Dear Plucky, I’ve been waiting for a promotion for a long time and keep getting passed up, but my manager says I’m doing great. Should I just ask directly for the promotion? Is this seen as too self-centered? Thank you, Stuck but Ambitious ———– Heya Stuck, I’m picturing you in a holding pattern, like planes…
Dear Plucky, What’s a good approach to doing performance reviews at a very small company? There is a sense among all of us that we want performance reviews, because we want to improve. But also that it’s awkward at best and dangerous at worst. Dangerous, meaning, changing the nature of a friendship or uncovering something…
Dear Plucky, I’m managing a new team, and they’re not exactly getting along well. We’ve had some tense meetings lately with lots of passive aggressive remarks. How can I help them trust each other and communicate better together? They’re all pretty different and don’t have a lot in common. I’m worried that we won’t be successful…
At an industry conference two weeks ago I told a few colleagues that I never would have started my business if I hadn’t gone through postpartum depression. It’s true. The work I did to get myself out of depression fundamentally changed how I viewed myself, my purpose and my potential on the planet. Have you…
Reflections on my first year consulting, coaching and helping people find their way. I never thought of myself as someone who would start and run her own business. I’m a good student; I wait for the bar to get set by someone else and then I throw every ounce of energy I have into leaping…
My husband and I recently took a two night trip to Lake Tahoe, leaving our toddler home with my parents. I was doubtful that two nights would really feel like a getaway, but it was the best we could organize and in the end, we both felt closer and refreshed – some kind of Lake…
A few weeks ago I took a 3 mile hike alone on a trail in the middle of Tilden Park in Berkeley. You can see by the photo above that we’re in a pretty severe drought in California these days; instead of lots of greenery, much of the surrounding scenery was a dull yellow. I…
I always knew I’d be a working mom but I never quite realized what a redundant phrase that was until I had a baby 19 months ago. Suddenly the meaning of the phrase “full time job” seemed completely insufficient. Forty hours a week? Try ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT. In my career I’ve participated in…
My husband dumps all of his spare change on his nightstand every night. Then every few months I haul it to TD Bank, where I play that game in which you dump it in the giant cylinder and guess how much you have. I am always wildly off. I guess something like $6 and it’s more…
Tomorrow is spring. Let’s high-five about that, shall we? With spring comes change and I’m excited to announce that Plucky HQ is heading to the Bay Area! Starting May 1, I’ll be based in Berkeley, CA. I’m very excited to connect with West Coast agencies and start-ups (while continuing to travel a bunch for other…
A few weeks ago I was hanging out with friends, all of whom work in different industries. We shared war stories about the places we’d worked; it got us laughing and finally someone joked, “where are the good companies, anyway?” I’ve been thinking about that question lately. Are there good companies? Are there bad companies?…
First, put your weapons down. By “weapons”, I mean: the negative sentiment left over from your previous meeting, the stress you felt this morning when your kid peed on the floor, the remnant energy you held in while being polite to the client, your frustration with the way the payroll software locked up your screen,…