coaching Archives - The Grassy Road

Managing the switchbacks of your career

A successful career is rarely a straight line up the slope. It is so often a weaving up through experiences and it's important to recognize how and when to weave. I did a coaching session yesterday where just this question came up. This time the individual had years of engineering, both as a stellar software engineer and also as a manager and can feel he wants to do more - can do more - and knows he needs to broaden his skillset. I have a handful of principles which can [...]

By Penny Herscher|2019-01-04T10:01:14-08:00July 18, 2018|Career Advice|Comments Off

Why being kind as a leader trumps yelling every time

Are you conscious of how you react as a leader when someone makes you angry? With an attack or with kindness? I once worked with a head of sales who, when things were not going his way, would curse out anyone not on his team who he thought didn’t appreciate how hard his job was. Unkind, unnecessary accusations of incompetence or intentionally obstructing sales. Engineering, customer success, marketing - you name it - they all got yelled at instead of constructively engaged. But unpredictably so everyone walked on egg shells [...]

By Penny Herscher|2019-01-04T10:03:43-08:00February 10, 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

5 Reasons to Put Yourself in the Line of Fire as a Leader

My post in Inc a week ago: While sitting at a restaurant in London Heathrow airport yesterday, I found myself between the unfortunate cross hairs of a helpless server and his useless manager. At noon, while the restaurant was full of customers from around the globe, the credit card machine stopped working. Many patrons, myself included, did not have enough British pounds to pay for our meals as we were on our way out of the country. The waiter explained that I would need to pay my tab in cash. [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-06T09:45:15-08:00December 1, 2015|Leadership|1 Comment