Tag: leadership

Nonviolent Communication (NVC)

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Don’t take anything personally.

The second agreement of Don Miguel Ruiz’s masterpiece, “The Four Agreements”.

That one agreement that I’ve struggled with the most. Maybe because it’s a negative – it tells you what not to do but leaves you wondering what to do.

Recently a Czech blogger (Táta parťák) pointed out a connection between this particular agreement and nonviolent communication (NVC) in his post. He demostrated how he communicated with a guy who left a comment full of hate using NVC. How the whole conversation shifted – it was ‘miraculous’ and I found it very inspiring. Continue reading “Nonviolent Communication (NVC)” →

Do You Know Yourself?

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Have you ever taken an online personality test? If there is one I would recommend, it’s ‘16 personalities‘.

Knowing your personality type can be a huge help in seeing your blind spots. For me it was an eye-opener to understand how I may come across at a workplace to the personality types from the other side of the spectrum:

  • highly-emotional & poorly-disciplined subordinate
  • a manager who struggles to set clearly defined objectives & timetables
  • a co-worker who is way too much interested in their colleagues lives

I remember when I first heard “I’m not here to make friends, I am here to work.” from a team-mate. Back then I thought she was weird! Now I know she is just a different personality type. Probably from the opposite side of the spectrum. But it doesn’t mean we can’t get along, we just both need to adapt our communication style and have mutual respect. Continue reading “Do You Know Yourself?” →

Dear FutureMe

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6 years ago I received a letter. It was from an association which organizes job fairs in the Czech Republic. I opened it and realized it was my handwriting. A letter I wrote to myself exactly one year earlier as part of an excercise for fresh university graduates looking for jobs. I completely forgot about that. And here I was reading through my own goals, dreams and expectations. It was an incredibly powerful moment.

Then I learnt about FutureMe – a website which delivers a letter to yourself via e-mail whenever you want.

A lot has been written and said about the COVID-19 pandemic. The world will never be the same, our lives will probably change. But even with things we cannot influence we can choose our attitude.

These days my mind revolves around gratefulness. Things that are gone, that I took for granted and I wish I had them now. Things that I still have and I am grateful for this wake-up call to see them. I want to remember these thoughts. Will I still feel grateful 6 months from now? 1 year? 5 years? Let’s see…

What would you write to your future self?

future me

Leading with lollipops

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How many of you are completely comfortable with calling yourselves a leader?

Drew Dudley asks this question to begin one of my most favorite TED talks. If you have 6 minutes just go watch it now.

If you feel like reading – let me highlight some of his thoughts to you. Yep, it’s pretty much a transcript of his TED talk and I can’t emphasize enough how much this resonates with me and how it profoundly changed the way I interact with people around me. Continue reading “Leading with lollipops” →

When I Got Fired

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In some aspects I am a typical millennial: eager to make an impact and open to change. This entails a fair amount of job-hopping. There was always a reason to leave, a new challenge to pursue. But only once it wasn’t my decision to quit. I wasn’t literally fired but I was let go, replaced, and at that time it left me feeling devastated.

Your contract will not be renewed. We will be hiring someone else.

Continue reading “When I Got Fired” →