Posts by Marcus Blankenship

I need to lose weight, so I try to walk every day.  Some of you might recall that I went to Europe 18 months ago, and I’ve gained 20 pounds since then.  Ugh! To try and reverse this trend, I walk for 45-60m each day.  And I always walk the same familiar route each day.  I don’t…

The Satir Change Model, created by Virginia Satir, depicts personal and organizational change as five stages: Late Status Quo Resistance Chaos Integration New Status Quo The move from Late Status Quo to Resistance is caused by a foreign element, which provokes the status quo.  Gets people talking.  Gets them thinking.  Maybe even makes them angry. It’s…

When I left my last job, I didn’t leave well, and that has caused me angst and regret.  When you do leave well you exit gracefully, without burning bridges, without getting the legal department involved, and leaving the door open to return someday. But if you don’t leave well, then things get messy.  In my case……

“Dude, she totally ghosted me,” Ryan said. “What does that mean?” I asked. “That’s when a gal just stops responding to your texts or calls.  You have no idea why.  You wonder ‘Is her phone dead?  Is she dead?’  Then you get super insecure about yourself.  ‘What did I say? What did I do?  Why aren’t…

Saying “No” is hard for me because I worry how the other person will react.  They might become aggressive, or they might retract.  Either way, it feels wrong. To be honest, it makes my stomach ache just thinking about saying “No,” especially to my boss or client.  But saying “No” is an important part of your manager…

Olivier wrote me last week: I’d be interested in tips on how to bring positivity in a team that is exhausted and stressed out. This got me thinking that some of you might not be working in “ideal” circumstances.  You might not be able to apply what I teach because you don’t control the process.  Or…

Your technical skills may be eroding, you might miss the thrill of coding, but you feel better than ever.  How? You learned that wholehearted leadership is an act of creation. When we stop coding, we feel a sense of loss.  I missed creating something awesome; something I was proud of. When you lead with your whole…

Ever had a bad boss? Maybe you didn’t trust him, or she didn’t like you?  Perhaps you spent more time trying to keep your job than doing your job.  Maybe you also felt that other people were treated better than you, or your boss didn’t give you a fair chance to succeed. If this sounds…

Yesterday I told you about Oliver’s incredible moment in his 1:1 meeting.  He noticed what was happening, then stopped and dug in deeper.  This resulted in a deeper connection than had happened in past 1:1 meetings.  As you might expect, this happened at the end of the conversation. Saving the best for last Oliver’s story…

Oliver told me, “My 1:1 meeting with Sean surprised me this week.  It was a bit deeper, more personal.  Out of the blue, he mentioned he was bored with the machine learning tutorials and wanted to get his hands dirty with it.  I thought he didn’t like the subject, but I’d misread him.  His honesty…

Matt asked me, “Is there any way to optimize my 1:1 meetings?  They take so much time from my week that I am often rescheduling and chasing them across my week.  I see new software systems which claim to help with planning them, tracking them, accountability, etc.  Do you recommend this kind of optimization?” Yes,…

It’s Tuesday, and your team is quietly working away.  Chris was stuck on a bug.  Selena was feeling discouraged about learning Clojure.  Zach was bored writing another report. Dan was confused about a requirement.  Matt was juggling customer calls with coding.  Carrie was trying to figure out what to work on next. Jason was worried…

I like burn-down (or burn-up) charts.  I like seeing them on walls and in conference rooms serving as information radiators.  But some of you might be abusing your tables without realizing it.  Or, maybe your boss (or Product Owner) might be using them to harm you and your team. Here are some phrases I’ve heard which…

I’ve been watching Chef’s Table on Netflix, which is a great series.  In the first episode, Massimo Bottura says “When you have a relation, you speak the same language.  If you speak the same language, you can share a dialog.” I like that ordering: Step 1: build a relation(ship) Step 2: speak the same language…

As a young man, I was pretty bad with money.  I racked up too much debt, yet I still needed a reliable car to drive.  This meant taking out a high-risk loan (read: high-interest loan), and sitting for an hour with a loan officer explaining my poor decisions, and promising it would be different this…