In this episode, I interview my friend, Meagan Watkins. Meagan is the head of Organizational Development, Learning & Development and Talent management at Urban Outfitters, Inc. We chat about empathetic listening as a key leadership skill and the quest to find balance when the lines between work and home are increasingly blurred. Both topics have been relevant for many years - and will continue to be - but they're necessary for leadership effectiveness in 2020. 

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Can't listen? Here's the transcript: 

Today’s podcast is about the importance of being centered as a leader… in other words, trusting yourself, having confidence, peace of mind, and focus. I’m going to share with you why this is so critical to effective leadership, along with some common pitfalls (and one of my own that I’ve been working on) an a few tips to get centered when you’re not.

But first, this is the podcast episode – I’ve been tinkering with the thought of starting a podcast for a couple years... and I’m quite introverted by nature so the thought of doing this has been intimidating… but then a few months ago I decided to go ahead anyway. I mean, how many times in life do you just have to say WTF and do it anyway? …so here we are!

And then the pandemic hit so I’ve gone back and forth in my mind if I should focus on what it’s going to take to lead through this, or if I should stick to the...

I am, by nature, a Yes person. I love to make people happy and I learned early in my career that saying Yes – and just jumping in without worrying how – is a fast way to grow personally and professionally. This strategy worked well for many years and my career progressed farther than anyone could have imagined. I became masterful at adding new responsibilities, figuring things out, and making it all work. 

For example, I left my second maternity leave two weeks early to launch a new client project that included regular travel. Then not quite a year after that, with a toddler and a baby at home and while I was still very active with that initial client project, I started another project. I didn’t have to do it, but the opportunity came my way and I jumped in. 

The new project was local and I rationalized that while it was a heavy workload, at least I wouldn’t be away from home more than I already was. Then immediately after the launch, the client...

How to Stay Positive, Focused and Productive while Having Fun

I recently celebrated my first year with my own practice. I’m not a born entrepreneur; it’s not how I grew up and I never imagined I’d be one. My father worked for one company for decades and my mom was a teacher. We had times when money was tight, when we ate more pasta, hot dogs and PB&J than usual, and I learned to be thankful that my parents were employed. Being an entrepreneur was never a consideration because it meant no reliable source of income, so when I graduated college, I sought a job that gave me security. 

Fast forward several years to when I met my husband. He is an entrepreneur. In our early years, I wanted him to find a steady job that would reliably pay him a set amount every two weeks. I’ve since watched him grow his firm for 20 years. He works more than anyone I know but it rarely seems like work because he loves what he does. I learned that being an entrepreneur is...

My youngest daughter is in first grade. Throughout kindergarten and until last week, she had the best school bus driver. Last Friday was his last day driving our route. I found out the night before and I cried. 

I feel foolish admitting that. What grown woman cries when her kid’s school bus driver moves on to a different route? Clearly, I do. But why did I cry? Rationally, it makes no sense. 

The trite answer is that Mr. Jim is kind and kindness matters. But it’s more than that. I study and coach people’s impact on others for a living so my emotional reaction made me curious. Plus, I’ve known countless kind people who have moved on to different things and I didn’t cry about it. 

There seems to be a select few people who have a unique and special impact. They touch the heart – usually in simple and unsuspecting ways. You know the people I’m talking about… the boss, colleague, friend, family member, neighbor. It can be...

It’s Risky Business to say WTF - but so worth it.

One of my favorite phrases is WTF (usually not the PG version), and my favorite time to say it is when I’ve been thinking about doing something risky. Typically it’s not as risky as it feels - typically my biggest risks are losing my comfort and pride. But saying WTF has a way of catapulting me into something new and uncertain.

For those of us who remember Risky Business, there’s the famous scene that starts with Joel saying he doesn’t want to make a mistake and jeopardize his future, and then his friend says, “Every now and then, say WTF. WTF gives you freedom. Freedom brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future.” 

I know how Joel feels at the beginning of that scene, don’t you? …Those moments when we are faced with an opportunity that could be a mistake and it feels like we’re putting our future at risk. 

So how do we channel those moments into a...

My oldest daughter is a freshman in high school. She’s tried a variety of sports but despite all my best efforts, she never really cared about any of them. Then recently, she developed an interest in Crew. As in – Rowing. Probably the only sport my husband and I know nothing about. 

She started talking about Crew in 8th grade and 6 months later, we’ve learned what this will mean in time, energy and money. It’s an investment for sure. When I ask her, “Why Crew?” she shrugs her shoulders and says she thinks she’d like it. 

It was a similar experience last year when my middle daughter said she wanted to play electric guitar. She was 11 at the time and this came out of nowhere. When I asked her why she wanted to play, she shrugged her shoulders and said she thought it would be fun.

We see this often with kids: they find something fun to do that’s also meaningful for them and they think, “That would be fun;...

Some people love networking and some people dread it. For most of my work-life, I dreaded it. Networking made me nervous (and still does, just not as much). The thought of walking into a room full of name-tag-wearing, chatty, successful and smart-looking people I didn’t know made me want to curl up in bed and read a book. The problem was that I had a sales job so networking was part of it. I’ve been to countless fancy events and casual meet-and-greets, and regardless of the venue or group, it was almost always an uncomfortable and intimidating experience for me.  

I tried getting advice from my mentors and colleagues about how to enjoy networking. There had to be a secret sauce that I didn’t know about! But when I asked about it, I’d get one of two responses: “I don’t know, I don’t like it either,” or “Just go talk to people!” So with nothing left to do, I’d arm myself with an elevator speech, put on my best...

Let’s say you have a brilliant new idea for the business. You tell people about it and they love it. They say they’ll do stuff to help make it happen but then, with all the other day-to-day needs and priorities, very little to nothing actually happens. We’ve all been down this road before. It’s normal. It’s also frustrating.

It begs the question of why some people’s ideas happen and others don’t. Is it because of the quality of the idea? …the urgency of it? …the authority of the person who presents it? Maybe… but we’ve all seen great ideas presented with urgency by a person in authority, and it still doesn’t happen.  

What if how we set the stage is the determining factor to gaining real buy-in?

Setting the stage starts long before you make the big presentation about it. First, you need to strategize who your key players are and then talk with them in a way that they can genuinely get on board with...

The past couple weeks have been nuts. I work from home; I’m the mom to three girls and the days leading up to back-to-school were like none other. Even with the first day of school behind us, I still feel like I’m running a long sprint. My daughters are 14, 12 and 6 so I’m familiar with this time of year: the 4-5 weeks surrounding that first day of school.

In my house, it began when the end of Summer was in sight. Each of my girls started getting nervous and made comments about dreading the new year. Their moods and needs flipped into another dimension. To each her own version, but my two older girls binged Netflix, crammed their last-minute summer reading, played way too many videogames and slept in until noon. My youngest was extra clingy and demanded constant attention. All three increasingly tattled on each other and talked back to me.

Then of course, there was the eye-rolling and yelling… but that was mostly me. I usually take their shenanigans in...