Work Is Complicated

As I write this, I’m about to give a keynote to students at a career fair about using their strategic gifts to make a positive impact in the workplace. And I realize—I have a very complicated relationship with work. I know I’m not alone. (Do you want to hear about my keynote? Let me know!)

I grew up with a single mom who worked accounting and clerical jobs everywhere from water treatment centers to check cashing places. My dad worked on the line at Ford for almost 40 years until he passed away before he could retire.

As a Capricorn, stability rules my life. But I am also a writer. Society pits those two things against each other because, in this country, you have to fight to earn a livable wage as a creative—unless you hit the lottery of success, which is, at times, an actual lottery. So, I always worked and wrote.

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have a resume ready. From my first job at McDonald’s (which lasted two weeks before my nails peeled off) to the Gap (I watched the store I worked at go under when it stopped selling Levi’s) to my first writing job at the Michigan Citizen as a reporter—I always worked to prove I could work. And this past year and a half as a solopreneur? Whew. Talk about fears and traumas knocking on my door. But since I was laid off from my executive job, I feel like this is the lesson I have to conquer. (Insert Star Wars theme.)

Here’s the thing: what a terrible time to learn this lesson.

The market is awful for so many, and it’s getting worse thanks to fake auditors who don’t actually audit. Do I think there’s waste? Yes. Do I think this is the way to fix it? Absolutely not. Unemployment is about to skyrocket, meaning more people competing for jobs that aren’t increasing in number. Now would be a great time for companies to do what’s right—invest in proper organizational design, strategic workforce planning, and equitable hiring. But I don’t hear much of that happening. I do see a lot of stressed people at work still.

Last time we talked about what was happening at work when all of you joined - because remember there are five generations of you which is near historic. This time we are gonna try a new format of talking through work in the way of a typical work day routine with the things we might encounter. Remember this is a space for all of us at work so this is for the executive team, the HR/Operations team, and the people in between whether you’re in Marketing, IT or Product. We are about to come together to talk about the way we work.

The Daily Stand Up - Where Are We With Hiring?

Some teams have daily stand-ups to align on priorities. Stand-ups should take no more than ten minutes—otherwise, it’s a meeting, and we don’t need more meetings. Ours will go like this: we’ll break down hiring from different perspectives within the business.

Goal: Hiring

Leaders: We have a big project coming up and need people to execute. Managers, where are we with the jobs we posted?

Managers: Which jobs? The ones we forecasted or the ones you suddenly said we needed two weeks ago?

Leaders: Any of them—our strategy needs people to execute.

Managers: Let me ask Recruiting.

Recruiting: I still need you to review the job description, review candidates, accept the invites for interviews I set up—

Managers: My calendar is free—

Recruiting: You had me reschedule the last one because you were free but then—

Leaders: I called a meeting because we needed Managers to close a high-priority deal.

Recruiting: Right, but you didn’t tell me until two minutes before the candidate was set to join Zoom.

Managers: I found out five minutes before. Won’t they just reschedule?

Recruiting: They are also in the middle of a big project at their current job and had family obligations this week.

Leaders: If they really want the role—

Recruiting: If we really want high-caliber talent—

Managers: This is my first hire. What should I know?

Recruiting: Did you take the Hiring Training? It looks here like you-

Managers: Which training again? Y’all have so many…I’ll be fine. I've interviewed before.

Recruiting: We’re screwed.

Leaders: What was that?

Recruiting: Nothing! (this is jk because Leaders most times do not listen to Recruiting - there are exceptions but not many).

You see how this goes? Everyone has high demands. Everyone is stressed. The need for balance is real. Most companies hire reactively, even when they claim to have a proactive plan. Strong organizational design is what makes the difference between strategic hiring and over-hiring, which leads to layoffs. Bringing the TA team, HR/Org Design Team, and Executive Team together regularly to review headcount, hiring, and business goals is a simple recipe for success.

Let’s Work - Time Manage Yourself

You have a million different meetings and if you’re a manager who is hiring, you have to fit in either reviewing job descriptions to add what you ACTUALLY do (don’t leave this up to your Recruiter only), have a few resumes to look at (because, again, you should not be leaving this to just your Recruiting Team), or some interviews to prep and do (key word PREPARE FOR and do - like read the resumes and review some structured hiring questions to eliminate your bias or improve your interview skills because everyone can be better at interviewing - or even figure out how you are supposed to do the work for the employee you haven’t hired yet because that work needs to get done.

And figure out how to get better at managing yourself and people.

It’s a lot to do in a day. Some days will be more jam packed than others but figuring out how to time manage is the best way to go. Believe me! As a reformed multi-tasker, I realize that multi-tasking eventually set me up for failure. If I didn’t write it down or time block, I was relying on my memory to do things. Your memory can fail you. Your time management system is less likely to do so. Whether you are using AI, your calendar, your journal, a project management system or something else - start to move away from your memory and give yourself back up. YOU ARE BUSY. And you still haven’t fit in your own professional development time or reviewing your team’s work that requires your attention, any kind of compliance/People Team call to actions/Accounting or Legal stuff or check in with your manager.

YOU ARE BUSY. I just want you to work smarter and not harder.

I don’t get paid for any of these recommendations at all but you should find one that fits your own needs.

Monday.com - They have a whole section about time blocking you should check out.

Todoist.com - You can make lists for work or anything else requiring your attention.

Google Calendar - I’m old school so I love a little calendar situation but I can also easily ignore a reminder (I call it the Snooze affect)

Old Fashioned Planner - Listen I love to write things down! I love to buy planners! Some of my favorites? This one from Eeni Edit sells out quickly but I love it because it has personality and it’s Black woman owned. I also love this Erin Condren one because it’s like an adult Trapper Keeper (yep, I’m that old) and I need to see weeks, have enough space for thoughts, months at a glance, etc.

Remarkable Tablet - I LOVE my Remarkable tablet and it’s a great blend of tech and old school because it can connect to your Google Drive. They just launched templates which is great because before I was buying templates that look like old fashioned planners but not enough space. Either way use it to do a To Do list.

Just do something because memory and your brain - especially when you may be burned out - are not enough. You deserve to rest them.

Break Room - Monthly Staff Meetings

Back in the before times - before the pandemic - when most of us were in office (and it looks like we might back there for a little while even though we all learned that we could in fact do most of our jobs at home and we should be more open to doing that or hybrid), we used to be in the break room in the office.

The break room is where we went to eat, to gather, to not work at our desks and get some change of scenery, to have a quick chat with one or two other people, and more. Depending on the company, you could probably get some snacks for free, coffee, drinks like kombucha if you were fancy.

Some companies even used it for their Monthly Staff Meetings. We all packed ourselves in one place to meet about the company. Now, I loved the where. But sometimes I didn’t always love the what.

Leaders need to know that Monthly Staff Meetings need a makeover. We are not all having the same experience in the staff meetings.

Leaders, you put an agenda together for a Monthly Meeting but how often do you ask what they need or want to hear? Once I was in charge of coordinating our Monthly Meetings and I watched how most of the company tuned out when we starting talking about high concepts we assumed that everyone knew about. Like for example? EBITDA. Leaders love to talk about EBITDA (short for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization - one of the most widely used measures of a company's financial health and ability to generate cash - VERY IMPORTANT). A good majority of the company didn’t know what it meant and were either too afraid to ask or didn’t care to ask. Should we know what it is? Yes. Did we define it? No.

So what should a Monthly Staff Meeting agenda look like? In my dream world here’s what it looks like:

• The agenda is collaborative - Leaders, Feedback Loops, ERGs are all key stakeholders for the agenda

• Rotating Hosts - A rotating host gives people in the company who want to have some visibility by doing something that’s NOT part of their responsibilities a moment to demonstrate other skills like facilitating or hosting

• Simple is smart - Instead of constantly repeating acronyms like EBITDA where we assume everyone knows what we are talking about, we say the words. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging. See? Also, speak as though you are not just addressing your own level. Leaders need to explain things so that the coordinator and the SVP understand. No one needs to break out a dictionary to understand what you mean. Because they won’t. Save your time and be simple.

• Give updates we need - Don’t have a Monthly Meeting for the sake of having a meeting. Don’t have people going “This could have been an email.” Ask your people what kind of meeting will move the needle for them so you can all collectively work to achieve your business goals. Leader doesn’t mean you make the decisions for everything. It means you guide people towards the decisions that are best. Conductor not dictator.

Big work headlines (things we should all know) from February 2025:

• The Los Angeles Times abandoned an AI project that extended sympathy to the KKK in Anaheim

• Government data released on Wednesday indicates that inflation cooled in February more than expected, but an economist at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management says the effects of Trump’s tariffs haven’t kicked in yet. Ellen Zentner, the chief economic strategist at the bank, told Fortune that “no one should expect the Fed to start cutting rates immediately.”

• The firing of federal employees is going to make this job market even worse than it already is. And it is bad. Typically traditional media is slow or resistance to tell the real story behind unemployment numbers. Don’t let the media translate the sitauation for you. Check out the Bureau of Labor (while we still have people working there).

• Gone is the optimistic dream of economic growth spurred by Trump’s pro-business mindset around taxes and regulation. In its place is the grave uncertainty of not knowing what this administration will do next.

• I watched Sam Seder on the Jubilee videos talking to young MAGA supporters (because they aren’t conservative - that’s different) and my Oura ring went off the charts. Why is this work related? Because this is what it feels like to explain something to someone who refuses dislodge misinformation from their brains. Only this is more dire. Sam said: “I found it a little bit disturbing. Just the level of assuredness that they had in things I knew were so fundamentally wrong. I was a little bit disturbed by how forthright some of them were in expressing, “Yes, I’m xenophobic.”

Happy Women’s History Month!

It seems like this Women’s History Month is just as subdued as Black History Month as been. And to leaders and business executives, I say be careful in your silence because your team and your consumers have long memories. You can figure out how to celebrate and educate without having a target on your backs from angry misinformed activists.

Equal Pay Day is March 25th. Every year it moves to reflect the percentage difference of pay rates between women and men. For 2025, it’s 83% for full-time, year-round workers and 75% for all workers (including part-time and seasonal). Other more granule observances days:

• Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Women’s Equal Pay Day – April 7th

• Moms’ Equal Pay Day – May 6th

• LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Awareness Day – June 17th

• Black Women’s Equal Pay Day – July 10th

• Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Women’s Equal Pay Day – August 28th

• Latina Equal Pay Day – October 8th

• Disabled Women’s Equal Pay Day – October 23rd

• Native Women’s Equal Pay Day – November 18th

In short, most of us still make less than men.

The Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum has an incredible indefinite exhibit on right now.

Allyship in action looks like Spotify employees getting Andrew Tate’s “pimping” podcasts pulled. “Pretty vile that we’re hosting Andrew Tate’s content,” one Spotify employee said in a company Slack channel called #ethics-club, according to 404 Media.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t call out the hypocrisy in this Women’s History Month of some women coming for Meghan Sussex and her show “With love, Meghan” on Netflix. I thought we all wanted good things for each other like a soft easy life with time to spend with friends doing things we love. The hate for Meghan feels very…specific. How we in good conscience have selective support for people is how we delegitimize our fight for justice. Civil Rights Activist Fannie Lou Hamer said “Nobody's free until everybody's free" and that doesn’t just mean people who look like you. Also, the very idea that we are out of touch because we like nice things is a word to the wise of brands. Le Creuset should def notice there is a customer market that has been largely ignored but consistent in their purchases.

Special thanks to Lynn Wactor and Kim Rohrer for responding to my Easter Egg question about what more I should talk about in this joint. Gift cards coming soon!

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