Lessons from the past Five Years

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Five Years at my current employer have taught me many valuable life skills. Some of these lessons required incredible effort, through difficult seasons, and others came more naturally. Regardless of the situation, I would like to share my list of takeaways with you:


Everyone, no matter their title or position, deserves to be treated well.
Some of the most pleasant and helpful people at my workplace carry little clout, but are the key members of our company, the people who get a job done. They don't get shout outs at employee-wide meetings, big bonuses, or press attention, but they make this world go around. You would be surprised to know how unpleasant your life could be without the people who work security, the night cleaning shift, schedule company cars, run the print shop, act as admins, etc.

Internal lateral promotions and extra projects are a great value add. 
When someone makes you an offer, give it careful consideration before responding that you're happy where you are or would prefer to be promoted outside the company. Ask yourself if the opportunity is a bad fit for your skill set and/or in line with your career goals. Consider the ways in which these opportunities can benefit or hurt your team, as you may continue working with them in a different capacity. And keep in mind that it's ok, and sometimes a wise choice, to say no to these offers.

Set healthy boundaries and expectations.
After accepting a part-time position in another office, I found myself working 70+ hour weeks between the two positions. Instead of triumphing over each new deposit (in a functions operations/marketing role), I found myself begrudging the nights, weekends and social events I would be missing chained to my desk at work. After talking through the situation with a seasoned member of my office, I took a step to hire and train events assistants. The initial effort of designing a training plan and hiring new employees every few months, allowed me to focus my time and energy on managing the facility, improving marketing relationship and increasing revenue during weekdays and recharging on nights and weekends.

Be honest with your colleagues and learn their stories.
While training up a cohort of interns for our new office internship, I invited a few colleagues to come share their professional journeys. This time was incredibly useful to my interns, I watched the light-bulbs go off above each head as they received career insights along with a reality check of just how long it can take to achieve your dream job. Personally, it was priceless to learn more about colleagues who I had known for years, without hearing their stories. Favorite takeaway, when a coworker had a "baptism of the imagination" while visiting a museum in Italy. Fifty years later, he spends 30% of professional contract in Italy and 70% in the US.

Be personal and professional.
Request informational interview lunches with people who are in a position or department you would like to learn more about. This gives you a chance to get your name out there, show your professional maturity (please for everyone's sake, avoid ums, likes and profanity), and ideally get a few pointers on how to navigate your field or the greater corporation. Just don't get too personal. You don't have to be friends with coworkers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, LinkedIn will do. Romantic relationships at the office should be handled discretely, this isn't high school.

Share instead of being territorial.
Have you spent time perfecting tips and tricks? Why not share them with others members of your team! You have a great idea which could push the company forward? Let your supervisor know that you want the best for the company long term, are willing to work towards their ideals, and have a suggestion to make. If your corporate atmosphere isn't friendly to innovation, it might be time to move on. It is so discouraging to watch coworkers demean one another instead of working as a team for the best of the corporate endeavor.

Observe then act. 
As an undergraduate, these three words were the guiding principle of my immersion semester in France. The same is true in a business setting. Don't take over a meeting someone else called, disregard company etiquette or badmouth your coworkers on your days off. Companies are only so large and word will get around if you start off on the wrong foot. In all situations, watch how others handle themselves, see what expectations are set, then imitate to the best of your ability. Find out who to go to for advice and who prefers you act independently, by observing the habits and body language of your colleagues. If you're a leader, you get to set the tone and see whether others follow suit.

Here's to many more years of professional observations! Feel free to share your own insights
and I'll let you know what I learn next...

filming what would be a still

to capture in motion a group posing: a genuine picture of humanity. we push and prod, joke and smile. here we are, as we are, expectant of a single exposure, unaware of the film being taken. 

- a collection of clips taken by the Gordon IN Orvieto crew.  this clip and the many moments of genuine emotion pre-photograph inspired this post. i did not attend the program, however i work with it closely on the US side. 

Foodie Dinner with our French Friends

My husband and I are foodies. Not to the extent that we spend all of our time thinking and talking about food, but to the point that we love an excuse to make a gourmet meal and we are happy to attempt creating just about anything from scratch.

This week, a dear friend of mine and his wife were visiting from France, the dinner we planned was fabulous. I'm not one to go on about menus, but I had to share our delight with someone and you seem an excellent audience for such things...

The meal started off with a light appetizer, mussels steamed in white wine and fresh, local, strong garlic. Between catching up and many beautiful conversations, we moved on to grilled chicken in a sauce of whole mustard, apricot preserves, fresh mint, fresh parsley, and other delightfully flavorful ingredients, with grilled asparagus on the side. Our guests were kind enough to bring a bottle of rose wine from their French hometown to be enjoyed along with the courses which followed. As is expected in France, the light salad came after dinner. It contained watercress, a relative of endives, raisins and a homemade dressing to match the meal. A spread of three cheeses followed: the soft Humbolt Fog, firm Dubliner and potent Italian Taleggio. My husband had retrieved local bakery bread that afternoon from our favorite A&J King Bakery in Salem on which to sample each cheese. As if we weren't all full at that point, Lemon Squares - my family's secret recipe (with an experimental extra ingredient: muddled lavender infused in to the lemon juice) made an appearance at the meal's close.

Conversations continued into the night, we said farewell with plans to meet again before long, perhaps on their side of the ocean next.

The evening was delightful (and I look forward to eating the leftovers for days to come)! I would have shared pictures, but we were all too busy enjoying the company to snap a single image. The smell of the cheese however, that lasted for days.

Commuting Levels Us All

Zakim Bridge in Boston, MA

She pulls up in her white two-door BMW sedan, occupied by her phone call only one hand grips the wheel. Immediately the calculations begin. She must wealthy. Whether she is a high power lawyer or just a trophy wife, this woman appears to be very self important. What is she doing in this neighborhood? Picking up her assistant? Carpooling the kids to a distant private school? Stopping by to check on her sister?

I step into our little Scion XA hatchback on  my way to work and think, if we were taking the train it wouldn't make a difference. She would never know what I drive, nor would I know her vehicle of choice.

Commuting levels us all. Whether the traffic is thwarting the CEO or custodian, the train removing status from those lining the platform in the cold, or you find yourself waiting in line behind all career roles at Dunkin Donuts for your morning's caffeine fix, we are on a level playing field for those 1-3 hours a day dedicated to getting ourselves to and from work.

Professional Dreams

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I have a small dream, but it will grow and over time you will see me create something beautiful.

After several months of seeking, I now know that I want several things out of a career: challenges, new projects, a dynamic atmosphere, potential for growth, a city view, a higher salary...

However, today I found myself looking at a list of senior members of a company, all male, and wanting to break the mold. We were not all born to sit and do only the bidding of others, some of us were built to push forward and succeed. I desire to be part of a team that matters and feel that my efforts are making a difference in the world!

The content of this post is all together too focused on me, so I'll end with one last thought: Now is not a time to be comfortable in the company I've faithfully served in varying capacities for 5 years, it is a time to be brave. I will start over.

Pre-Alarm Pondering

Picnic at Sunset

Light seeps into the room from several directions. Starting as a dark canvas the objects in the room begin to find their shape, angles emerging from a dark sleep. The birds chatter like there is no tomorrow, the ceiling fan whizzes with delight, soon bells will toll from a nearby church.

I'm not quite ready yet. The day came too quickly upon the heels of the last, and I could use more rest. Yet the moments, minutes and seconds, are counting down towards the chime of my alarm. It will start gently, but offer no forgiveness should I choose not to respond or wish to fall back to sleep after turning it off.

There are natural rhythms for our bodies, and the longer days have made it easier to be awake and active. I want to be outside early, picnicking at the park for dinner, biking to get ice cream, walking the neighbors dog, contemplating the progress of foliage from the hammock on our tiny back porch... Unlike the winter, when I want to curl up next to a fire, bake something sweet, put on some tea and do hardly anything that makes my adrenaline rush for multiple days at a time. 

Hard to believe as I used to be so active year round; three time state champion in track and field, soccer, ultimate frisbee, avid swimmer, more recently various road race participant. Have I grown old and undisciplined? Perhaps my body is simply acclimating to the climate? Shoveling snow and the occasional snow shoe or ski suffice for an entire winter's worth of exertion! That's not quite it, however, I need a tweak of ambition. I've grown bored by the lack of current challenges; a new goal must be set!!

Snowshoeing through the Woods of New Hampshire

Neighborhood windows

Daisies and Budding Trees Between our House and the Next

Our back windows overlook a handful of houses down the hill. I often find myself glancing down to see what the neighbors might be doing, while I refill my water glass or clean the dishes. One house I often observe, sold in the depths of winter, still hidden under our record breaking piles of snow.

The family which moved in brought with them a small, black, cat with a white stripe down her forehead onto her nose and under the chin. And lately she has taken to sitting at the large glass door off the dining room, watching the yard come alive. Spring is finally here! 

There is a small band of woods between our house an theirs, maybe 5 trees deep, in which the squirrels love to hop from the trees to the fence enclosing her yard just to taunt her!! This morning as I rinsed out my smoothie jar, I glanced down to see her face scanning attentively with each passing bird. In correspondence to the wind which rustled the trees, her tail flicking was and eyes wide.

I hate to be cooped up. I can hardly stand sleeping in, or resting for five minutes upon returning to the house (I must put my bag away or organize something!!). As I watched the little kitty, the neighbor came across the porch to the door. Would the kitty pounce?! Would she seize this moment to escape and explore the great outdoors? Would her dreams of chasing after the many small creatures in the yard finally come true? No. None of the above. She slunk away into the depths of the house, under the security of the kitchen table legs, to return when the door was once again safely closed, only then, did she continue her attentive watching of the world at play. 

As I stepped out of the window light and returned to my morning routine, I had a single thought: let me never be content with watching my world pass by, I want to live while I'm alive.