That energy when your company announces the next hackathon. The calendar invite hits your inbox, and suddenly, you're planning what rules you'll break, which teammates you'll recruit, and what impossible idea you'll finally bring to life.

For two glorious days, everything changes. The usual "we can't do that" becomes "let's …

Your inbox pings. Another company-wide email announcing a leadership initiative to "drive innovation from the bottom up." Meanwhile, in a conference room upstairs, executives discuss how to get their teams to "take more initiative."

The irony would be comical if it wasn't so frustrating.

We've created a bizarre corporate dance …

Every workplace emotion carries a message. Sometimes, that message is trying to tell you something important about your environment and what you can do to change it.

The Signal in Your Frustration

In her insightful article "Why you're so angry at work (and what to do about it)", executive coach …

Remember when you became a team lead to empower others, not police their every move? Somehow, you've found yourself drowning in approvals and feeling more like a bottleneck than a mentor. How did we get here?

The Leadership Trap

Most leaders start with the best intentions. They want to develop …

Every year, your company sends out the employee survey. Management reminds you daily to complete it. There might even be prizes..."If we get 100% participation, everyone gets a hat!"

You stare at the empty text box asking "What would make your workplace better?"

This is supposed to be your …

That moment your manager thinks you've gone rogue. Your stomach drops. All you wanted to do was make things better, and now you're being seen as a problem.

Let's step back here. In response to my post about transforming companies from within, a LinkedIn comment stood out:

"I've been fired …

What is a company?

It seems like such a simple question. We spend most of our waking hours in them. We build our careers around them. They shape our communities and define modern life. Yet when I ask people this question, the answers always feel hollow.

There's one truth I …

"How are you handling working for a company that is not innovative?"

Drop this question at your next team meeting. Watch the reaction.

Most likely, you'll be buried under an avalanche of examples proving how innovative your company is. It's like telling someone their child isn't behaving nice, in that …

Energy matters. What you choose to do with your energy matters.

Every day, we have many choices about how to spend our available energy. What are we exchanging our available energy for?

When you choose to walk ten minutes to work, you're exchanging your energy for motion. When you choose …

I saw a post on LinkedIn this week suggesting job seekers should avoid using the "open to work" setting and instead they should just build something to showcase their abilities. Show us what you can do and company leaders will find you and hire you.

The logic: demonstrate you can …