On Being Human at Work

Credit: DavidShrigley \ Untitled (Chair), 2018

Listen to your heart and trust the direction you are being pulled. Something inside you already knows what to do. 

-Spring Washam, author of The Spirit of Harriet Tubman

Notions & Contemplations

Friend, 

I cannot believe that eight months have passed since I started this monthly newsletter experiment (Side note: I like to think of all new things as an experiment–a lower-pressure frame for getting started and continually improving your work). 

I’m humbled that my notions and contemplations continue to resonate with many of you, even as they evolve from one month to the next. Per several requests, this month I’m sharing more about my day-to-day work in coaching, facilitation, and organizational strategy. 

At the highest level, I am fascinated by how humans interact with one another–and how we can learn to navigate the interactions that feel the hardest. If that sparks an interest, please don’t hesitate to reach out–I’d love to find a way to work together!

Warmly, 

Caroline

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Executive Coaching

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my career thus far, it’s that we all benefit from an outside perspective–particularly when we’re up to our eyeballs in the challenge at hand. As an external advisor, my role is to be a sounding board and mirror, asking questions and helping discern the way forward on everything from team dynamics to corporate strategy. More often than not, thoughtful leaders already have the answer within them–I help create the space to find it.  

Retreat Design & Facilitation

A big meeting is coming up. You have a good sense of your objective, but you don’t quite know how to achieve it–much less how you can facilitate the conversation while being an active participant yourself. That’s when you hire me! I design and facilitate meetings that foster a sense of community and produce outcomes, so that your only role is to show up and lean in.

Organizational Transformation

After two and half years of building the Southern Equity Collective with a network of extraordinary colleagues, I can tell you this: the work of becoming a more inclusive, equitable organization iscomplex. It starts with establishing your baseline, which then informs a multi-dimensional roadmap that ultimately requires behaviorandpolicy change–none of which is easy to do. But the more I work with committed clients, from small nonprofits to large companies, the more energized I become. We are building new paradigms for how we do business in which inclusion and growth go hand in hand–and it is the future of all work, yours and mine.

On My Kindle + Feed + Calendar

I’m checking my mailbox every day for the arrival of The Spirit of Harriet Tubman: Awakening from the Underground by Spring Washam, Buddhist teacher and author based in Oakland. “Harriet Tubman’s spirit is rising again, and this is your field guide to the revolution,” says the first line of the book summary. Let me know if you decide to read it too, and I’ll host a long distance book club party! 

A friend recently asked what newsletters I subscribe to. As part of my digital spring cleaning, I’ve honed in on those that I actually read every time: 

Word for the Day by Grateful Living

Daily quotes on gratitude and the first thing I read every day. Also the source for 90% of the quotes I use here or anywhere. ;)

Harvard Business Review’s Management Tip of the Day

Thoughtful, digestible, applicable advice for anyone moving through a workplace. 

The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad

I had the honor of meeting Suleika in 2015 when she was driving across the country with her pup, Oscar. Since then, I have marveled at her many contributions to the world, including this weekly newsletter with writing prompts from her beautiful network of creators.  

The Startupy

This “weekly dispatch is a carefully curated selection of articles, links, and ideas that inspire the startupy community. crafted with love, by sari azout.” My brain feels sparkly when reading this email. Seriously, so good. (H/T Brendan for the recc)

Yung Pueblo’s Notes

I’ve mentioned Yung Pueblo’s books here before, and his email bears mentioning again, because I’m consistently taken aback by the accessibility and relevance of the guidance he provides.

Richard Rohr Daily Meditationfrom the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC)

I have been reading these daily reflections since late 2010. The lessons contained within, from Richard Rohr and other CAC faculty, is a veritable curriculum in the study of humanity and divinity alike–and a critical resource for my regular ruminations.

I’ll stop there for now. More to come in March! Spring, here we come!