they are more susceptible to burnout. However, being busy doesn’t cause burnout and the tools for dealing with each are different.    — Making sure that “being busy” doesn’t overwhelm you requires prioritization, delegation, and optimization.   — Making sure that “burnout” doesn’t send you into a deep dark pit requires awareness, attention, and action.  There is a lot of misinformation about what burnout is so let me clarify it for you. The World Health Organization’s official definition for burnout is “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions: Busy and burnout can both lead you towards exhaustion, but it’s the negative mental impacts and resulting performance that distinguishes burnout.  If you are starting to feel bitter, resentful or negative towards work or towards anything or anyone keeping you from work, then you may be on the burnout path. In his  book Burn-Out: How to beat the high cost of success, Dr. Herbert Freudenberger wrote, “Why are so many of our best and our brightest beginning to feel empty and unfulfilled? Why does it seem there must always be more accomplishment, more achievement, more effort? Why, as a nation, do we seem, both collectively and individually, to be in the throes of a fast spreading phenomenon — Burn-out?” The nation he referred to was the US and the year he wrote this was 1980. 1980! Before the internet, before email, before smart phones, and before all the other technologies that enable us to accomplish and achieve exponentially more in a minute, hour, day, and lifetime. I’d argue that this hasn’t been a fast spreading phenomenon at all.   Like burnout syndrome itself, it is a slow burn and it has been singeing us around the edges for decades to the point where many of us are living in a perpetual state of early burnout that ebbs and flows but never really quite goes away. Some statements that indicate early burnout stages include: – When I go home early from work it feels strange and I’m not sure what to do.– If work is left behind, I feel guilty and worry about what others are going to think.– Lately I’ve had to be very careful not to forget or overlook anything.– I am having conflicts with colleagues more often than before. – I don’t have time for connecting with friends and family and when I do I’m thinking about work.– The only way I can switch off is social media scrolling or television streaming.– The only way I can calm down and de-stress is with medication or alcohol. If year-end usually means longer hours and increased social commitments then it’s a good time to watch out for burnout sneaking in. You can start by defining how you’d like the next four months to feel.  That’s often more challenging than listing what you want to achieve or accomplish before the end of the year so try to sit with it for a bit.  Once you have defined how you want to feel make sure that you actively work towards making it happen and intentionally checking in on your progress. From the Executive Maven Toolkit Given this issue is about Burnout the tool I’m sharing this month is the Strong Self Helix. When you find yourself working harder in this back-to-school season keep in mind that you can either spiral up or spiral down from there. Neglecting your needs, withdrawing from others will start to lead to a loss of self, feelings of emptiness and maybe event depression before total burnout. On the other hand, if you actively manage stress, stay connected and engaged with others and focus on yourself, your reason for being, and leading those around you then you can spiral upwards toward a strong self. From Elizabeth on LinkedIn Every issue I spotlight a post that most resonated with my network and in the last two weeks there was a tie and oddly one was about the start of school and one the end of school! I am embarrassed to say that the first was about me backing into the nicest mom at school on the first day of pick-up!  (Couldn’t you have upvoted another post?!) You can read the full post here.  The other was my personal reflection on what I’m most grateful for from my years of undergraduate and graduate education. You can read that post here. Research and Expert Resources I recently attended a call with Josh Bersin and team on Technology in HR with a focus on AI. You can download their latest AI research paper here. HR is in a critical position with respect to the development and rollout of AI.  HR is often underfunded and treated as a cost center rather than an investment area.  Innovating the technology in HR is going to require strong business cases. I have been helping several HR Leaders with their AI strategies and we continue to come back to an overriding mantra, “this investment must solve a significant problem for the organization, it can’t just make something incrementally better.” Links and Resources We have a new offering that we are very excited about.  As many of you know, I am

It’s a big vacation week around the globe and a bank holiday in the UK today.  August Bank Holiday means Notting Hill Carnival where I once experimented with my Fish Eye lens.  Notting Hill Carnival is the largest community celebration of Caribbean heritage in the world and it is designed to be a lot of fun. But it was too crowded for me and I wasn’t prepared to push my way through to get to the steel drum bands, dancers, and colorful parade. So why did I go? Everyone has a different definition of fun and for me being around other people who are having fun is a lot of fun. We also have our own ideas of what vacation should look like. For some it is action-packed; for others it is rest. For some it is exploring the world; for others it is going back to the same place again and again. For some it is completely disconnecting from work; for others it is boxing work into short check-ins instead of day long meetings. I was just speaking to a senior executive who loves her job and just came back from 2 weeks of holiday and she said, “for the first time in my career I thought to myself — I could get used to this.” Enter the discussion of unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO). How much time would you take off if you had unlimited PTO?  Six weeks? Eight weeks? Three months? Six months? At which point did you start to get itchy and roll your eyes at me? How much time off is too much time off? Most people answer this question by referencing the constraints of their role or the culture of their firm which is influenced by how people work and how leadership role models time away. Unlimited PTO has become controversial because companies are using it as a tool to save costs by not accruing vacation expense.  It also means that if an employee leaves they aren’t paid out for accrued but unused vacation. (Personally I think this should be a non-issue because employees should take vacation.) Studies show employees need breaks (not just short ones like I showed in the last issue of Executive Maven) but time truly away from the office and work. In his autobiography “Let My People Go Surfing”, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard talks about how he set up his business to take six-months off to go rock climbing every year. Six months! The title of the book is based on the culture of the company which overlooked the Pacific Ocean — if the waves started looking good it was fine to grab your surfboard to go catch one in the middle of the day. Yvon’s formula is “hire self-motivated, very intelligent people who know their job and then you leave them alone.” An organizational psychologist once told him that his employees were so independent that they were unemployable anywhere else! Can your workplace create a culture of prioritizing results over hours worked? Of balancing work-life integration over trade-offs? Of delivering service over setting faux deadlines?Can you? If you can create a team environment and a workplace where people support each other with time off and your company decides to implement an unlimited PTO policy, on your next vacation you may need to ask yourself, “could I get used to this?” From the Executive Maven Toolkit In each issue I share a simple tool from our library and today I am sharing my framework for thinking about Employee Engagement. Compensation and recognition are the foundational elements of a transactional relationship between employers and employees — but more money and promotions doesn’t drive engagement. There are great tools out there to more robustly measure employee engagement from companies like CultureAmp, but it starts with understanding what matters to your employees. From Elizabeth on LinkedIn Every issue I spotlight a post that most resonated with my network and this time it was about the phases of my family holiday photos (I suppose that makes this the vacation issue!) You can read the full post here.  Did you know that you drive which posts get the most visibility and that commenting more than 5 words on someone’s post increasing the chances their posts will be seen by others in their network?  (Hint-hint!) Research and Expert Resources Since it’s vacation week I won’t share a full research report but rather a quick hit survey just released by Gallup. Their survey of 135 leaders at Gallup’s CHRO Roundtable showed that 66% of HR leaders don’t think AI will replace jobs over the next 12 months but 72% think it will in the next 3 years. In our last issue I talked about the “future time fallacy” which is the belief that time to day is more valuable than time in the future.  It is very possible that this is an example of that fallacy. It would be challenging, maybe even scary, to imagine AI replacing people in the next year, but 3 years seems much further away.  Or maybe these HR leaders are actively working on replacing jobs and they have detailed project plans?  I’ll start asking around. You may read the full article here. Links and Resources If you’re looking for some additional personal development before summer is official over please check out my free resources and links page here.