Resources for Growth

Career and Personal Branding Resources

  • Michelle Claffey is the founder of Claffey Leadership. Through customized coaching engagements and programs, Michelle helps leaders and teams elevate how they work collaboratively, create sustainable shifts, and achieve bolder outcomes while increasing authenticity, sense of purpose, connection, and joy.

  • Lori Zukin of Corentus Consulting is a coach and leadership advisor, as well as a faculty member of Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership.

  • Jocelyn K. Glei channels words, ideas, and energy to create transformative change. Her website includes articles on busy-ness versus scarcity, making a To-Not-Do list, and how you can apply the difference between deep attention and hyper-attention to work at your best.

  • Shan Oran Liu, founder of Studio Oran, leverages a mixed background in product design, industrial design, and fine art to create holistic experiences that engage people through digital and physical interactions. She is my go-to professional for graphic design needs.

  • Assess your personal and professional strengths with tools like StrengthScope and the CliftonStrengths Assessment, formerly known as StrengthsFinder.

  • Become an outstanding public speaker and communicator with training from Toastmasters.

Online Resources

  • The Crossroads of Should and Must: This post discusses the two paths you can take in your life, one shaped by the Shoulds that hold you back, and one created by the Musts that you can choose to pursue.

  • Why Following Your Passions Is Good for You (and How to Get Started): This article discusses why following your passion can make you happy, and how to do it.

  • Listening to Shame: TED Talk by Brené Brown on shame, vulnerability, weakness, and trust.

  • Why You Should Take Time to Mourn During Career Transitions: This article discusses actively managing your career—from networking to unemployment to the gig economy and returning from parental leave.

  • The Difference Between Goals and Systems: This article advocates for rejecting goals to focus on building systems that enable you to achieve goals.

  • The Hidden Networking Gap between Men and Women: This article on networking is framed as gaps between how men and women approach networking, but there are helpful tips for everyone and a discussion of mentoring versus coaching versus sponsorship.

  • Five Lessons from Leaders: This article shares five tips to help managers support their staff through coaching.

  • The Inner Game of Career Development: This short article discusses how you take control of career development through introspection and more.

  • The Four Burners Theory of Work-Life Balance: This article presents the obvious, but easy to forget assertion that you can’t be amazing at everything at the same time. Whatever your burners may be—friends, family, career, health, or something else—achieving excellence in one often means that you sacrifice another.

  • The Three Stages of Failure: This article presents failures of tactics, strategy, and vision, and how to overcome those failures.

  • Practical Frameworks for Beating Burnout: This article discusses burnout—in life and in the workplace—and the warning signs of a looming burnout. The article discusses the topic in terms of the expectations we set for ourselves.

  • Seven harsh truths that will make you a better manager: The title accurately summarizes the article. The guidance can apply to anyone who leads a team, not just managers with direct reports.

  • Sand video: This video describes prioritizing and ensuring space for what really matters to you.

  • The difference between Charisma and Presence. This hour-long interview of Amy Cuddy by Susan Cain (author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts). The video explores what presence really is. The video is long, but I did find it worth watching to learn about presence not as innate confidence and charisma, but as a foundation in your values and core beliefs.

  • Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are: This TED Talk by Amy Cuddy discusses power poses and the impact of body language on who you are and how you feel. Despite years of ensuring controversy about whether her research findings were replicable, I still recommend this video because I know many professionals have found the act of doing power poses before high-stakes presentations and interviews deeply empowering. If it works for you, great. If it doesn’t, move on.

Book Recommendations

  • The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. This fictional story follows a boy who pursues his personal legend. It’s an inspiring story about clarifying your life purpose and having the courage to pursue it.

  • The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide for Personal Freedom, by Don Miguel Ruiz. This book is simple, powerful, and spiritual. Its four simple lessons can reduce stress and anxiety by refocusing you on what you control and how you react to upsetting situations.

  • How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. It’s not as mercenary as the title sounds. This book contains essential lessons for how to treat others with respect, kindness, and sincerity.

  • The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg. This is a powerful and pragmatic book on how habits work and—more importantly—how to identify and change them.

  • Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success, by Adam Grant. This book explores how people pursue and achieve success, with social science-based discussion of people who give versus people who take. It can help you understand your own personality in the workplace and how to operate with people who have different tendencies and priorities.

  • Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the unseen forces that stand in the way of true inspiration, by Ed Catmull. This book was written by the President of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation. The description of how to inspire creativity, the challenges that a novel company faces, and the pressure of continued success were intriguing lessons with wide application.

  • Leap, by Tess Vigeland. This is a pragmatic book about leaping from a job into the unknown. It discusses your dream job, leaving your dream job, dreaming while in your dream job, and the pressure of others who expect you to continue achieving greatness.

  • The Five Love Languages, by Gary Chapman. Some parts of this book may feel overly simplistic, but the concept that people express and receive love or connect emotionally in different ways can be helpful for approaching relationships and understanding others.

  • Radical Candor, by Kim Scott. This book provides specific strategies for what to do and not do when faced with tough situations and the need to provide honest feedback.

  • Fierce Conversations, by Susan Scott. This book presents practical strategies and frameworks for how to respectfully and effectively approach tough conversations.

  • Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, by Richard Carlson. This excellent short book contains simple lessons about how to live a happier, kinder, simpler life with less stress. It presents straightforward tips and advice on how to approach stressful situations, disapproving comments, rejection, road rage, and the many annoyances and frustrations that arise at home and at work.

  • The Chakra System, by Anodea Judith. This book was an excellent exploration of mindfulness and included helpful exercises to become more aware of your body and the burdens your body carries.