Be a Thoughtful Connector How can we connect others to build community? We have to be unselfish and put others before us.  At every opportunity we should introduce people to one another; it will strengthen and build upon our communities.  We should invite folks to different settings and situations with different people, especially when someone […]

Leadership is hard. That’s probably not a newsflash to anyone, but it bears repeating, leadership is hard. Sometimes you feel like everything is falling into place and other times you wonder how you ever managed to get where you are.  From my own trials and tribulations, here are my most important lessons in leadership so […]

So we’re all super messy, right?  It sucks, and I hate it, but it’s true. In the constant quest to leave a big, positive impact, I struggle with this idea a lot.  I used to think that you could follow certain rules and easily glide through the hiccups, but it never works.  So that means […]

The corporate world is pretty homogeneous–basically everyone looks the same. Being black, this is something you notice. You’re always slightly aware of not only the melanin differences, but the differences in mentality as well.  That’s just the way it is. It’s not always a bad thing, it just correlates with the differences people have. However […]

Career goals and 5- or 10-year plans are important to your development, but often times young professionals box themselves in too tightly based on plans they have before launching their careers. One of the beautiful things about the beginning of your career is the ability to occupy many different roles quickly to gain exposure to […]

All of us have heard the advice “Fail Fast, Fail Often”, with the guidance being there is valuable knowledge to be gained through failure that can lead to future successes. I agree with this advice, but I have always tried to add an extra layer – “fail fast and often early in your career by […]

  One of my favorite parts of high school was our lunch and “flex”, think recess for high schoolers. My friends and I would sit at the same table, in the same spots, everyday. Discussions ranged from our current crushes (about 80% of the conversation) to our latest athletic accomplishment, and how it was unequivocally […]

Anticipation + Preparation + Execution = A Great Interview.     If you can master the art of the interview, you’ll have a major advantage as you move through life.  Your ability to give a good interview will give you a huge leg up in getting your job, as well as a lot of other […]

“So what’s your why?”    If you are your own brand, shouldn’t you have a mission statement like any other brand out there?   A mission statement uses a short sentence, or even a phrase, to say everything that the brand stands for.  Linkedin’s says, “To connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive […]

“Since you’ll inevitably find yourself in this situation, you might as well be prepared for it.”    Networking isn’t dead, but it has changed forever.   Before looking at how to survive the standard networking event, and even get something out of it, let’s look at the ideal networking.  The best way to grow a […]