career growth Archives - The Grassy Road

The choice we make to be loyal, or not

Is loyalty a good thing – or is it a dirty word? Depends on the context – politics, business, your family? But when talking about professional loyalty it can be a double-edged sword. Fundamentally to be loyal to another person is a choice you make. You may have several different reasons to choose to be loyal. You may admire the person – their intellect, their effectiveness, their values. You may be grateful to them for helping you through a tough situation. Maybe they made you money, or promoted you and [...]

By Penny Herscher|2021-09-15T05:56:09-07:00September 14, 2021|Career Advice|Comments Off

Management screws up – what do you do?

Something is wrong and management has messed up again, how do you react? One of the ways people react and hurt themselves in the process is by being immediately negative. Cynically: “well this is just the norm for this effed-up company” or “yet again we are going to screw our customers”. Maybe with resignation: “I’ll have to work more hours now to correct their mistakes”. Maybe as a victim: “I have no power and I can’t take the risk of saying anything”. Maybe on the attack: "We need to get [...]

By Penny Herscher|2019-01-04T10:01:56-08:00May 1, 2018|Career Advice|Comments Off

Five tough lessons on being a mentor

Coaching and mentoring is increasingly popular, everyone wants one, everyone has one. This is somewhat a result of the explosion in the number of startups over the last ten years, but also because the word is out that getting a good mentor can really help you grow faster at any stage of your career. And women want to help women! I have mentored on and off for the last 20 years but in the last 2 years since I stepped down as CEO I have focused almost entirely on women, [...]

By Penny Herscher|2019-01-04T10:07:19-08:00November 10, 2017|Leadership|0 Comments

When to tell your employees to take a hike

Small companies are like families. They are full of tension, tight relationships, dreams and disappointments and they form a culture all of their own. And when they are small how each and every employee behaves affects the culture of the company. What it is like to come to work every day, how people solve problems, how they interact and help each other, or don't. In every group of employees you hire you are bound to hire a few non performers, and it's management 101 that you know you have to [...]

By Penny Herscher|2020-01-09T11:23:39-08:00May 13, 2017|Leadership|0 Comments