Life-in-Progress

Life is more than a day job.

Can You Learn To Do, Instead of By Doing?

Posted by Alora Posted on Apr - 16 - 2010

I am guilty of a great many assumptions. There are a lot of things that I take for granted — the types of things that come naturally to me, the perspective I have on things, the business insights I rely on, the experiences I draw from — are all things that frequently turn out to  [ Read More ]

Categories: Entrepreneurs, Mentors

These are a few of my favorite things

Posted by Alora Posted on Feb - 15 - 2010

One of my favorite parts of the end of any year are the ‘year in review’ and/or ‘next year’s prediction’ lists.  And when it’s a year that ends in a “0,” the lists are usually longer, more interesting and cover a longer window.  So, too, already with this year.  As we head into 2010, we  [ Read More ]

Categories: Entrepreneurs, Leaders

Tis the Season to be Independent

Posted by Alora Posted on Dec - 01 - 2009

In Deck the Halls with Pink Slips I discuss the November round of layoffs at several big companies. Of course, part of what brought these to my attention is that a dear friend of mine got caught in the pre-holidays cut-backs at Adobe. Even worse, however, was the fact that my friend loved working at  [ Read More ]

There is No Strategy if You Don’t Manage Your Team

Posted by Alora Posted on Jul - 21 - 2009

Last week I wrote an opening rant about “strategists.” In the comments that ensued, I am now inspired to clarify what I mean while I continue to write this series. I am not talking about consultants who are hired to help hone and build out a strategic vision for an organization; nor am I talking  [ Read More ]

Where Are You Leading?

Posted by Alora Posted on Jun - 30 - 2009

I’ve had an interesting few weeks. My husband and I have been dealing with a lot of things at home, hence my absence from blogging for much of the past month, and I have started a new project with the New Media (a.k.a. “web”) team at KXAN-TV here in Austin. Between getting settled into the  [ Read More ]

Categories: Leaders, Mentors

20/20 Hindsight – Getting Your Start in a Startup

Posted by Alora Posted on Apr - 23 - 2009

People who did not meet me until at or around my 25th birthday would never believe it, but in school, I was the Queen of Slackers. Truly. School was too easy, too routine and I spent too long doing it to be able to breath new life into the experience. I could dodge classes, do  [ Read More ]

20/20 Hindsight – How Early Career Choices Can Set the Stage

Posted by Alora Posted on Apr - 22 - 2009

I had a couple of discussions this week that got me thinking back to the early days of my career. Aside from leaving me feeling older than I care to think about, it did spark a pleasant memory or two that I’ve been mulling over since. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about how early career choices  [ Read More ]

My First Visit to California in Over a Year

Posted by admin Posted on Mar - 27 - 2009

The hardest thing about leaving JetBlue last year was giving up the travel benefits that helped ease the difficulty of living 3,000 miles away from my family and so many of my friends. One of the things I’ve realized lately is that, even though I am really loving being in Austin, I have been horrendously  [ Read More ]

This book review was written for Joyful Jubilant Learning‘s March book reviews. I am posting it here for my own personal timeline. Barbara Stanny‘s “Prince Charming Isn’t Coming: How Women Get Smart About Money” is a great story with a problematic title. Unfortunately, it is also billed as a How To book, which is where  [ Read More ]

Categories: Lessons & Epiphanies

Moving On When Your Boss is Your Mentor

Posted by Alora Posted on Dec - 17 - 2008

I recently got a phone call from a dear friend who found herself very conflicted about an unexpected career opportunity that hit her from out of the blue. After a few minutes of talking, I was a little confused why she seemed to be so conflicted, because — with one or two minor exceptions —  [ Read More ]

The Three-Legged Stool of Job Hunting

Posted by Alora Posted on Oct - 18 - 2008

Assuming that you are conscientious of being a buyer in your job hunt (and that you have the luxury of being discerning), there are three factors to keep in mind when deciding which position to take: The job itself – This would include everything from the title and the compensation to how much of your  [ Read More ]

BlessingWhite Study: Managers Lack Enough Time to Coach

Posted by Alora Posted on Oct - 15 - 2008

A recent study conducted by BlessingWhite shows that a full one-third of over 2,000 supervisors interviewed “don’t have time to coach” their direct reports. While I find nothing inherently surprising in that statistic, I do find the reasoning behind it fundamentally flawed: the reason that supervisors “don’t have time” is because they have not made  [ Read More ]

Categories: Mentors