By Toufic Hakim, PhD Gaining self-awareness in unexpected places I once worked with a VP who was highly ambitious. When she first brought me into her division, we had a mutually supportive relationship. She was thoughtful, competent and affable. We were a good team: I cheered her on; she was my biggest fan. I was …
By Jessica Ambrose It can be uncomfortable, but it takes knowing your character traits – both good and bad – to truly achieve personal growth You’re asked to describe yourself. Where do you start? Maybe it’s an interview or just a friendly conversation about who you are. You’ll likely take a pretty safe approach: you’ll …
By Kate Lingren Understanding the IFS Model at Work It’s a concept that’s as simple as it is complex: Our core selves are made up of multiple parts. Everything we humans do, from our words to our actions, is an attempt to get a need met on behalf of one of our parts. These needs …
By Kelechi Udoagwu Exploring your inner character and making art with no inhibitions People around the world are spending more time online than ever. Some of us are working and networking; others are catching up on Netflix, involved in communities, or scrolling through social feeds, creating and consuming content. Others, though, are exploring their creative …
By Laura Crandall, founder of A Life of Character A question for white business leaders learning to change the system. 2020 is not messing around. It’s taking the dominant global paradigm and shaking it to its core. From wildfires raging across an entire continent and super typhoons threatening densely populated countries to COVID-19 claiming …
By Jaime Hollander The importance of apology was one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned. It’s also a powerful business tool. I’m still not entirely sure what did or didn’t happen. I was relatively new to the workforce and managing projects that, 15 years later, would give me anxiety. Then the high stakes and full-on …
By Toufic Hakim, PhD What we can do and learn when we’re in a state of discord and crisis? We’ve all heard the quote by Martin Luther King Jr. suggesting that how we respond to adversity is a manifestation of our true character. In today’s reality, this notion could not be more pertinent. “Our ultimate …
She’s sick of the “side hustle” and with good cause… “Of the many popular terms to which I am viscerally allergic, ‘side hustle’ might be the one that makes me twitch the most,” writes A Life of Character founder Laura Crandall. “While I’m all for shirking convention and flipping a metaphorical bird to the status …
By Jaime Hollander How to find focus to be more productive When I was young I couldn’t just have an interest. It needed to be a bright, burning, all-consuming passion. My grandmother gifted me a few old porcelain figures and, for a period of time, my passion became finding and acquiring more admittedly hideous porcelain …
By Kate Lingren It all comes down to our internal struggles and listening to both sides of the conflict. You want to quit your job – but maybe you don’t. On the one hand, your boss makes you want to run screaming out of the building. Between the micromanaging and the unpredictability, getting through …