by Caroline Leach | Jul 30, 2023 | Leadership, Work/Life
As a leader, how do you savor your Sunday?
What are the ways you can be completely in the moment? And why is this important for how you live your life and lead in the coming week?
Savoring is a concept I learned about in the most popular course at Yale University. It’s about happiness, and it’s called “The Science of Well-Being.” Taught by psychologist Dr. Laurie Santos, the free course is available on Coursera.
When you savor something, you are in the moment, fully enjoying the experience.
You are not thinking about last week’s problems, or the coming week’s stuffed calendar, or all the tasks on your to-do list.
Instead, you are fully present. You are stepping outside an experience to fully appreciate it. You are noticing the sights, sounds, and smells of your surroundings. You are completely enjoying what you are doing or how you are simply being.
We live in a world that values doing, doing, doing. All the time.
How about simply BEING for a few minutes or hours? Not DOING anything.
How could simply “being” help you savor today? How could it help you find pleasure in the moment?
And when you return to a “doing” state, here are the savoring tips I learned:
1. Sharing the experience with another person
2. Thinking about how lucky you are to enjoy such an amazing moment
3. Keeping a souvenir or a photo of that activity
4. Making sure you stay in the present moment the entire time
5. Journaling about the experience and your reflections on it
When you feel fulfilled and savor Sunday as time off, a few things happen.
First, you truly enjoy life as it unfolds, which is the best gift of all. Life is a series of moments, and you’re there for all of them.
Second, you start your work week in a calmer and more grounded place, ready to lead people in a more inspirational way.
What experience will YOU savor today?
by Caroline Leach | Jul 23, 2023 | Social Media
As a leader, do you email or text employees on the weekend? 📩
Here’s why you shouldn’t.
When people think a work email could arrive during their time off, it’s hard to fully relax. People remain in an alert state of “ambient anxiety,” wondering and worrying what might come next. It’s hard to enjoy the time away from work and the refreshment and enjoyment that a weekend can provide.
Even if your email isn’t urgent and doesn’t need an immediate response, the damage is still done. The message interrupts the recipient’s day, wherever they are and whatever they are doing.
They see the message, wonder (or panic over) what it’s about, and read it. Then they may feel compelled to consider right away what action needs to be done, information needs to be digested or provided, or perspective needs to be shared in a timely response.
That process takes both physical time out of the day and exacts an emotional toll on the employee.
In my experience, here’s what works better.
1️⃣ It’s okay if you choose to process email on the weekend. Just don’t apply your choice to employees’ personal time.
2️⃣ Set your email to send later. Think about the ideal time for the employee to receive it. Perhaps it will be an hour to two into the workday on Monday. Balance being timely with your message with consideration about when it will be received.
3️⃣ Have a conversation with employees about weekend emails. Share your philosophy and expectations. Ask for their feedback. Find a protocol that works for everyone.
One exception is a true emergency that happens on the weekend. As a leader in the corporate world, I generally did not email or text employees on the weekend for routine matters. Because of that, if an emergency arose on a weekend where I needed my team’s involvement, they were responsive and helpful.
A level of trust and respect built up between us. They didn’t need to wonder if my message was urgent and needed immediate attention. Because an emergency would be the only reason I’d email them on the weekend. And other than that, they knew they weren’t going to hear from me. Hopefully that created more space for enjoyable time off.
What’s YOUR weekend email protocol?
P.S. This also applies to late-night and middle-of-the-night emails. If it’s not an urgent message, set the email to send later, during the workday in the recipient’s time zone.
by Caroline Leach | Aug 30, 2018 | Careers, Leadership, Work/Life
What 5-minute action can you take at work today that will pay huge dividends and possibly change someone’s life?
Write a thank you note.
Yup, a thank you note. It can be by email, text, card or direct message. The medium doesn’t matter. What matters is taking the time to share with a colleague what you appreciate about them.
Science says so. Gratitude research is on the rise, according to Heather Murphy reporting in The New York Times. A recent study covered in Psychological Science asked participants to “write a short ‘gratitude letter’ to a person who had affected them in some way.”
Many of the note recipients said “they were ‘ecstatic,’ scoring the happiness rating at 4 of 5. The senders typically guessed they’d evoke a 3.”
The major finding of Dr. Amit Kumar at the University of Texas at Austin? “People tend to undervalue the positive effect they can have on others for a tiny investment of time.”
Dilbert creator Scott Adams put it well in his bestseller, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life.
“Adults are starved for a kind word,” Adams wrote. “When you understand the power of honest praise (as opposed to bullshitting, flattery, and sucking up), you realize that withholding it borders on immoral. If you see something that impresses you, a decent respect to humanity insists you voice your praise.”
What else says so? My own experience.
Today is my last day at AT&T, which was DIRECTV before that. (Note: opinions expressed in this blog are my own.) It’s been a great run at a great company, and I’m excited to move on to the next stage of my work life. But it’s bittersweet to leave an incredible group of colleagues.
When my departure note went out, I thought a few people might reach out to say farewell.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the outpouring of appreciation. And thanks. And love.
(And in the #MeToo era with so much bad behavior, I must qualify that to note what I experienced was entirely professional and fully within the bounds of respectful and appropriate workplace behavior.)
What caught me completely by surprise is a stack of now-printed emails with thanks and good wishes that I’m saving for posterity. I share a few excerpts anonymously here, with the hope the writers do not mind and that their thoughts might inspire you to thank a colleague today, and every day …
Thank you for making us smile and wanting to do our jobs. You are an amazing leader who leads by example.
I always enjoyed your leadership and especially looked up to you in so many ways, hoping that I could be half of what you are in my lifetime.
Did you hear that?! That was the sound of my heart breaking. While our work together was short lived and limited (much to my dismay), you truly made an invaluable impact and for that I thank you.
On behalf of all the people you have inspired, but are probably unaware of, thanks for all you do.
It’s been my biggest pleasure and honor to work with you.
I’m sure you don’t remember me, but you had lunch with a small group of new hires during our onboarding. We had a lovely conversation and I was so impressed and grateful for how welcoming and inclusive you were with us.
You’ve had such a profound influence on my life and I am so grateful for that.
Wow.
I had no idea.
And maybe the people you work with have no idea either … of how talented, valued and appreciated they are. So I encourage you, every day, to share your thanks with at least one person. It reminds me of what a wise colleague, Andy Bailey, always used to say – start every meeting with recognition.
Here’s my love letter to all the amazing people I’ve worked with over the years, from a real-estate developer to what became Northrop Grumman, and from to DIRECTV to AT&T …
Friends,
You are the reason I enjoy coming to work every day.
You are my “why” for being at work … the purpose that is bigger than all of us. You bring the ideas, the inspiration and the innovation that make our teams a success. You make the seemingly impossible suddenly possible. You make the workday fun, yes fun.
There’s a lot of hard work behind what you do. But you take the high road every day, making your hard work appear effortless and going above and beyond to deliver for colleagues and customers.
I have learned so much from you, whether a new skill set in a new role or a better way to lead and engage people. Maya Angelou was on to something when she said that people won’t remember what you said or did, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel. You make me feel like anything is possible, that there is good in the world, and that the present and future are exciting places.
You have given me many gifts over the years. The most important ones? The feeling that I have made – and will continue to make – a difference. The knowledge that each of us leaves bigger footprints in the sands of time than we can ever know. That quite possibly is the best gift ever. It speaks to our humanity and our desire to be part of something larger than ourselves.
I am ever grateful, and I ask that you keep paying it forward.
Who has made a difference in your work life? Who will you reach out to today?
by Caroline Leach | Mar 25, 2016 | Change, Learning
Solving problems often involves coming up with new ideas. How can you use data to make better decisions? How can you better engage your team at work? How can you find more meaning in your life?
Yet coming up with new ideas can feel daunting at times. After all, is there anything new under the sun?
Here are a few ideas to get your creative thoughts flowing.
What problem are you trying to solve? Start with what you’re trying to accomplish. Make sure your problem statement is well defined. This question has become a perennial favorite ever since I took a McKinsey & Company course called Strategy 101 at DIRECTV.
What would success look like? This takes a page from Stephen Covey‘s principle to begin with the end in mind. What perfect or better world state could exist? What is lacking today that would make the world a better place? If you can imagine it, then you can create it.
How many ideas can you come up with? Start by making a list of 10 ideas. Save the judgments for later. Just jot down ideas as quickly as you can. Then explore them further to see how they could play out to solve the problem you’re tackling. What would you have to do to make them work?
What new connections can you make? Many groundbreaking ideas take two seemingly disparate areas and connect them. Think Steve Jobs with computers and calligraphy. Nate Silver with economics and baseball. Alli Webb with beauty and blowouts.
How can you expose yourself to new concepts? What are you reading? If you mainly read non-fiction, try fiction. If you read business magazines, try something in the sciences. Check out a new report from the Institute for the Future. Listen to a TED talk or playlist.
Who’s in your network? How diverse is your network? Get to know some new people, especially cross generationally. That’s one of the things I love about the TV show Younger – the friendships across generations, with different perspectives on life.
How can you vary your routine? Our brains crave novelty and variety. So drive a different way to work. Take up a new sport. Go on an artist’s date (with thanks to Julia Cameron for that fun and fabulous way to “restock the well” of creative thinking). Think about what you usually do, and consciously do something else.
This week, on a family vacation, we mixed up our routine. We watching our son’s team play baseball in beautiful San Diego. We met new parents and players on the team. We tried new restaurants.
My husband and I went to a new yoga class we’ve been wanting to attend. We went paddle boarding and tried to figure out how to navigate the waves beyond the marina where we’ve been learning.
I dipped into The Economist‘s newly revised magazine, 1843. I learned fascinating things about the resurgence of stoicism, corporate campus design and why we work so hard.
And a David Brooks column in the New York Times led me to a fascinating new book by Barbara Bradley Hagerty about Life Reimagined.
My Connecticut family is visiting for my daughter’s big event this weekend honoring her service through National Charity League.
Today will be a group artist date, with a trip to the endlessly inspiring Getty Center.
And I’m looking forward to a learning week ahead at work, with our annual leadership program.
What will you do differently today to see the world from a fresh perspective?
by Caroline Leach | Feb 13, 2016 | Leadership, Social Media, Work/Life
“Find Your Inspiration” greeted us on the tram today as we arrived at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.
What a great way to build community. It created connections through social media with #GettyInspired.
Not only was I inspired myself and in how my family responded to our visit, but I could also see how others experienced this architectural and artistic treasure.
There was a common experience in being part of something bigger than ourselves. This is a hallmark of all storied brands, and the Getty sets a great example.
The Getty has been the site of many a previous inspiration for me. The DIRECTV annual leadership development program. A National Charity League gathering for an architecture tour. Many family visits, including today’s.
Today was by far my favorite. We checked into a tour of the collection’s highlights. It was led by a passionate and knowledgeable docent who ably linked art history with current events.
We learned how Rembrandt, who never traveled more than 40 miles from his home, had haunted flea markets of his day to collect props used in his paintings.
We learned how Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder had collaborated on a painting about the transience of peace in The Return from War.
We learned how Vincent van Gogh painted Irises, the vibrant view outside his window in his first week at the sanitarium in Saint-Remy, France.
And it was only a few hours later that we heard the news of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia‘s passing. Whatever your politics, it underscores how each day is really all that each of us has.
That was poignantly clear in today’s New York Times article about an AT&T leader who overcame great adversity.
(Full disclosure: I work at this company and this blog represents my own opinions.)
This leader’s mother encouraged him to imagine himself in different circumstances.
That’s the power of inspiration.
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