#10yearchallenge

I was talking to a coworker today about all of the recent Facebook/Instagram posts on the #10yearchallenge, and I’ve come to one conclusion: the only people who do it are the ones who haven’t visibly aged (and want the kudos for it). Am I bitter about not being one of those people? Not at all…

Regardless of the intention, I do think the idea of taking a long look back and seeing how far you’ve come can be rewarding. In a lot of posts, I see people talking about difficult situations they were in 10 years ago that seemed impossible to overcome (long-term partner cheating, complicated medical conditions, rock bottom self-esteem). Fast forward to today, those same people can now only remember snippets of those episodes because time has diluted most of the emotional charge associated with those bad times.

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How to interview (much) better with emotional intelligence

8 min read

Over the last 5 years, I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring more than 100 aspiring marketers and students. We work through anything from finding the right job to excelling at the job. But there’s one thing that has consistently puzzled me, that is hard to explain in words. It’s embodied by those who look perfect on paper, but who fall flat when you meet them in-person. Those who seem eager and passionate, but you can’t bear talking to them for more than 5 minutes IRL. Those mentees of mine who do everything right, but still can’t convince someone to hire them. So what’s the issue?

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4 promo-blocking behaviours that most people think are good

6 min read

It’s a lovely Spring morning, and the aroma of fresh coffee beans envelope me like a cashmere blanket. I’m at a local coffee shop about to meet with a mentee, Nate*, who I haven’t seen in several months. He reached out via LinkedIn a few weeks earlier, as he was in town for a few days and “could really use some career advice”.

After ordering our respective lattes and a bit of catching up on life, our casual chit-chat evolves into a full-on rant about how he’s being passed up for promotions at his job. 

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