It was January 2009. I was in Doha for an international conference, invited to speak about women’s rights and empowerment. The moment came. I was on the stage with 3 other panelists. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were on me. Suddenly, my heart was racing twice as fast, and my forehead got covered in sweat. … Read More
“What can trigger you to have a bad day?“ That’s the question I asked the participants of Elevate, the high impact leadership development programme for women. The training session was on Emotional Intelligence, a key leadership skill. “Stress with my kids,” replied one woman. “People. A bad interaction with someone,” said another lady. “My emotions,” … Read More
A lot has been written already about the many identities of Kamala Harris: she is the first woman, and the first black and Asian American, to become Vice-President-elect of the United States. She’s also a wife to Douglas Emhoff and stepmother to his two children, Cole and Ella. As a leadership coach, I’ve been watching … Read More
“I snapped at my kids, and then got into a fight with my husband the same night. I don’t know what is going on with me,” one client, let’s call her Elena, shared with me last week. I knew exactly what she was feeling, having experienced a similar state only a few weeks earlier. Reactivity … Read More
“My main career challenge is cultural,” confessed Nigella, a new manager at GE Renewable Energy. “I cannot bring myself to talk about myself, my work or my accomplishments. Someone else can do it, but not me. That’s the way I was brought up in my culture of origin.” A lot of women feel the same, … Read More
If you’re finding that you’re more exhausted at the end of your workday than you used to be, you’re not alone. Over the past few weeks, mentions of “Zoom fatigue” have popped up more and more on social media, and Google searches for the same phrase have steadily increased since early March. Why do we … Read More