Oa893KIdLB2 – Otito Iwuchukwu

Communicate to Accelerate

Communicate to Accelerate If you want me to do something, see something, buy something, respond to something, you have to do something. And that is communicate — in a way that gets to me (and works for me). Getting your point, your work, your value across to peers and patrons requires the skill of effective […]

Falling Forward Through Career Seasons

Falling Forward Through Career Seasons “When you stumble, make it part of the dance.” — Author unknown These are two variations of a popular quote that I’m familiar with. The second one resonates more with me, because while the first version presupposes perfection, this version is more expansive, allowing for the inevitable missteps that come […]

On Onboarding

On Onboarding “You cannot expect anything good from a bad system” I once heard a saying to that effect, and with that I want to dedicate this edition of this newsletter to that most critical part of socialization into any organization or entity. And it’s not simply a matter of new-hire orientation. If you’ve worked […]

Emotionality at Work

Emotionality at Work “Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.” — Roger Ebert Last week I was at a conference where the speaker was talking about the power of trust and inclusive leadership. As I am wont to do with asking questions, I raised my hand and asked: what […]

On Attribution in the Workplace

On Attribution in the Workplace “Life does not ask what we want, it presents us with options” — Thomas Sowell I would add to this fine quote that work-life presents us daily with options. And we get to choose which options we take, or stick with. In conversations with two people last week (both immigrants, […]

Do You Know Who Your Mentors Are?

Do You Know Who Your Mentors Are? Mentoring relationships require discernment. National Mentoring Month is rounding out, and I thought there was no better way to end the month than with a conversation on mentoring — how to find trusted, mutually beneficial relationships, and how to avoid mediocre mentoring. Who qualifies to be a mentor? […]

On Staying, Voicing Out, or Exiting: Exploring Options Through a Cultural Lens

On Staying, Voicing Out, or Exiting: Exploring Options Through a Cultural Lens No workplace or organization is neutral, simply because organizations are systems comprised of people (with needs, motivations, preferences, prejudices, and other such intrinsically human behaviors). In that vein, what applies to one may not apply to all, and vice versa. This last statement […]

Mapping Your Career Cultural Wealth Wheel

Mapping Your Career Cultural Wealth Wheel As a professional, what does your career map look like, or what do you envision it to be? While we may be inclined to map out a linear career based on lifetime earnings or on our education alone, it is important to realize that we did not get to […]

Taking Inventory of Values for a Working Life

Taking Inventory of Values for a Working Life It used to be that choosing a field of study would lead you, sometimes unilaterally, into a career, and you simply worked in that job for a while and got promoted as opportunities arose. Traditional career planning was based on a trifecta of your interests, your skills […]

Re-Assessing Our Internal and External Aptitudes and Abilities

Re-Assessing Our Internal and External Aptitudes and Abilities “I have the aptitude to do it but I don’t have the ability to do it because of my attitude about learning to do it or about trying to do it.” I am sometimes asked about the difference between skills and abilities for the purpose of a […]

Dr. Otito Iwuchukwu