Best Practices

I fully appreciated how the power of constraints and limitations can unlock creativity when I returned to Seattle to run my family’s newspaper in 2008, the start of the global recession and decline of the newspaper industry. I was forced to be extremely scrappy and entrepreneurial as my parents and I tried to survive these […]

So much of what I learned about being the boss of my own life was from watching my parents, who founded the first privately-owned Vietnamese newspaper in the Pacific Northwest. Lesson 1: Love doing the work as much, if not more, than the product of the work itself. Lesson 2: Choose who you work with, […]

We may have friends who don’t always treat us well, or might even hurt us, and we also have friends who treat us really well. We may instinctively know what we like or have an idea of how we feel friends should treat us, and yet most of us haven’t ever articulated it. Before we […]

“Can my empathy for others develop as my own life changes?”  Empathy is about being able to share what others feel. Sympathy is understanding someone else is suffering.  It’s easier to notice when other people lack empathy than to acknowledge that we may have less empathy than we think. Our ability to empathize can actually […]

Many people, including myself, want to be helpful, although oftentimes we cannot help others directly because we don’t have the exact resources they need. The second best thing is to help connect people to the resources they need with those who have the resources to give. Years ago, I went to a conference where the […]

I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t want to think of themselves as a curious person and yet their know-it-all attitude suggests otherwise. Here are some signs of a learn-it-all, or those who practice curiosity regularly in their lives. For three years, I ran a 6-month fellowship program. I noticed some people did really well and […]

I’m a big believer in volunteering as a way to build your skills and eventually get your dream job. I got my real-life MBA when I was running my family’s newspaper. Aside from that job, I did a lot of volunteering on various boards that taught me how to sell, market, and publicize.  I remember […]

Your friend started a business and you want to support them but it doesn’t make sense to buy their product or service. As an entrepreneur, as a family of entrepreneurs who served entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship is hard. Here are easy, free ways to support the entrepreneurs in your life. 

In my blog post about  6 Tips on How to Get a Job You Love, I mentioned writing a proposal to pitch yourself as a candidate for a job, even one that doesn’t exist yet. Taking the time to write this proposal will also force you to articulate your pitch why you want this job. […]

As a business owner, hearing “no” can be painful and yet necessary. I actually think that it can be helpful for business owners to hear “no”. Here are three scenarios in which it’s actually good to hear “no”. No to my sales pitch If I’m not getting enough “no’s”, then I’m not pitching enough. I […]

Managing expectations is a never-ending exercise in clearly articulating our needs, wants, and hopes. It requires activating all three elements of practicing curiosity: self- awareness, relationship building, and communication. Here’s what I learned to help me navigate the dynamics of managing expectations that I’ve applied to both my personal and professional life. Here are two […]

Managing expectations is a never-ending exercise in clearly articulating our needs, wants, and hopes. It requires activating all three elements of practicing curiosity: self- awareness, relationship building, and communication. Here’s what I learned to help me navigate the dynamics of managing expectations that I’ve applied to both my personal and professional life. Here are four […]

How do you feel about getting “no” for an answer? I don’t like to get “no.” And yet not ever getting “no” could be a sign of complacency or lack of self-awareness.  While it’s natural to want to hear yes to the things we ask for, there’s a lot of benefit in getting no’s.  I’m […]

Have you been asking for help and yet you can’t figure out why people don’t say yes to you? I wrote earlier about the SMART method and asking for help. If you’re getting no’s all the time though, it might be because you’re making some mistakes in asking for help. I’ve identified five common mistakes […]

Before you ask someone else for help, you have to get clear on what you’re asking for. No one can read your mind.  My favorite way to ask for help is using the SMART  method, developed by Wayne Baker, a professor at the University of Michigan, from his book, All You Have to Do is […]

How to Make the Most of Informational Interviews If you’re looking for a job, you might think the best strategy is to apply everywhere and talk to anyone who can help. However, in my experience, what I thought I wanted was not always what I truly wanted. Informational interviews helped me gain clarity. What Is […]

Since the layoffs started last fall, I know a lot of talented people looking for work. I empathize. I’ve been laid off twice, in 2012 and 2014. Before that, I had to prove I could work in the corporate world when my work experience was limited to academia and working at my family’s newspaper. In […]

We assume that “training” and “learning” are the same, when they are not. Learn how they are different and which one is a better fit for your needs. If you can’t explain the difference between training and learning, you aren’t alone. You likely use these words interchangeably, as I have, or know there is a […]

In my second year as an entrepreneur, I learned a lot about how to manage expectations with others and especially managing my own expectations of myself.  Managing expectation is a never ending exercise in clearly articulating our needs, wants, and hopes. It requires activating all three elements of practicing curiosity: self- awareness, relationship building, and […]

Changing my expectations of myself and of others is easy and hard at the same time. It’s easy because it doesn’t require any physical change or financial investment. Yet it is hard because it demands that I challenge my own beliefs. I’ve developed a list of what I call “reframes,” that can help to spark […]

When I decided to leave my executive job last year, I had to make a lot of personal budget cuts so I could self-fund my company. These constraints forced me to be more creative and scrappy. “Vacations” used to mean trips far from here. I would use this time to travel to Vietnam, Burma, England, […]

There I was, presenting to a virtual audience of 100 people about my work, something I had talked about dozens of times before. I was excited. It was going to be my biggest audience yet. Five minutes into my talk, an audience member asked why I was presenting on a topic that wasn’t relevant to […]

I liken practicing curiosity to meditation – it looks easy, but it’s really hard. There are some days it’s easier to practice curiosity than other days. And yet when leaders practice curiosity, we can set the conditions for creativity, innovation, resourcefulness, resilience, and empathy for our teams. I’ve worked in and with companies that ranged […]

I get energy from interacting with other people. I organize social gatherings. I love meeting new people. In many ways, I’m a classic extrovert. When the quarantine started, I wondered how I would survive.  My social schedule went from 4-8 in-person meetings on any given day to none. For the first 5 month, because I […]

Even before the pandemic, I heard people complain about how difficult it is to develop new friendships or deepen existing ones, especially as an adult. People can act as if others are withholding friendship from them. If you’re struggling to build or deepen relationships, it might be because you’re too polite. Relationship building requires risk-taking. […]