Episodes

Knowing Your Worth - MAC027
Nov. 20, 2023

Knowing Your Worth - MAC027

When most people think about providing a status on their work, they usually think in terms of completed tasks. At some level, this is relevant to ensure that projects remain on time. But if you'd like to set yourself apart fr...

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Should you be promoted? - MAC026
Nov. 13, 2023

Should you be promoted? - MAC026

As we approach the end of the calendar year, it's the time of year when many employees are evaluated against their goals and considered for merit increases and potentially promotions. Have you positioned yourself to be one of...

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Who is driving your career? - MAC025
Nov. 6, 2023

Who is driving your career? - MAC025

Today, we're tackling a question that's crucial for everyone navigating the professional landscape: how much faster does your career progress if you actively own it instead of waiting for your career to happen to you? To trul...

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Preparing for the end of the year - MAC024
Oct. 30, 2023

Preparing for the end of the year - MAC024

For many companies, the end of the year is a time when employees have their annual reviews. Today, we'll talk about the things you can do with what's left of the year to prepare. Review your incomplete goals. Start by looking...

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Can you be successful working remotely? - MAC023
Oct. 23, 2023

Can you be successful working remotely? - MAC023

During a recent one-on-one with a member of my team, the question came up as to whether someone can be successful when working remote. I'll start with the answer. Yes…..assuming your work can actually be done somewhere other ...

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Interviewing Candidates - MAC022
Oct. 16, 2023

Interviewing Candidates - MAC022

If you are in any of the LinkedIn groups related to your profession, you've likely come across posts that list questions and answers that are core to your field. These are the types of questions I would expect to see on a uni...

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Progress Report - MAC015 to MAC020
Oct. 9, 2023

Progress Report - MAC015 to MAC020

These past six episodes have covered a lot of good content. Have you spent any time implementing the ideas in your career? Episode 015 - Asking vs Guessing was about how some people default to Ask mode where they will ask for...

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Reorganizations - MAC020
Oct. 2, 2023

Reorganizations - MAC020

If you're listening to this podcast in real time, the calendar has just flipped to October. This is often when discussions begin within a company that a reorganization (often shortened to "reorg") might be necessary. Many reo...

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Work / Life Balance - MAC019
Sept. 25, 2023

Work / Life Balance - MAC019

This week, we take a break from looking at career advancement and we focus on the "life" side of the work/life balance equation. While everyone has a different idea of what their non-work life should look like, ensuring that ...

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Selling Yourself - MAC018
Sept. 18, 2023

Selling Yourself - MAC018

As I covered in last week's episode on the , you may eventually reach a point in your career where the next rung has a limited number of opportunities to progress. In , I talked about how luck is when preparation meets opportunity and that...

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The Corporate Ladder - MAC017
Sept. 11, 2023

The Corporate Ladder - MAC017

For the majority of people, their career is going to last somewhere in the ballpark of forty years depending on when they start and when they decide to retire. While there are no hard and fast rules about how your career shou...

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What does it mean to be a leader? - MAC016
Sept. 4, 2023

What does it mean to be a leader? - MAC016

When your career begins, your key responsibilities are to do your tasks and to grow your skills. With enough time, this is often sufficient to justify a promotion. However, as you reach higher career levels, there comes with ...

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Ask vs Guess - MAC015
Aug. 28, 2023

Ask vs Guess - MAC015

The other day, I was reading a series of articles by on Substack (link to ). These articles outline how ask-culture and guess-culture can clash at work and how to navigate the differences. Ask Culture is when members of the group are...

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Progress report MAC008-MAC013
Aug. 21, 2023

Progress report MAC008-MAC013

As with any career, it's important to periodically check your progress. Since this podcast started you should have held at least two career development discussions with your leader. Hopefully you're making the most of these s...

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A Little Bit of Luck - MAC013
Aug. 14, 2023

A Little Bit of Luck - MAC013

The Roman philosopher Seneca has a quote about how luck happens when preparation meets opportunity. When it comes to your career, this is so very true. If you spend your time waiting for an advancement to fall into your lap, ...

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Receiving Effective Feedback - MAC012
Aug. 7, 2023

Receiving Effective Feedback - MAC012

I was inspired to cover this topic by a post that I saw on LinkedIn by . In that post, she listed . This was a good follow-up to my previous episode on how to structure your one-on-one. One topic in that structure was focused on...

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How to structure your one-on-ones - MAC011
July 31, 2023

How to structure your one-on-ones - MAC011

An important aspect of managing your career is having regular conversations with your manager about your career goals and performance. What does a GOOD career development one-on-one look like? First, when discussing timing, I...

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What sort of leader are you? - MAC010
July 24, 2023

What sort of leader are you? - MAC010

If you imagine a medieval battlefield there were four main groups involved in the fighting. There were the mele fighters who were the front lines -- the men carrying swords and spears or other similar weapons. There was also ...

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Should I transition to management - MAC009
July 17, 2023

Should I transition to management - MAC009

So, the answer on how to choose a future career path is…..it depends. It depends on you and your desires and it depends on the company you work for. So, obviously, "it depends" isn't a very useful answer. So let's dive in to ...

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The Five Recognition Languages - MAC008
July 10, 2023

The Five Recognition Languages - MAC008

So, the company I work for has an annual employee survey and my results recently came out. In most areas, I score well, over 90% positive. But one question that I have consistently scored between 80 and 85% favorable (for mul...

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Progress Report - MAC001 to MAC006
July 3, 2023

Progress Report - MAC001 to MAC006

In , I talked about how you should be looking for opportunities to increase the scope and impact of the work that you perform. Delegating and automating process driven tasks and soliciting for work that involves more discretion and judgement. ...

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Is your work Important?  Is it Urgent? - MAC006
June 26, 2023

Is your work Important? Is it Urgent? - MAC006

Based on the lead quote, Stephen Covey popularized the concept of the "Eisenhower Decisions Matrix" in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The basic premise is that you should rank the things you need to do base...

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Documenting Your Work - MAC005
June 19, 2023

Documenting Your Work - MAC005

One of the things that I often tell my team is "if you're the only one who can, you're the one who always will". What I mean by that is that if you're a single point of knowledge, as a manager, I can't assign those tasks to a...

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Being "Scared" - MAC004
June 12, 2023

Being "Scared" - MAC004

In the corporate world, being scared leads to self-doubt and inaction. If your goal is to advance your career, those are two attributes that you CAN'T let take over. So, when you find yourself feeling fear, what then? The str...

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