I just had a”Big Birthday,” the kind that ends in 5 or 0. So now, I am in the midst of a “senior life” crisis. It feels just like my previous crises, where I search to find a new role that fits my life now. In Secrets of Consulting, Gerald M. Weinberg said: It may […]
How Can We See and Steer Through Our Life “Crises” to Find a New Path? Read More »
There are two parallel ideas going on in my world right now. First, the news is full of “us” vs. “other.” We don’t believe “them.” They don’t trust “us.” Second, tonight is the start of Yom Kippur, where we pray as a community to make our lives—and the world—a better place. (The specifics are repentance,
How Can We Manage to See the “Other” Perspective to Create a Greater Good? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s September 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Do you like uncertainty? I don’t, and I’m not alone. That’s because uncertainty feels as if it’s an unmanageable risk. We even have sayings such as, “Don’t rock the boat,” to explain why we
How Would You Act if You Optimized for Uncertainty to Gain More Resilience? Read More »
I’ve had several interesting conversations with people over the past few weeks about how useful they feel at work. They feel as if their management treats them as commodities: “You do this work and we will pay you and give you health insurance.” That’s a transactional way to think about work. However, useful work requires
How Can We Know if We’re Doing Useful Work? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s August 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Leaders often struggle with their actions. How hands-off should they be? When should they walk around and listen? Can they trust people to do their jobs? Can they support the people they lead and
How Can We Tell the Difference Between Real Leadership and Leadership Theater? Read More »
As a consultant, I offer (allow) many contact methods: my various email addresses, a few Slack channels, and several Discord channels. That’s not all. I also have contact forms on my websites, a phone number, and my various social media. If I had to add it up, I suspect there are over 15 ways I
How Many Contact Methods Do You Allow, Check, and Use? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s July 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Last week, Mark and I were on vacation in Key West. While we were there, we took several wind-and-wine sailing trips. At the end of each sail, the crew passes out dark Dove chocolate
How Can You Manage Your Feelings to Start a New Chapter? Read More »
We’ve all heard that freedom isn’t free. We have to work and fight for it. But too often, we hear the “fight” part and not the “work” part. That means we start to choose just one of two alternatives (yours vs mine) instead of looking for more options. Worse, we might think that freedom is
Which Freedoms Will You Work and Fight For? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s June 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Several of my colleagues and dear friends are in the midst of chaos. They want to do something new and create new opportunities for themselves. Tom is looking for a job. Andrea wants to
How Can You Tell It’s Time to Commit to a New Path? Read More »
By the time we start school, most of us have heard the word “no” a lot. Parents tell children not to do unsafe things—a form of rejection. Most of us learn from these rejections and decide what to do next. In school, we experience a ton of rejection. As a short child with zero athletic
When Can Rejection Help Us Create a Better Life? Read More »