Oct. 24, 2024 You'll get by with a little help ↓ Hey there, Reader! It’s been a minute since you last heard from me, and my apologies for that. Life has been doing what it does, and I’ve had some great new things going on, too. First, I’m still consulting and have a couple of amazing clients with whom I really love working. Second, I accepted a position as a fulltime teaching professor (associate professor, actually) at the University of Minnesota Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass...
9 months ago • 6 min read
A little free advice Sept. 12, 2024 What to do if your boss ignores your ideas ↓ Hi Reader! I hope your early September has gone swimmingly so far. I find myself often brimming with ideas this time of the year — it may be the new chill in the air or the fresh start that comes along with a new school year. I love sharing my ideas and creating an open, safe space for other people to share theirs in the workplace or the classroom, but a friend just reminded me of a previous boss of ours who...
10 months ago • 5 min read
A little free advice Aug. 30, 2024 How to give better feedback on writing ↓ Hey there, Reader! Every writer has experienced the dreaded marked-up page, filled with edits and comments from multiple sources, sometimes giving conflicting feedback or ignoring the assignment all together. Although most professionals can roll with it (because it’s unfortunately the norm), sometimes it's almost too much to take. I remember one of the worst mark-ups on an article I wrote eight or nine years ago. The...
10 months ago • 5 min read
Aug. 8, 2024 A few marketing ideas for Harris-Walz ↓ Hi Reader! Most people I know agree this presidential election may be one of the most consequential (probably the most consequential) in our lifetime. I’m not sure where you all stand politically, but I make no secret of my political leanings to the left (and have never have – you can go all the way back to the editorial pieces I wrote in The DeWitt Observer as a 19-year-old in 1992 if you’re curious… though you will probably also have to...
11 months ago • 3 min read
Digital marketing tip: July 25, 2024 Why you should avoid PDFs in your digital communications ↓ Hi there, Reader! Last week, I spent an entire afternoon creating a PDF on Canva, which both made me feel proud (it looked pretty good!) and also made me die a little inside. I hate PDFs. Truly, PDFs are the worst. I didn’t realize how many people thought otherwise until I worked with doctors and health coaches at my previous workplace. In their defense, helpful content to them usually meant...
12 months ago • 4 min read
Creativity is ... July 11, 2024 I'm back and have some thoughts. ↓ Hi Reader! Hello, and happy July! I returned last week from the two weeks of travel/(unpaid) vacation time to the Netherlands (Haarlem and Amsterdam), London and Dublin. I believe this was the first time in 18 years that I took off two straight weeks to travel and not work at all (the last being my honeymoon). I have to say it was pretty glorious being out in the world. It’s also good to be back home, sleeping in my own bed,...
12 months ago • 4 min read
A few words June 7, 2024 Before I jet off for a few weeks ↓ Hey Reader! Happy Friday! Short and sweet newsletter today because 1) it has been A WEEK, I tell you (related: my kids’ last day of school was one week ago), and 2) It’s freaking beautiful outside here in Minneapolis today, I spent the morning at various doctor’s appointments, the afternoon on calls, and I need to get out for a long walk on a lake. I’m sure you get it. In an effort to ramping up my consulting business, I’ve been...
about 1 year ago • 3 min read
A little free advice May 30, 2024 Might you be toxically positive? How's that going? ↓ Hi Reader! Ages ago, I promised I would talk about the issue of toxic positivity at work, and as I finally started writing that newsletter, I realized there are two sides of this – the perspective of the toxically positive person and the perspective of everyone else who has to deal with that person. Today I will talk about the toxically positive person. (I keep wanting to call them a toxic positivist but...
about 1 year ago • 3 min read
A little free advice May 16, 2024 To hear your own thoughts, you need to create a little quiet on your own ↓ Hi there, Reader! I feel like I forget every year how busy I am in the month of May. In Minnesota, it's the month that we've all come out of hibernation to sip drinks with friends on restaurant patios, sweep out the screened porches and if you're very lucky (with weather and ownership), clean out a cabin. It's also the month of multiple overlapping spring sports, graduations and...
about 1 year ago • 3 min read