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On Self-Criticism
In Week 20, I wrote about Self-Sabotage (here). The main saboteur agent that we have is the Judge, which we all have running in our head at all times. I wanted to revisit that Judge this week, because I have been practicing something pretty transformational these last...
On Wayfinding
Wayfinding is a concept that my executive coach recently explained to me and that clicked instantly with me. Read below for more. ⛵️ On Wayfinding While Navigation is much more about optimizing the fastest or most efficient path to where you need to go,...
On Worthy Rivals
They say we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with. Equally important, I think, is who are the worthy rivals we choose as our peer set. This has everything to do with how you define what success means to you, of course. And once you decide what...
On That MF*er Called Ego
If you’re reading this blog, I am betting that you are someone who is highly invested in self-development and learning. You probably read, listen to podcasts, and practice high-performance habits way more than those around you. It’s probably what got you to where you...
On Change
I was listening to this McKinsey podcast on “Redefining the role of the leader in the reskilling era” and there was a quote that stopped me dead in the tracks: "The World [...] is Changing Faster Than It Ever Has Before And It Will Never Change This Slowly Again." We...
Self-Compassion is an Under-Rated Leadership Quality
When Simone Biles chose to exit the women's Olympic team gymnastics final to prioritize her well-being, she was choosing self-compassion over performance. It's the kind of rare role modeling from a top-performer that we can all learn from. Through this experience,...
On How To Be Angry
There's no point in denying it: I have been feeling angry these last few months. Most of my anger has been towards acts of racism and discrimination towards Asians, but also towards the ambivalence and lukewarm attention this topic has been getting in media and on...
The Lies Our Culture Tells Us About What Matters — and a Better Way to Live
I have been following David Brooks for a while now. He is a New York Times Op-Ed columnist, a best-selling author, a political commentator, and a founding member of Weave. The reason why I have been following him is not for his political beliefs, but because he is an...
A Zoom Call With a Buddhist Monk
Last week I had a Zoom call with a Buddhist monk in Thailand. It was offered as part of a 3-day virtual meditation retreat I participated in. Before the call, I spent an hour organizing and prioritizing my questions (I had quite a few). After all, how often does one...
How to Write Your Story
Despite what you are told growing up, there is no playbook for how you should live your life. There's simply choice and the meaning you give to each choice. Does this sound terrifying to you? It shouldn't! If you let this soak in, you realize there are infinite ways...
Easy Ways to Treat Yourself To A Virtual Retreat At Home
The pandemic has encouraged innovation in some unexpected ways. One of the most joyful ones is personal retreats. While we wait for the vaccines to roll out and remain in lockdown for possibly another year, I would encourage you to take time off work to give yourself...
On Feedback
Okay. Let's talk about Feedback. In preparation for this blog post, I have interviewed my email newsletter readers (you should join this amazing group of leaders here), I have consulted my executive coach, and I have practiced different ways of giving and receiving...
The Culture Map: The Third Culture Kid Perspective
A few months ago, I wrote about my experience being a hyphenated Asian in Westernized workplaces. As a continuation of this conversation, I wanted to bring up a great culture mapping framework from a book called "The Culture Map: Decoding How People Think, Lead, and...
On How To Be Angry
There's no point in denying it: I have been feeling angry these last few months. Most of my anger has been towards acts of racism and discrimination towards Asians, but also towards the ambivalence and lukewarm attention this topic has been getting in media and on...
The Hyphenated Asian Experience at Work
To positively contribute to the #StopAsianHate movement happening right now, I would like to share my own experiences as an Asian-American with the intention of creating more awareness and empathy for the hyphenated Asian community. I don't have all the answers on how...
Why Social Contracts Matter in the Modern Workplace
A Social Contract is defined as an implicit agreement between members of a community. While it has been long-debated in political conversations, I believe there's an opportunity to relook at Social Contracts in corporate cultures and teams. Thomas...
The Path to Effortless Leadership
Nic Maisano is the Founder & Managing Director at Effortless Labs and Partner at Cultivating Leadership Nic's Top Values Love Optimization Meaning How I know Nic I met Nic 10 years ago on our first day of orientation as full-time employees at...
What Happens The Year After The World Asked ‘Why’?
According to Google, 2020 was the year we asked "Why?" as the pandemic, unemployment, Black Lives Matter and tragic hate crimes shook our consciousness. It was a really viral and inspirational post, but what comes next? Things haven't really changed much. So will this...
Why I’m Proud to Be a Millennial
Recently a friend asked me why I've branded my platform "The Millennial Executive" when Millennials aren't a generation that people aspire to be. And my answer is this: it's because I'm proud to be an adaptive Millennial who is figuring things out openly and not...