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Turning Potential Into Results

Think it through

By Camille Smith / May 5, 2024

Window shopping – it’s inexpensive and fun until … We’d been admiring an artist’s print for a couple of years, delighted by the style, colors, and whimsy, wishing we had it on our wall.  Then the “fun until” happened … the 50% off sign appeared.  “Let’s get it!” hustled us to the cash register. We…

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Kids say the darndest things !

By Camille Smith / March 21, 2022

Before you read on, dial 1-707-998-8410. Make your selection: “1” if you’re feeling mad or frustrated. “2” if you need life advice. “3” if you need words of encouragement.  “4” to hear kids laughing with delight. “5” for encouragement in Spanish. Peptoc, as the free hotline is called, is a project from the students of…

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Virtual Leadership (Free How-To Sessions)

By Camille Smith / August 18, 2020

Two Don’ts  &  1 DO! ONE: Don’t just Zoom … CONNECT! How you connect virtually is WAY different than if we were physically together. A colleague, Matthew Cahill, is offering FREE 1 hour sessions to help you gain skills and the mindset to be effective online VIRTUAL leaders and learners. Matthew says … “These weekly…

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Bright Side of Burnout

By Camille Smith / May 3, 2020

On a break during a coaching session, this poster listing 101 Stress Relievers was on the bathroom wall. It has some great examples. You probably do some of them already. When my clients ask me how to reduce stress, we focus on 3 things: keeping our word, acting consistent with our values, and having compassion…

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Putting together the “team” puzzle

By Camille Smith / April 8, 2020

I like putting jigsaw puzzles together.    Here’s my strategy: Pick a picture I like. Know that I am choosing the challenge, choosing to play the game. Put the frame together by assembling all the edge pieces. I touch every piece and only pull out the ones with flat edges. My focus is the to…

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Learn to Interrupt (yourself, not others)

By Camille Smith / August 30, 2016

Before last month, if you would have asked me if I was a good listener, I would have quickly and assuredly said “Yes.”  Now, my response is, “I’m learning to be a better one.”  Why the change? I’ve been engaged in dialogues, the art of listening. Dialogue is the discipline of collective learning and inquiry.…

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Be an Olympian at Work

By Camille Smith / July 9, 2016

  The Olympics are here!! With them come all the excitement of underdogs versus shoe-ins, veterans versus first-timers and photo-finish dramas. Athletes commit long before they know if they will have the opportunity to compete.  They commit to the idea, to the possibility of being an Olympian and promise to do what it takes to…

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The Canary in Leadership’s No Man’s Land

By Camille Smith / June 7, 2016

Last week I learned I was wrong about something I was absolutely, bet-you-$100-sure about.  In my 40 years of playing tennis, I was sure “No Man’s Land” on the tennis court was located just inside the baseline and extended through about half of the service box. It’s called “No Man’s Land” because if a player…

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Cubicle Concussions

By Camille Smith / April 7, 2016

Remember connecting the dots as a kid and seeing the squirrel emerge?   As kids, we had to move our crayon from 1 to 2 to 3 because we couldn’t imagine what the picture was going to be. With more experience, we could “see” the picture without drawing any line.  It’s time to connect the dots…

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7 Steps to Effective Delegation

By Camille Smith / February 6, 2015

Fess up: Do you delegate or drop-off?  Dropping-off.  We ask others to do stuff for us all the time – stuff we don’t want to do, don’t have the time to do, and couldn’t do even if we had the time.  We drop our suits off for pressing (a task we can’t do), our car…

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