October 2020: Future Focus

This month's post is focusing on the (near) future. I am finding, both personally and with clients, that the pandemic has offered time to think and reflect, whether we want to or not. These links reflect some of the conversations I've been having as we shift from a sprint to a marathon.

✅ Americans might never come back to the office, and Twitter is leading the charge.  Keep the subtitle in mind, because it's telling: "Twitter’s plans for work from home indefinitely have prompted a wave of copycats. But its transformation has been two years in the making — and the rest of America can learn some lessons." I recently presented a webinar on Managing Remote Teams, and during the final discussion, someone acknowledged that she had been doing her regular job, just making some tweaks to get things done remotely. What she now realizes is that she needs to craft an entirely new approach, and not just make things work. Can you relate??

🎇 How to Reimagine the Second Half of Your Career. Furloughs, loss of workplace, economic stress, time to think, you name it... all of these dynamics are prompting many people in my universe to consider changes in work. This article could get the conversation started. 

📌 Growing Interest in Alternative Credentials. I've seen this trend coming for quite awhile. I've talked with higher ed institutions and while they are open to it, the pace of innovation in academia is GLACIAL. We may see the tech sector be the one that really pushes this forward. Google and Amazon are already offering options to their employees in this space. Listen and learn: we'll be hearing much more about certificates and badges in the future!

😳 Four COVID Impacts. Everyone and their brother is prognosticating these days about where we are headed, but I think this one has some calm, helpful insights for next steps. This statement stays with me: "The pandemic is a once in a lifetime opportunity to reset things that aren’t working or to try out new things."  I also found this article super interesting: It's Getting Better AND Worse, from Bloomberg News.

🥳 Need a Break? Here are three very fun, mindless diversions to give you a mental health break...

• The Amazing Fact Generator. Keep this one open for that random piece of trivia that you can drop on somebody on a moment's notice.
• WFH Zoom Fail. There are far too many of these available online, but this is a good one.
• The 2020 Marist Mindset List. These lists have been compiled since 1998, originally by Beloit College, serving as fascinating "cultural compasses." This year's entry opens with this: "They were born in the aftermath of 9/11 and have entered college during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this year’s incoming group of first-year college students, going to college might even require staying home for remote classes; some may simply be taking a gap year."

Current Favorites.

• Podcast. The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green. Equal parts nerdy and fascinating.
• Streaming. World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji on Amazon Prime. The backstories on the competitors Make. Me. Cry. Every. Time. I also can't wait to watch the final season of Schitt's Creek.
• Reading. Amazon Monthly Kindle E-Book Sale. True confession: I am hopelessly addicted to this treasure hunt of goodies. Is that so bad?!
• Documentary.  John Lewis: Good Trouble. Do not miss this. Utterly humbling, inspiring and motivating.

KS Leadership Development Updates. Nothing earth-shattering here, but I want to point out two resources that are available to you:

1. COVID-19 Resources. I have been trying to take in as much as I can in terms of ALL aspects of the pandemic. I maintain the column on the right side of this blog on a regular basis with resources that address a variety of the things impacted by all of this. Feel free to send other recommendations.
2. KSLD Resources Drive. I upload many of the tools here that I use with clients. Hopefully they will "stir the pot" for you if you need some ideas for leadership development, team-building, professional development, etc.  

Thanks for reading... feel free to send feedback and questions to kelly.soifer@ksleadershipdevelop.me. And forward this to a friend.

Learning, Living, Listening: March 2020

February was a full month for me… It included trips to Chicago and Boise to work with clients, a garden-variety cold that just would not let go, another birthday (they just keep coming, dang it!), and three new clients.  In the balance, a great month ~ indeed, I am grateful!

Thus with gratitude in mind, I want to share three different resources I came across in the last month that reminded me of the things that really matter. Amidst the chaos of coronavirus and this election season, I am doing my best to focus on further horizons, on what it takes to make a difference over a lifetime. I hope they encourage and challenge you.

LEARNING. A Little Happier: Teacher Anne Sullivan Writes About Helen Keller’s Moment of Profound Realization. Ignore the first 57 seconds of this link and then listen undistracted for the next three minutes. I promise that you will be moved as you listen. Then take some time to recall which teachers had the greatest impact on you, and consider where you can do the same.

LIVING. Third Places. This is a concept that I only learned about a few years ago, but I really resonate with it. As the article says, "Your first place is your home; your second place is your work. Your third places are your regular haunts." He goes on to list the eight qualities of a Third Place. Politics and a potential pandemic will only serve to divide and isolate us further. In contrast, I hope more and more of us can seek to create third places, and also seek to reach into new locations outside of our safe bubbles. Working from home, I am certainly reminded that I need to be more intentional in cultivating third places, and in pursuing deeper and slower conversations wherever I am.

LISTENING. Wild Work Advice with Cheryl Strayed. This comes from one of my favorite podcasts, hosted by Adam Grant, called WorkLife. Grant is an organizational psychologist who studies motivation and meaning in the workplace. This particular episode revolves around whom we seek out for advice regarding work. It's a great conversation.

Bonus Content. The Era of Antisocial Social Media. I'm adding this one because I am so intrigued by it. Just when I thought I had finally figured out how to use social media, I came across this dandy curveball… Trends are showing that  younger people do not like social media as much as private messaging! Read this article for some really interesting new research around a rejection of social media. Which is probably good news for everyone, right?

Final thoughts...

"Hope does not need to silence the rumblings of crisis to be hope."

Walter Brueggemann

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to pass this along to others, and send feedback and questions to kelly.soifer@ksleadershipdevelop.me. You can also find lots of other resources for your work life at bit.ly/KSLDresources.  Ciao for now!

Efficiency, Eating, Epitaphs, Education, plus an Extra: July 2019

2019 is halfway down and I've had a good year so far. I just finished teaching a great group of 22 law students from Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law in Strengths-Finders in order to equip them in soft skills and emotional intelligence. It was a great time and I continue to learn from every group I'm with. I love my work!

I've got an eclectic (sticking with the E theme in the title, get it?!) assortment of resources for this month. ENJOY!

10 Famous Epitaphs: The Good, the Bad, and the Weird. This weekend as I taught I shared at one point from the classic book, Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I continue to benefit from Habit #2, which is "Begin with the end in mind." Every time I refer to this habit, I always remind people, "What do you want to have said on your tombstone?" In other words, how do you want to be remembered? So I found this collection of funny and poignant epitaphs and encourage you to use them as a prompt to reflect: How do you want to be remembered?

Time Blocking: Improve Your Focus And Get More Meaningful Work Done. Efficiency and time management continues to be favorite topic with clients. Here's another good idea if you need some help. Personally, I diligently follow this method described by Cal Newport, as quoted in this article:

“I take time blocking seriously, dedicating ten to twenty minutes every evening to building my schedule for the next day. During this planning process I consult my task lists and calendars, as well as my weekly and quarterly planning notes. My goal is to make sure progress is being made on the right things at the right pace for the relevant deadlines.”

African Leadership University.  I found this article in Fast Company magazine. It was super inspiring to me not only for what this leader is doing in Africa but for his ideas about the future of higher education. UH-MAZING. Don't skip it.

I love to COOK and EAT! I have decided to add one of my favorite recipes each month to my posts because that is a big part of my life that I want to share with you. Feel free to share your recipes with me as well. This recipe, Gallo Pinto (known elsewhere as Arroz Negrito), is a winner and can be used for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I like to add some shredded chicken in it if I'm eating it for dinner, and it just gets better as leftovers. It is also a home run with eggs as well. KEY INGREDIENT: chicken broth instead of water!

EXTRA Resource: "It's OK to be a Late Bloomer." Many of my conversations with clients rotate around the tension between pursuing a career and finding your purpose, between burnout and stress management, between when to persist and when to pivot. This interview is a great encouragement to parents of high school or college students, but also those who feel like they are either stalled in their career or having a hard time even getting started. I highly recommend it.

Final thought for the month:

All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain. If we do not transform our pain, we will transmit it to those around us. (Richard Rohr)

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share with a friend, colleague or boss. Reach out to me at kelly.soifer@ksleadershipdevelop.me. Happy July!

How to Go to College: Now and in the Future

Today I find myself thinking about college students. My dear niece is crossing the country in a week to start college, and I just had lunch with a former student of mine who graduated in May. Both of them are excited, but also anxious and unsure about the changes ahead. 

It is so good to talk to them because it keeps me from using the lens of my own experience from a few decades ago. Sure, there are some things that never change about college: newfound independence, new friends, the excitement of thinking you are thinking original thoughts... but let me tell you, as someone who has worked with students for over 30 years, and dips her toe into adjunct instruction about once a year, that SO MANY things are so different now. I'm passing along three helpful resources to help you tune in (and wake up!) to what is going on for college students in 2018 and beyond. Take a few minutes to read them over. I think some things will take your breath away.

Medical Students Aren't Going to Class. The headline for this article says it all. If you aren't convinced to read further, check this out: "According to 2017 data from the Association of American Medical Colleges, about one-fourth of medical students reported that they 'almost never' went to class during their first two years of medical school. Instead of attending lectures, students are turning to online learning tools such as SketchyMedical, a company that produces online visual memory tools to help students memorize and retain minutiae and vocabulary." All I can say is... "SketchyMedical"?? God save us all.

Cost of College in 2036. I had dinner with two friends who have an ADORABLE nine-month old baby boy. I will not be showing them this article....

Perhaps it doesn't need to be said, but my total costs for my freshman year in 1979 was $4,000. Yep - dorm, food, tuition, books. Granted, that was a public university, but to read that it will cost today’s newborns a whopping $302,700 ($75,675/year) to attend a four-year private college in 2036 is just flabbergasting! Parents are advised to set aside $980/month for the next 18 years in a 529 for their children to be able to pay for college. Gulp.

‘A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College’. Just when you want to go off the grid to live off the land rather than keep up with the insanity, rest assured that this article is good news. And while you're at it, read this one as well: 6 trends shaping the near and far future of higher ed. I'm not gonna lie, get ready to Google some (OK, many) terms as you read these articles, because there are some terms in here I sure had to look up ("OER"?? "nanodegrees"? "digital badges"?!), but it is worth the work to get up to speed on many of the disruptive trends happening in higher education right now. Word to the wise: do not be intimidated; rather, dive in to the deep end of the pool and start paddling.

EXTRA GOODIE! "How I Got Into College" on This American Life. Your brain (and your wallet?) might feel a little worn out after a couple of these posts, so here is something that will help you laugh a little bit and lean into a good story. Set aside some time to listen to this one.

Let me know if you have any feedback or questions. I'm here to help! kelly.soifer@ksleadershipdevelop.me. Thanks for reading.

How to Help Students to Survive the Age of Anxiety

My consulting, coaching, and teaching functions in four main arenas:

1. Leadership Development (mostly management training and intern programs)
2. Executive Coaching (CEO's, presidents and administrators of academic institutions)
3. Executive Leaders of Churches and Non-Profits
4. Education (mostly as an adjunct instructor)

While I have had experience in all these fields, it all started in 1983 (yikes!) working directly with students, and often that is still where I find my radar finely tuned. I continue to be acutely interested in trends, topics, and concerns related to "kids these days." I appreciate how they have kept me young at heart after all these years, although I can cite many examples that also nearly turned my hair white in fear and frustration!

Whenever a conversation with those who work with students today ask me about the "good ol' days," inevitably the questions turns to,

"What changes have you seen that have made the most impact?"

Sure, I could easily mention the obvious ones like the Internet. Computers. Cell phones. Media. And certainly, there have been some profound cultural changes around those cultural and technological phenomenons... for example, in hindsight I find it unimaginable that I ran a non-profit in the 80's and early 90's with 70 adult volunteers, a budget over $100K, and eight different clubs in four different cities without a cell phone. But we all did just fine. Go figure.

But I digress... My point is that I find one variable far more stunning than all of those paradigm shifters. The title of this post probably gives it away: I think STRESS is far and away the most significant change I have seen in 35 years of working with students.

While I have watched students go from landlines to smartphones, typewriters to tablets, and from VHS to making their own movies (with CGI effects!), I have also seen massive events and changes like:

• Columbine (1999)
• 9/11
• The Great Recession of 2007-2009
• Aurora (2012), Sandy Hook (2013) and now Parkland
• multiple hours of homework every night, starting in elementary school
• intense pressure from extracurricular activities
• college entrance becoming intensely competitive and incredibly expensive

What I have seen this all add up to is a marked increase in anxiety-related issues: panic attacks, anxiety disorders, depression, addiction, suicidality, lots of medication, and so on. Colleges are finding themselves to be the "first responders" to these challenges, and are not resourced to manage it all adequately.

Before this cheerful post sends you running to the hills to jump off the grid and live off the land, read this article I just came across this week. They offer no "solution,' but I'll give away the most telling statement: "The most important step we can take on college campuses is to name the problem."

If your life and work are touched by this at all (and even if they aren't!), please get involved. As someone dedicated to developing transformational leaders, I ask all of us to: Pay attention. Ask questions. Find out what is available in terms of services and support. Listen closely and consistently. It will take all of us working together to even begin to make changes. Nothing will alter quickly of course (I've watched it shift incrementally for decades), but we must commit to long-term advocacy and care. Tell me your thoughts.

P.S. I'm not sure what to make of this news, which came out the same week as the previous article. Should we laugh or cry?