by Caroline Leach | Jul 2, 2023 | Work/Life
What are your favorite ways of having a chill summer weekend? 😎 One where you feel relaxed, refreshed, and reenergized?
Not necessarily so you can be ready for the work week ahead, but to fully enjoy and savor your life in the moment.
A few years ago I visited Vancouver to speak at the IABC world conference for communicators.
While I was there, I took a solitary stroll through the stunning Stanley Park (pictured).
Since then I’ve been captivated by the research that shows spending time in green spaces (among trees) and blue spaces (near water) is invaluable to our health and well being.
To that end, here are a few weekend ideas. Some can be combined and done together …
💕 Spend time with cherished family and friends
🌲 Get out in nature, for some forest bathing
💪 Move your body with a walk or a workout
📚 Exercise your mind with a book, a podcast, or a curious conversation
🎨 Spend time on a hobby you enjoy and lose track of time
🎢 Do something fun for the sheer joy of it
🍦 Help others through volunteering
🖊️ Reflect on what’s most important to you and what’s next
😎 Do nothing at all, and just BE!
What makes a great weekend for you?
by Caroline Leach | Jul 1, 2023 | Careers, Leadership
It’s the middle of the year and a long holiday weekend. 🇺🇸 What better time to reflect on where you are and where you want to go?
Here are 7 reflection questions to supercharge the rest of your year …
👉 What are you proud of so far this year?
👉 How are you performing on the annual goals you set?
👉 What’s working well?
👉 What would you like to do better?
👉 What are you excited about?
👉 What’s one action that would increase your leadership impact?
👉 How can you make the most of second half of the year?
Sometimes it’s all too easy to focus on what’s NOT working well. That’s how our brains work. We go right to the negative. (And this week’s news cycle certainly lends itself to that.)
Yet when you take the time to reflect on what you’re proud of, it’s easier to see how much progress you HAVE made.
And what you’re EXCITED about is what gives you energy.
That energy is so necessary to navigate daily challenges, bounce back from rejection, and keep going toward your biggest and most exciting goals.
How will you make the most of the second half of the year?
by Caroline Leach | Jun 28, 2023 | Careers, Social Media
Get your Social Media Success Roadmap workbook, newly updated for 2023!
You’ll find 50 questions, actions, and ideas to build and 
boost your career through social media.
The workbook now includes a LinkedIn profile checklist, to make the most of your digital presence and help people find YOU.
It’s a companion piece of my book, What Successful People Do on Social Media: A Short Guide to Boosting Your Career (available on Amazon).
Here’s to your success![Download not found]
by Caroline Leach | Jun 6, 2023 | Careers, Work/Life
With all the news about return-to-office policies, a middle ground of hybrid work seems optimal in many cases.
This gets the best of collaboration and culture building with a few days in the office, balanced with a few days of remote work for better focus, productivity, and work/life integration.
As an example, I’m working in Mammoth Lakes, California this week, a five-hour drive from my home base in Los Angeles.
My dad is visiting from the East Coast to attend meetings in Mammoth. While he’s a pretty active 80-something-year-old, I jumped in as the driver and travel companion.
How is this working out?
🔴 Coaching and consulting client meetings continued on as usual via Teams and Zoom
🔴 New client proposals got created and delivered as usual
🔴 Admissions committee work for the graduate program I teach in continued on
🔴 Event and catering inquiries for my family’s Redondo Beach restaurant Pacific Standard Prime got responses
🔴 Driving from LAX to Mammoth, my dad and I met my son for lunch at UCLA between his classes
🔴 My dad and I spent time together and caught up on each other’s lives
🔴 The change of scenery in the stunning and still-snowy Eastern Sierras brought new perspectives and ideas
Overall, it’s been an integrated and effective way to combine work and life.
Of course, having my own coaching, consulting, and speaking business The Carrelle Company means I can work wherever and whenever I need and want to.
Doing restaurant-related work remotely was a bit trickier, however, and more limited in scope.
There are many ways to do great work from anywhere. There are many ways to combine the best of being in the workplace at times and being remote at times.
What works well for you?
by Caroline Leach | Apr 28, 2023 | Social Media
And they’re off and running! Congrats to the talented students in my final project capstone course.
During the spring semester, they designed and developed websites, apps, and topical content series including podcasts. To promote their work, they created digital marketing campaigns.
Soon they’ll graduate with MS degrees in Digital Social Media from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Can’t wait to see the amazing things they’ll do in their careers and lives.
In a recent class meeting, I shared my 10 career lessons as a Fortune 100 VP turned entrepreneur.
⭐ Just start. You don’t have to map out the whole journey to take the first step.
⭐ Look for hidden opportunities. Do what needs to be done that no one else is doing.
⭐ Meet hiring managers before a job is posted. How? Build and nurture a network over time.
⭐ Always be connecting. Every time you meet someone new, connect on LinkedIn.
⭐ Keep in touch and be of help. Share info and insight, connect people, and encourage them.
⭐ Be patient. Success takes time. Take steps every day and build momentum.
⭐ Think of every project as an audition to do more. Great work leads to more opportunity.
⭐ Know your worth, expect it, and ask for it. Ask for more in every salary negotiation.
⭐ Savor every day. Enjoy your life right now, while you’re on the journey.
⭐ Make the world a better place by how you show up. You can lead from any position.
What’s your career advice?
by Caroline Leach | Mar 31, 2023 | Social Media
Rather than a “pile on” at the end of each day, with everything that went wrong, try these questions instead:
- What went well today?
- What do I want to do better tomorrow?
by Caroline Leach | Feb 28, 2023 | Careers
When people ask about my career background, I tell them I spent 30 years in the corporate world, and I’m now into 30 years of entrepreneurship.
At first, it felt a little strange. Do I want to work another three decades? Can I work another 30 years? And how will technology change my work?
It’s year 5 of my coaching, consulting, and speaking business. It’s year 3 of my husband Kevin’s steakhouse, Pacific Standard Prime. And while it hasn’t been an easy road (pandemic, anyone?), the momentum continues to build. Entrepreneurship increasingly feels like a sustainable path for both of us.
While I’ve been busy pursuing my 60-year career, I had no idea it was a broader trend. Until I read Here Comes the 60-Year Career in The Wall Street Journal this month.
The ancillary lesson here? You could be part of a bigger trend without even knowing it. What are you doing or thinking in your own life that could be part of a societal shift? What trends are you setting?
by Caroline Leach | Jan 25, 2023 | Leadership, Work/Life
Even when we leave companies, or companies leave us, the relationships with our colleagues remain.
The highs, the lows, and the in betweens of our work fade away. What sticks around? Special connections, if we choose to spend time with people who are important to us.
It was fun to gather recently with DIRECTV alums, and hear what’s new with everyone.
It was the ride of a lifetime to work together, and it’s even better to stay in touch.
A group of us gathered for dinner last week (pictured above), and another group gathered for drinks last month during the holidays (pictured below).
Last fall, I became intrigued by what makes us happy and contributes to our well-being. It has been a challenging few years, for a variety of reasons, including the pandemic. This is true for me, and I suspect is true for all of us.
My husband Kevin and I each launched our own businesses in 2018. My consulting/coaching/speaking business The Carrelle Company LLC and his restaurant Pacific Standard Prime steakhouse were both established that fall.
In a stroke of randomly poor timing, the restaurant opened in August 2020, a few months into the pandemic. To say it’s been a rocky road is a major understatement.
A quote attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th U.S. President, gives me great comfort and guidance (and which Roosevelt credits to Squire Bill Widener): “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
This has been my daily mantra, to focus on each day only. Instead of wishing the road was easier, I ask myself what I can do, with what I have, where I am.
It turns out, a lot.
Here we are in 2023. The road isn’t necessarily easier.
Yet the restaurant is still open, and people on Yelp give the team a lot of love. Major credit to Kevin for following his dream and keeping at it every day, along with an amazing team of employees and wonderful guests who come back time after time.
And my business continues to grow, more quickly each year. This is thanks in part to friends and colleagues who have provided encouragement and made referrals.
Back to my question about what makes us happy. It started with a Hello, Monday podcast episode from LinkedIn with Dr. Laurie Santos on the topic of increasing happiness. I wanted to know the secret.
Can you guess?
Turns out it’s social connections.
The Harvard Study of Human Development underscores this finding. Launched in 1938, it’s followed the lives of more than 700 initial participants, and later, their families.
What has it found so far? More than following a healthy diet, exercising regularly, or getting enough sleep, it turns out that cultivating relationships has the biggest impact on our happiness and well being.
So I reflected on what I could do, with what I have, where I am.
And I thought, my family owns a restaurant. Why don’t I invite different groups of people to dinner? It started with some high school friends in November (pictured below). And continued with former work colleagues this month. Who knows where this will go, but it’s sure a lot of fun!
One of the people invited to the dinner was Pat Doyle, the former CFO of DIRECTV. Even though I didn’t work in Finance (I led Corporate Communications as part of the amazing HR team led by Joe Bosch), both Pat and Joe opened a door for me to work on a major M&A integration team led by my colleague and now friend Jennifer Cho.
Heartbreakingly, the day I confirmed the dinner plans with the group, I learned about Pat’s untimely passing the day before. Pat was a gentle, smart, and kind leader, with incredible integrity. He was a father and a grandfather, and way too young to leave us. Pat will be missed by so many people for whom he was a role model and a shining light. What a legacy he leaves for his own family, for the DIRECTV family, and for the larger community.
This brought into sharp relief a mantra from another colleague, Linda Simon. She ends every email with “enjoy every day!” This could not be more sage advice. Today is all we have. Let’s enjoy it, and let’s enjoy our relationships with the special people in our lives.
So if you’re struggling with the loss of a loved one, an unexpected layoff, a business setback, concern about the future, or anything else, here are two questions to ask yourself.
What can you do, with what you have, where you are?
And who can you reach out to and connect with today?
by Caroline Leach | Dec 26, 2022 | Work/Life
Ah, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. It feels like the world (almost) stops, for one golden week. Texts, emails, and calls drop off in frequency. Calendars have open space. Demands lighten up.
Indeed, it would be tempting to float through these blissful days without a care in the world.
But wait. What if there’s a better way?
What if there’s a path that combines rest, reflection, and renewal? How could you create a deeply satisfying week? One that would end your year on a high note and help you start strong in the new year?
Our values – what’s important to us – can light the way. What’s most important to you? Let that guide your plan for this week. So that when you wake up on New Year’s Day, you feel deep satisfaction in how you chose to use this time.
Anything you’re eager to be and do in the new year, you can start today. Take a small step. And then another. And so on.
Therefore, here’s what’s on my plan for this golden week:
* family and friends: savoring time with loved ones
* writing: creating content for LinkedIn and a new book idea
* business: reflecting on this year and planning for the next
It’s worth noting that there are a few other items on my plan. However, in the interest of prioritizing and not creating a laundry list that will be more exhausting than refreshing, I limited the list to three.
What’s on your plan for this week?
How will you spend this quieter, golden time that comes once a year?
by Caroline Leach | Nov 28, 2022 | Leadership, Work/Life
Five weeks remain in 2022. That’s 34 days. It’s a good chunk of time. Yet many people decide to “wait until after the holidays” to start on their big goals and projects.
Here’s a question for you. How would ending the year strong set you up for a better year ahead?
“Ending strong” means taking steps every day, now, toward your goals and dreams. They can be small steps. One action each day.
Over five weeks, they add up toward meaningful progress. And having a sense of progress is what inspires and motivates us.
Heading into 2023, what daily actions will be the most meaningful to you?
What are you waiting for?
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