The Modern Manager

Most people think of project planning as the execution plan: Who needs to do what by when. But before we get to milestones, RACIs, or fancy gantt charts, it’s important to align the team up front on the strategy and scope of the project. Without this critical step, it’s easy for projects to go off course, friction to arise between team members, and time, energy and money to be wasted.   In this episode, I walk through a tool I’ve used for years to help me and my team plan projects. The Project Profile is designed to create shared understanding, elicit the best thinking, generate buy-in and streamline the execution.  The full episode guide includes the Project Profile template, a completed example Project Profile, and detailed instructions for how to use it with your team.  Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide atwww.mamieks.com/store.    Get the free mini-guide at www.mamieks.com/miniguides.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Register by January 10, 2020 for Make More Time: Everything a Manager Needs to Know to Delegate Successfully at mamieks.teachable.com/p/delegation   Read the related blog article: Do This Before You Start Your Next Project   Key Takeaways: Teams often jump from a goal to a work plan without first aligning on the project’s scope and strategy. This causes unnecessary friction, complexity, stress and lost time/money. Using at Project Profile can align the team, increase buy-in, generate stronger thinking, and streamline execution. The Project Profile consists of a series of sections each of which addresses a different aspect of the initiative. It is designed to get the team thinking deeply about the work and includes (1) Context, (2) Objectives, (3) Goals, (4) Measures of Success, (5) Assumptions, (6) Strategic Questions, (7) Watch-outs, (8) Resources, (9) Stakeholders, (10) Working Agreements, (11) Exclusions. There are two primary approaches to using a project profile. Option 1: One person begins a draft and shares it with the group to enhance as a collaborative document. Then the team gathers to work through it together and agree on a final draft. Option 2: the group works together from the start during a half-day project kick-off session.  mamie@mamieks.com

Organizations have up to five generations in the workplace, yet most people tend to congregate with others of the same generation. Even more problematic is the fear that sharing knowledge or making introductions for colleagues will somehow negatively impact one’s own career. As a manager, it’s your job to create an atmosphere of open dialogue where everyone can learn from one another, regardless of age.    Phyllis Weiss Hazero is the foremost workplace expert on cross-generational dialogue at work. Her newest book You Can’t Google it! The Compelling Case for Cross-Generational Conversation at Work explores generational challenges and opportunities. Phyllis is President of Practice Development Counsel, a business development and organizational effectiveness consultancy, as well as a speaker and blogger on intergenerational relations issues. Phyllis and I talk about the importance of building relationships across generational cohorts and how you can help create a culture of dialogue. We discuss various alternatives to traditional measures of age, mutual-mentoring, and how to open a conversation with someone you’d like to teach or learn from.   Read the related blog article: Create a Culture of Cross-Generational Dialogue at Work   Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get two digital downloads on cross-generational dialogue at work -- 10 Tips for Achieving a Culture of Generational Inclusion, Engagement and Belonging and How to Maximize Cross-Generational Working Relations with Conversations Each Generation Wants to Have.   If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.   Register for my course on delegation: Make More Time: Everything a manager needs to know to delegate successfully. Registration closes January 10, 2020. Early bird pricing ends December 31, 2019.    Members of The Modern Manager community get 10% off!   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Help me write my new book! I’m researching what makes a manager great to work for. Share your story and experience at www.managerialgreatness.com Help spread the word, too! Share the link with friends and colleagues.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Organizations can have as many as five generations in their workforce. Age no longer provides an accurate depiction of a person. We must stop making assumptions about what people know, are capable of, or are interested in, based on age. In addition to major societal influences, many things help shape us including religion, where we grew up, educational environment, etc. There are 8 forms of age: (1) Chronological Age; (2) Generational Age; (3) Career Stage, (4) Organizational Tenure; (5) Life Stage; (6) Physical Age; (7) Relative or Social Age; (8) Subjective Age. Stereotypes about age (both positive and negative) are not helpful and contribute to ageism in the workplace. Be proactive in building relationships with people outside your generational cohort. Select three people to invite for a conversation or coffee. Then pick three more. Many people worry they will become expendable if they share what or who they know. You must proactively create an environment for cross-generational dialogue and learning, and encourage sharing.  Two-way mentorship is a fantastic way to build mutually beneficial cross-generational relationships.   KEEP UP WITH PHYLLIS email: pwhaserot@pdcounsel.com  website: youcantgoogleit.com  Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pwhaserot Twitter: @phylliswhaserot YouTube channel: https://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-Google-Cross-Generational-Conversation/dp/1683505816/ref=sr_1_1   mamie@mamieks.com

Why are big tech companies so successful? It’s not just that they create amazing products leveraging the newest technology. According to this week’s guest, it’s how they approach their work by focusing on continuous customer engagement and measuring outcomes. Even if you’re a service business, or an HR team inside a manufacturing company, or a small business retailer, we can all improve when we measure outcomes instead of outputs. Jeff Gothelf. Jeff helps organizations build better products and executives build the cultures that build better products. He is the co-author of the award-winning book Lean UX and the Harvard Business Review Press book Sense & Respond. Jeff works as a coach, consultant and keynote speaker helping companies bridge the gaps between business agility, digital transformation, product management and human-centered design. Most recently Jeff co-founded Sense & Respond Press, a publishing house for practical business books for busy executives.  Jeff and I talk about how every team can benefit from managing themselves as if they were a technology company. He explains how to be in continuous conversation with your customers no matter who you define as your customers, so you can always be learning and improving. And we talk about how to shift the mindset and measurements of success from outputs to outcomes and why this is so critical for long term success.   Read the related blog article: Outputs or Outcomes: Measuring What Matters   Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get a free digital copy of Jeff’s latest book: Lean Vs Agile Vs Design Thinking to members of The Modern Manager community.  -- This short, tactical book reconciles the perceived differences in Lean Startup, Design Thinking, and Agile software development by focusing not on rituals and practices but on the values that underpin all three methods. If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.   Register for my course on delegation: Make More Time: Everything a manager needs to know to delegate successfully. Registration closes January 10, 2020. Early bird pricing ends December 31, 2019. Get a special bonus PDF “5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Delegating” for free when you sign up before December 20th.    Members of The Modern Manager community get 10% off!   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Help me write my new book! I’m researching what makes a manager great to work for. Share your story and experience at www.managerialgreatness.com Help spread the word, too! Share the link with friends and colleagues.   Key Takeaways: Years ago, software was delivered in a box. Every year, the product was updated and a new version was shipped. Tech companies today are able to gather lots of user data extremely quickly and therefore make hundreds of small changes to the software every day.  This continuous conversation of learning based on customer or user feedback (did they click or not), enables them to deliver greater value. Every team, no matter the context, product, service offering, industry, etc, can benefit from learning from their customers. This ongoing conversation to gather feedback enables you to experiment with ideas and make small tweaks or major changes in order to achieve an outcome. Outputs are short term deliverables that are easy to measure: did we finish on time, on budget? Outcomes are more complex and grey: How well did the promotional efforts drive customer loyalty? How did employee wellbeing improve?  Example: If the goal was to get employees to take 10% more vacation days by offering an unlimited vacation policy, and after 6 months, employees are taking 6% more, is that success or failure? It makes things more complicated for a manager to measure individual performance and determine bonuses based on outcomes.  You must know the long term outcome in order to test if the short term output or deliverable is help to accomplish it. That is the feedback you want to gather - is this approach delivering on the outcome we seek? This is a learning journey for everyone. Start by saying, “forget the solution we're trying to implement or build, what is the problem that we are trying to solve? And, if we solve it, how will we know?” You must talk with your customers, whoever they may be. When you ask for their feedback, be prepared to hear that your initial ideas were wrong. This is the best way to learn quickly so you can adjust and deliver greater value.   KEEP UP WITH JEFF Twitter: @jboogie Publishing Company: https://www.senseandrespondpress.com/  mamie@mamieks.com

We all have moments when we get in our own way. Our conscious mind is saying “this is what I want” but our subconscious mind is saying “actually...I don’t think so.” This result is a confusing mess of self-sabotaging behaviors.  David Neagle is the founder of the multimillion-dollar global coaching company Life Is Now, Inc, helping thousands of entrepreneurs, experts and self-employed professionals gain the confidence and find the right mindset to increase their revenue, turning their endeavors into seven- and eight-figure ventures. He is also the bestselling author of The Millions Within, a book focusing on intention, focus and awareness to build your dream business and life. David and I talk about how self sabotaging works, why we self-sabotage, how to overcome your own tendencies to self-sabotage, and how to talk with your team about their self-sabotaging.    Read the related blog article: Why We Self-Sabotage and What We Can Do About It   Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get David’s course The Art of Success for free. The Art of Success is truly a tool of self-empowerment like none other. It teaches you exactly HOW to rise above your circumstances and live a stronger, more liberated, more fulfilling life. If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox: mamieks.com/join.    Register for my course on delegation: Make More Time: Everything a manager needs to know to delegate successfully. Registration closes January 10, 2020. Early bird pricing ends December 31, 2019. Get a special bonus PDF “5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Delegating” for free when you sign up before December 20th.    Members of The Modern Manager community get 10% off!   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Key Takeaways: The brain is hardwired to keep us safe, alive and reproducing. Anything that threatens those (think: anything that requires a change and feels risky) can trigger a self-sabotaging behavior. Self-sabotaging tends to occurs in one of two ways: (1) we get hyper-focused on something irrelevant and (2) we create a problem for ourselves. In both cases, it’s subconscious, but we let our attention be drawn from where it should be and instead focus on a distraction. Once you agree with the distraction or lean into the self-made problem, you’ve gotten yourself stuck and all progress toward your goal will end. The first step toward overcoming self-sabotaging is to be aware of how it works for you.  Evaluate the choices you’ve made of what to focus on, how to behave, etc. If you anticipate that you’re likely to avoid a behavior, try scheduling it and bundling it with an activity or reward you enjoy.  Talk with your team members about self-sabotaging to help them recognize their potential tendencies. Create a safe space for people to share personal struggles and perspectives.  Often we carry stress from outside of work into the office. When you can get to the root of the problem, it’s easier to address the subconscious desires. When something goes wrong in a project, help your team member diagnose what happened. Listen actively for their perspective and potential self-sabotaging behaviors. Then support them to develop their own strategies to address it. To counter self-sabotaging, discover what deeply motivates yourself and your individual team members. Focus on lifting up these motivations.   KEEP UP WITH DAVID Podcast: The Successful Mind Podcast Website: www.davidneagle.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david_p_neagle/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidNeagleCommunity   mamie@mamieks.com

Delegation is a critical skill for any manager, but did you know it’s also a mindset? Many of us have had less than ideal experiences delegating in the past, making us weary of trying again. It’s almost impossible to delegate successfully if deep down, you don’t believe it will work out. It’s time for a shift in mindset. In this episode, I talk through three common fears around delegating (which I’ve personally experienced and heard from other managers) and how to shift your approach so you can move past these excuses and prepare to delegate effectively.  The full episode guide includes an overview of the 5 common fears, questions for reflection and recommendations for how to move past your concerns. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide individually at www.mamieks.com/store.     Get the free mini-guide for this episode at www.mamieks.com/miniguides.   Register for my course on delegation: Make More Time: Everything a manager needs to know to delegate successfully. Registration closes January 10, 2020. Early bird pricing ends December 31, 2019. Get a special bonus PDF “5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Delegating” for free when you sign up before December 20th.    Members of The Modern Manager community get 10% off!   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: Prepare Your Mind to Delegate Successfully   Key Takeaways: Delegation is one of the best ways to create more time for yourself. Delegating requires the right mindset along with an effective process for planning, communicating and managing to a successful result. Often we avoid delegating out of fear. Three common fears are: (1) Fear we’ll look bad; (2) fear we’ll spend more (rather than save) time; and (3) fear of letting go of what we enjoy.  Your time is your most precious resource. If you believe that, why would you spend it on activities that are not the most meaningful or valuable for you? Start small and build trust over time. Delegate a task (straightforward) before handing over an outcome (complex or uncertain). Delegate the first draft or a component of the work instead of the entire piece. Just because you enjoy something or are good at it doesn’t mean your the best person to do that work. Consider how the other person will benefit from taking on this work. It’s not only about benefiting you. Consider what you will gain by having additional time. How might you spend it in more important or meaningful ways? Delegating may take more time up front to properly prepare and offer support, but in the long run, you’ll gain that time and often more.    Additional Resources: Episode 22: Keys for Successful Delegation with guest Dave Stachowiak. Online course: Make More Time: Everything a manager needs to know to delegate successfully.  mamie@mamieks.com

Being a manager is tough. Being a new manager is really tough, even if you’ve done it before in another company or with another team. There are a few things you can do to start off strong whenever you’re taking on a new managerial role. But we can all learn from these lessons whether you’re brand new or have been with the same team for years.  John Murphy is the author of 10 Key Traits of Top Business Leaders and creator of the First 100 Days Plan course for new managers. He is an internationally successful coach, author and speaker. He began his corporate career as a salesman and progressed to being CEO of a Pan European Group. 15 years ago, he set up John Murphy International to help business owners, senior executives and management teams deliver what they are capable of. John has worked with global companies like Pfizer, Airbus, Johnson & Johnson and Vodafone. John and I start our conversation talking about the mindset of a successful manager and servant leadership, and then we hit a twist and transition into the topic of critical things to do as a new manager to set yourself and your team up for success.    Read the related blog article: Move From Individual Contributor To Effective Manager   Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get a digital copy of John’s book: 10 Key Traits of Top Business Leaders. Plus, get access to dozens of other guest bonuses and episode guides when you join. If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox: mamieks.com/join.    I’m interested in hearing about your experience working for a rockstar manager. Please share your story at www.managerialgreatness.com   KEY TAKEAWAYS: As an individual, you are measured by what you accomplish. As a manager, you’re measured by what your team accomplishes. The old ‘command and control’ mentality is outdated and adds to the disengagement of team members. A support and serve mentality is needed in today’s workplace. Your job is to help your team members become the best version of themselves, to become very effective and efficient at what they do.  60% of first time managers don't celebrate their second anniversary. Being a new manager is extremely challenging. When taking on a new managerial role, be proactive about educating yourself. Learn about the business, the goals, the strategies so you can make better decisions.  Think broadly about who your team’s stakeholders are and go meet them.  Meet internal stakeholders to learn about them and their work. Ask how you can work together best, what do you need from each other, etc.  Talk with your team members about your expectations of them. Be clear about what their goals are and how you’re there to support them. How do you want them to act/interact with you? Talk to your boss about their expectations of you. Gain clarity on what they believe success looks like. Prepare yourself for new tasks like preparing for and leading meetings, giving feedback, etc. Find resources to support your growth in these areas. If you join a management or leadership team, remember that you’re wearing two hats: that of your own team or department and that of the organization at large.   KEEP UP WITH JOHN Course: https://www.first100daysplan.com/join Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmurphyinternational/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jmicoaching Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnMurphyInternational/?ref=bookmarks Website: http://www.johnmurphyinternational.com/ mamie@mamieks.com

Fear is one of our most natural instincts. At its best, fear drives us to make good choices that preserve our safety and security, but at its worst, it inhibits us from taking risks and moving forward. After surveying more than 4,000 people, seven patterns of fear emerged. Knowing your fear pattern, and your colleagues', can help you all achieve your goals.  Ruth Soukup is a New York Times bestselling author dedicated to helping women overcome fear and create a life they love. Through her blog, Living Well Spending Less, which reaches more than 1 million women each month, she encourages her readers to follow their dreams and reach their goals. She is also the host of Do It Scared® podcast, the founder of the Living Well Planner® and Elite Blog Academy®, as well as the author of five bestselling books. Here newest book, Do It Scared®: Finding the Courage to Face Your Fears, Overcome Obstacles, and Create a Life You Love will be available in May 2019.  Ruth and I talk about the 7 fear archetypes each of which has strengths and struggles, we get into my fear archetype, which is a very common one, as well as specific things you can do to manage and reduce your fears. And, we get into how knowing your team members fear archetypes can help you be a better manager and so you can better support your team members.   Read the related blog article: Take Control and Conquer Your Fears   Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get Ruth’s guide to picking an accountability partner that matches your Fear Archetype. So after you complete the free Fear Assessment, you can use the criteria to help pick an accountability partner that matches your archetype and is a good fit for your needs. Plus, get access to dozens of other guest bonuses and episode guides when you join. If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox: mamieks.com/join.    I’m interested in hearing about your experience working for a rockstar manager. Please share your story at www.managerialgreatness.com   KEY TAKEAWAYS: Complete the fear assessment to better understand your fear archetype. https://doitscared.com/dis-assessment/ Often fear is unconscious or we experience it as overwhelm, anxiety, feeling stuck or depressed. Once you bring your fear to the surface and recognize it, you can do something about it. Fear does not present the same for everyone but there are seven patterns of fear or fear archetype: (1) The Procrastinator, (2) The Rule Follower, (3) The People Pleaser, (4) The Outcast, (5) The Self-Doubter, (6) The Excuse Maker, (7) The Pessimist. Each fear archetype has positive qualities that serves us and negative qualities that inhibit us. Understand the nature of your fear so you can take appropriate steps to move past it. Look for how it shows up in your ways of thinking and behaving. Then replace those thoughts and actions with small, new ways that better serve you. Action is the antidote to fear. You can only overcome fear by moving forward. Because we don’t all fear the same things, a behavior that seems easy for you may cause deep fear in a team member.  When you understand the fear archetype of your team members, you can better motivate and support them to achieve their goals.    KEEP UP WITH RUTHWebsite:www.ruthsoukup.com Book: https://doitscared.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LivingWellSpendingLess/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruthsoukup/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/RuthSoukup| Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lwsl/ mamie@mamieks.com

It’s that time of year again, when many of us begin thinking about what we’ve accomplished and where we’re headed - in business and in life. Using a structured process to help you reflect on the past year and plan for the next year creates a sense of accomplishment and momentum to move you into the future.  Doing it as a team helps build relationships, increases morale, and offers opportunities to support one another. Carey Jaros is Chief Operating Officer at GOJO Industries, inventor of PURELL® Instant Hand Sanitizer. Carey will become President and Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2020. As an executive, board member, and investor, Carey has worked on and in over 50 organizations— from startups, to established public and private companies, to non-profits.  She spent the first decade of her career at Bain & Company, before taking on progressive operating roles in several other companies. Carey walks me through her end of year reflection process that she’s used for years with her teams. She explains the various sections, including exercises and objectives of each, so you can use this process with your team.   Read the related blog article: Engage Your Team in Purposeful Reflection and Planning   Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get the worksheets Carey uses for each activity. Plus, get access to dozens of other guest bonuses and episode guides when you join. If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox: mamieks.com/join.    I’m interested in hearing about your experience working for a rockstar manager. Please share your story at www.managerialgreatness.com   KEY TAKEAWAYS: Plan to spend 3-4 hours using this reflection and planning process. Be sure to send an agenda or share the concept of the session with your team so their expectations are set prior to attending the session. Begin with the “future self” - what does your life look like in 15 years? This gets people to think beyond incremental shifts to their current life. Next, generate your top 3 x top 3 - what are you most proud of accomplishing this year (1) with your team, (2) individually at work, (3) in your personal life? Identify three items for each category. For each accomplishment, reflect on whether you had a goal and a plan? Help the team recognize that when you have a goal and a plan, you’re more likely to accomplish it. Identify up to 10 areas of your life and describe what fulfillment or satisfaction looks like for each. On a scale of 1-5, how satisfied are you now and how satisfied would you like to be in 5 years? Two common ways to reallocate your time are to (1) outsource e.g. delegate or hire someone and (2) double up i.e. combine activities from two areas into a single activity such as going to the gym with a friend.  Select two goals you’d like to achieve in the next year that will help you move closer to your 5 year vision. Have a partner offer ideas for what practical steps you can take to make progress on your goal.  Commit to two actions you’ll take for each goal. Share them with a partner and check in on them over the course of the year.   KEEP UP WITH CAREY LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/careyjaros/ Website: www.gojo.com   mamie@mamieks.com

How often does your team talk about goals (or impact or accomplishments)? And how often do you talk about your values?  Too often team or organizational values are meaningless words on the wall (or website). Unless we intentionally take steps to bring these values, the beautifully crafted inspirational values will likely never become core to the culture.  In this episode, I talk through various strategies to help bring your values to life. I discuss how to translate values into norms or behaviors, how to incorporate values into your accountability systems, and how to modify your ways of working to reflect your values. The full episode guide includes a sample agenda, activities, and examples to help your team translate it’s values into norms and incorporate them into your ways of working. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.mamieks.com/store.     Get the free mini-guide at www.mamieks.com/miniguides.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: How to Live Your Team Values Every Day   Key Takeaways: Values on their own will not change a culture. It takes intentional effort to embrace the values and make them part of your team’s daily experience. Norms can be explicit and implicit. Often we take cues from observing our colleagues to help us understand what behaviors are expected and accepted.  When norms are not intentionally developed based on the team’s values, they emerge organically. In this case, they are typically derived from the team leader and/or the loudest personalities.  To generate norms as a team, ask the group, “for each value, what behaviors would we observe if people were living this value?” Collectively identify the top 1-3 norms to focus on first. These could be the easiest to implement, most needed, greatest ROI, etc. Elevate the norms to the same level of importance as your team’s goals. Talk about them wherever you’d talk about goals. Share stories of when you’ve observed people upholding the norms and values. Incorporate ratings or reflection questions specifically about upholding the team values and/or norms into your performance review process. Include developing skills and capabilities related to the values in your individual development plans. Talk with team members individually when they don’t uphold a norm. Seek to understand why and support them to do better in the future. Reflect on your current ways of working - processes, practices, rewards, etc - and ask if they are aligned with your team values. Take steps to update or redesign any ways of working that are inhibiting people (as structural roadblocks or de-motivators) from living the values. Make it fun by including visuals, playful language or other approaches that highlight the team’s values. Recognize that this process takes time and focus, but it’s worth the investment.   Additional Resources: Episode 072: How to Create Team Values mamie@mamieks.com

Do you ever find yourself doing anything but what you should be? Are you highly creative, imaginative and loving? Does it ever seem like you’re too empathetic? These are just a few characteristics of a highly sensitive person. Note: Being highly sensitive is not the same as being highly emotional. HSPs are more attuned to the world around them due to how their brain is wired. As you’ll soon learn, there are pros and cons to this ability.  Heather Dominick is the founder and leader of the Highly Sensitive Entrepreneur® movement.  She has helped thousands of HSE®s release life-long limiting beliefs, overcome fears and learn how to build their business in a way that actually feels so good that they can’t help but create solid, sustainable, high level financial success. Although Heather’s work has been primarily focused on entrepreneurs, the lessons and insights are relevant to managers and their direct reports, too. Heather and I talk about what it is to be a highly sensitive person, the shadows and strengths of HSEs, how to move from coping mechanisms to healthy behaviors, and how to identify if your colleague may be highly sensitive.   Read the related blog article: Embracing Your Strengths as a Highly Sensitive Manager   Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get a discount on Heather’s course Business Miracles.  Get access to dozens of other guest bonuses and episode guides when you join. If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox: mamieks.com/join.    KEY TAKEAWAYS: 15-20% of the population is highly sensitive. This means their nervous system is wired to take in more information through their 5 senses. There are 12 common strengths of highly sensitive entrepreneurs. Each of these strengths has a shadow for when it’s overused and starts to inhibit the individual. HSEs often use coping mechanisms to help them avoid feelings of stress and overwhelm. For example, some will busy themselves with other seemingly meaningful tasks (but which actually don’t move the work forward) while others will over-invest in getting the work done, burning themselves out in the process. HSEs have a strength of empathy with a shadow of over-responsibility. It’s powerful to be highly attuned to the feelings and experiences of others, but not healthy to always feel responsible for those feelings and experiences.  HSEs have a strength of creativity with a shadow of overwhelm. It’s powerful to have lots of ideas to pursue, but not healthy to avoid the work or burnout because of all the details and workload. Step one is to recognize if you and/or a colleague is highly sensitive. Then you can start to notice what triggers you and what coping mechanisms you typically turn to. Self reflection is critical. Regularly assess how you’re doing and develop tactical plans for how to work or behave differently next time.    RESOURCES Rocketship.fm podcast - Meetings Suck episode Highly Sensitive Quiz - www.HSEQuiz.com   KEEP UP WITH HEATHER Instagram: www.instagram.com/bizmiracles FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/businessmiracles/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ACIBMs LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/businessmiracles/ Website: www.BusinessMiracles.com   mamie@mamieks.com