You’ve unwrapped your gifts, returned from an airport where you probably spent more time than at your intended destination and are ready to begin the New Year. You’re filled with a resolve to… to do what? Why? And how differently will you do it?

If you’ve had a little breathing space during the holidays you may have given serious thought to how you’d like to be in the coming year. Perhaps you’ve made a list of resolutions, vowing to make substantive changes in the ways you relate to others, in the career directions you’ll take, and how you’ll want to feel about yourself as you make those changes.

If you’re like most people, the best of intentions, toward self and others, seem to last a few weeks and are then replaced by the creep of day to day events that work their way into the crevices of determination and focus.  Old habits are back and it’s business as usual.

Many of us don’t want to promise to do anything differently. We’ve disappointed others and ourselves too often to willingly take that route again.

Others would rather not think about doing anything differently since that would suggest what we were doing and where we were heading was in some way flawed. We want to move ahead, accepting our mistakes and celebrating our luck the same way we always have.

And then there are those of us who just can’t think of anything that we want to do differently. It’s not that we’re refusing the notion or avoiding the consequence, it’s just that things are rocking along pretty well. Why think, why promise, and why tinker?

If you live somewhere between the  “if I ain’t broke why fix me” folks and those who are constantly reinventing themselves, here are a few resolutions you might want to consider:

If I’m too passive and miss out on opportunities that could be mine, I’m going to get out there and make them happen.

If I don’t know how to become more sure of myself and confident in my actions, I’ll learn from people who do it best. I’ll practice by making mistakes and learning from them. I’ll admit when I’m wrong and take credit when I’m right.

I’ll forgive people more quickly and ask that they do the same for me. If they won’t, I’ll work hard to change the outcome I created. If I can’t, I’ll learn from it and move beyond it.

When I need to learn more than I know, I’ll take the initiative and get the knowledge I want without waiting for others to teach me.

I’ll learn to respect myself and others. I’ll become more aware that what happens around me affects more than just me. I’ll ask people I trust to tell me how can I help, and what can I do, to become a more effective player, regardless of the game.

Sometimes it’s easier to resolve what you won’t do instead of what you will. For example:

I won’t have to get fired to learn what I value about my job.

I won’t quit when I’m frustrated.

I won’t use anger to keep fear away.

I won’t break something to avoid fixing it.

I won’t argue so that I can be heard.

I won’t shout others down when I don’t want to listen to what they say.

I won’t let illness teach me to value each day.

I won’t be less than I can be, so others can be more.

I won’t measure my worth at the expense of others.

You can become who you want to be, without having to deny others encouragement, support, and respect. You can choose to live a full, productive life that embraces all that is good in yourself and others.

It’s not how you word it; it’s how you work it.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com

Sometimes you feel like you’re stuck between a rock and another rock. You don’t have room to breathe or move. You desperately need air and space and don’t have the energy to push the rocks apart to get it.

If you’re one of those people stuck in a merger that just can’t  seem to resolve itself, that may be how you’re feeling. If you’re in a job that is a bad match and you have no concept of what would be better, that’s the feeling. If your company just went belly up and nobody told you until you read it in the paper, that’s the feeling.

There are many business writers who address the problem, the emotion, and the strategy for moving the rock out of the way. Spencer Johnson’s book, Who Moved My Cheese?, has been a run away business bestseller. His book, 94 pages of big print and bigger pictures, illustrates , in disarmingly simple terms, the complex notion of  what happens when what we are accustomed to getting is suddenly taken away.

William Bridges, an executive development consultant and lecturer has written several books on the subject of personal and professional transition (among them, Managing Transitions, Surviving Corporate Transition, Creating You and Co.). He addresses change issues from the perspective of those who don’t see them coming, as well as those who do. Like Johnson, his approach his straightforward and understandable, although his syntax is a bit more complex.  The print is smaller and any artistic renderings come from your own imagination. He’s a good read if you want to do something while you’re stuck and want to understand why you are.

Harvard Business School Professor of Leadership, John Kotter, is the author of another business bestseller, Leading Change. His approach is a “how to” for leading successfully during times of  turbulence and change.

Stan Gryskiewicz, author of Positive Turbulence and a senior fellow at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, “offers a process for turning change into a productive force that, properly managed can lead to innovation and ongoing renewal.”

The most prolific author on the subject of change and perspective shift  was probably Dr. Seuss, (Horton Hears a Who; If I Ran the Circus, On Beyond Zebra, Oh, The Places You’ll Go) who wrote 44 best selling books for children and their parents.

We are, at once, fascinated by change. We love it when we’re creating it and fear it when we’re not. It’s the best of our dreams and the worst of our nightmares.

If you’re stuck now, and feeling immobilized, what must you do to get free?

1. Figure out what’s stuck: you or the rock.
2. Realize that you can’t control what is happening to you but you can control your reaction to it.
3. Become proactive in your thinking instead of reactive in your behaviors.
4. Open yourself to new ways of thinking.
5. Become solution seeking instead problem stopping.

In order to push beyond where you currently are, you’ll have to care enough to expend the effort. What’s your plan? Where are you going and what’s the role you’re going to play when you get there?

The rock can’t move. You can.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

“I can’t help but wonder what he’ll do once he isn’t working here anymore. This place seems to be his whole life; what happens when it isn’t?”

I bet you know him. He comes to work early and stays late.  He’s known as a company man. He’s dedicated, loyal, with a work ethic that challenges the most diligent. His only fear is failing health even though he’s never had a sick day. (He’s never had a day that he stayed out sick. He’s had several sick days.)

His children have grown up without him. He tries not to think about that. They speak of him with respect but without warmth. They don’t really know him. They ask their mother if she does.

“No,” she says, “not really. But he’s always been a provider, and he’s respectful.” She says it could have been worse. She’s known of worse. She’ll take what she gets. What good would it do not to?

He’s starting to think about retiring. Not that he wants to, but he’s starting to lose his edge. He’s slower than he was, more forgetful, less enthusiastic. It takes energy to be enthusiastic. He’d rather save his energy for the nights that he works late, even if he no longer has to, or wants to.

Retirement. The word makes him tired. There’s nothing that he wants to do in retirement but maybe sleep. But he gets to sleep on weekends and still wakes up early. What does that leave? A lot of nothing. And nobody to do it with. His kids are grown and haven’t talked to him about anything important in years. Maybe never. They’re nice kids. Good kids. Kids with their own kids. But they all stay away.

His wife’s been a good sport. A good mother. She’s never demanded much. She’s stayed loyal. But they don’t have anything to talk about. What does he care about her garden or her garden club or her garden club friends? He’s never met her friends. At least he doesn’t remember meeting them. Maybe he did once, at one of the kid’s weddings. He doesn’t remember.

Volunteer. Someone at work told him that he would make a good volunteer. He doesn’t want to be some old coot who’s taking care of other old coots. That’s for somebody else.

What is he going to do when no one at work wants him anymore? He’ll have to be. And he doesn’t know how to just “be”.

If this all sounds like I’ve been watching you, I have. And I can tell you, you’re not alone, but there’s not much comfort in that, is there? The good news is, you still have time to figure this one out. Use your time wisely.

Where should you start?

Your family. Reconnect now. You want them to welcome you home. You want to have a place with them,  and a part to play. You want to be as vital to them as they are to you. You’ll want to be a wise listener; an empowering husband and father. You’ll want to learn about their life’s lessons, their struggles, and their successes.

Take your time and stay the course. It won’t happen overnight. You worked your way out of their lives, you’ll have to earn your way back, one day at a time.

Your community. Take your time and learn where you can contribute most. When you combine who you are, with what you do, and where that combination is needed most, you will have a match that gives more to each than either will gain alone.

Your mind and your soul. When is the last time you read a book for no reason other than it told a great story? If it’s been a long time (or you’ve never been a reader) you’re in for quite a surprise. There’s a world of information waiting for you.  Turn off the computer and experience learning where other people go to learn. Go to the library, go back to school,  go to a play, go to concert, go to a parade.

Take care of  your heart, your head and your feet. If you’ve avoided check-ups rather than have doctors tell you to slow down, check-in. Tell them you’re ready to listen. And if they say it’s OK, lace up your walking shoes and head outside. Go to the park because it’s there. Walk alongside babies in strollers, and dogs on leashes. Wave at children on swings and families on cookouts.

There’s an extraordinary world out there just waiting for your visit. But don’t wait until you retire.

You have time to figure it out, if you’ll start right now.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts conducted seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Are you into lists? How about Ten Gonna Getchas for Managers:

You’re always the boss. You’re an “in charge kind of person.”  Everyone comes to you with work site problems because you can fix anything. You wear your tool belt at work, home, and in public gatherings. No matter who has the problem, you have the answer.

What can go wrong? Your colleagues pass their work off to you and then get offended when you do it.

You’re everyone’s shrink. You’re the warmest, most comforting listener in the business. Your eyes mist over as you hear about your employees’ worries, frustrations, hopes and desires. You really, really, really want to be there for them.

What can go wrong? You can’t get a lick of work done for all that listening. If the situation isn’t an emergency, and it seldom is, defer the conversation to a more suitable time and place. And don’t be surprised or disappointed when that needy employee finds someone else to talk to.

You just can’t say, “No!” You have an endless capacity to help others. You also have an endless need to be approved of by others. Instead of saying “no”, you answer with the emotional equivalent of “pile it on, I’m not dead yet.”

What can go wrong? You can get buried in all the projects that others are happily deferring to you. You’re still at work long after they’ve gone home. Bottom line: You resent the very thing you have given them permission to do.

You don’t ask questions. You figure that if you act smart, and don’t ask questions, no one will know what you don’t know. And you don’t know a lot.

What can go wrong? Everything. You become so concerned that someone will ask you a question that you begin to withdraw and then isolate yourself from others. That’s a sure fired way to get more attention than you want or need.

You can’t be bothered. You are busy. You are doing seriously important things. You cannot be bothered with other people’s problems.

What can go wrong? Their problems are going to be your problems. Blindside is written all over this one. If you don’t know what the problems are, you won’t know what to do, delegate or defer.

“I’m smarter than you are”. Yes. You are the smartest person walking around. Ask you anything and you know the answer. And if you don’t, you’ll make something up.

What can go wrong? No one is listening.

“Do it for me, please.” You like to play it safe. You learned a long time ago that acting helpless and deferring to others gets them to make the decisions you don’t want to make. No accountability, no blame.

What can go wrong? It’s getting harder to duck responsibility. Once you’re found out, you’re probably going to be out… of a job.

“That’s not my job.” This is my job. That’s your job. Don’t touch my job with your job ‘cause you’ll make a mess of my job.  I get paid to do my job. I don’t get paid to do your job. What is your job? Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.

What can go wrong? What part of TEAM don’t you understand?

You’re all style and no substance. Yep, that’s all you. You’ve got the clothes, the moves, the gift of gab. You can talk with anybody about anything as long as it has a punchline, isn’t too deep and you don’t have to do anything about it.

What can go wrong? Schmoozing and snoozing went out with 3 piece suits, 3 martini lunches and  40 hour workweeks. You’re all style? Go be a model.

You’re all substance and no style. You work hard and keep your head down. You’re directed, dedicated, and determined. You have no time for small talk, meetings, questions, or discussion and easily dismiss those who do.

What can go wrong? Your employees expect more from you than you’re willing to give. They need your insight and involvement in their professional development. Without that, they’ll leave the company for a manager whose style acknowledges their strengths as well as their deficiencies and provides opportunities to improve both.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

A recent caller wanted to know how to search for jobs that are closer to somewhere else than to where he lives. I figure that if I’m going to tell him, I ought to share the same information with you.

There are barriers to conducting an out of town search and ways to overcome them:

Barrier: The prospective employer doesn’t want to interview someone who lives “somewhere else”. They don’t want to incur travel and lodging costs, believing that they can find talent locally and for less money.

What to do? If you’re willing to pay your own way: Attach a cover letter (whether emailing, faxing, or snail mailing, always include a cover letter) indicating that you will  be in their city several times in the coming weeks and can modify your meeting schedule to accommodate a conversation with them. Ask for dates that are convenient for them.

Barrier: You don’t know who’s hiring and for what jobs  in the city you want to live.

What to do? Whether from home or the library, get on the internet. Places like www.linkedin.com, www.monster.com and www.companiesonline.com have all kinds of information regarding businesses, their locations, size, and more. If you’d rather get your hands around hard copy, reliable sources include Dun & Bradstreet’s Million Dollar Directory and Standard  & Poor’s Register of Corporations. Mary Alice Watkins, Business Services Specialist at the Greensboro Public Library, also suggests taking a look at Ward’s Business Directory, a collection that includes small to medium privately held companies.

Barrier: You’re not internet savvy and don’t want to be. You want to work on an out of town job search but feel limited.

What to do? As you can see from the above, there are plenty of resources for those who prefer to wrap themselves around a good read, even if it reads like a telephone book. However, and before leaving the computer/internet subject too quickly, there is help out there for you, should you choose to avail yourself of it. The librarians in business reference can assist  you (as can many young children). It takes a little courage to be a novice but you’ll find it worth the humility and the effort.  The information you can tap into will knock your socks off.  And in the job hunt there’s an expectation now that 21st century workers need to be comfortable using computers and the internet.

What else can you do at the library? Ask for newspapers from cities you’d like to live. If they aren’t available in hard copy, you guessed it, find them on the internet.

While we’re on the subject of newspapers: check for more than what you’ll find in the classifieds. Quality of life counts. It counts even more when transitioning from where you’ve been to where you’re going. Are you well matched to the place you want to call home? What are the issues that editorials and news articles address? Do city leaders, movers and shakers dedicate time, interest, and budget to sectors that you believe are important? What’s the city’s economic base and is it healthy?

Barrier: You want to take a job in another city. Your spouse is hesitant but willing to go. The problem? The kids. Your spouse doesn’t want to uproot your young children from the schools and neighborhood in which they have grown comfortable.

What to do: Be mindful that your children listen to the spoken and silent messages that you send. If you and your spouse talk with them and listen to their needs, while providing  security, stability, and practical optimism, you can reduce the unexpressed fears a transition can cause.

Barrier: You’re not sure how another city’s salaries compare to what you’re earning. You don’t want to sell yourself short or aim higher than the market will allow.

What to do: For salary surveys that report data at the national, state and metropolitan statistical area levels, go to http://stats.bls.gov/oes/oes_data.htm. If you’re looking for a web site that provides cost of living data (and more) for hundreds of U.S and foreign cities, log onto http://www2.homefair.com/calc/salcalc.html.

If you need more, ask you local librarian, they’ve always been helpful to me and to the job seekers I’ve worked with.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Warning to Workaholics on Vacation

No beach is warm enough, no pool deep enough, no book long enough to keep you from the next call, the next report, the next conquest.

No companion is fun enough, no escapade strange enough, no catacomb deep enough, to keep you from the next deal and the next plane that gets you to where the heat is hot enough, the mountain high enough, the trial tribulation enough, to make it worth the time that it takes to get there.

Warning to Vacationers at Work

No challenge is great enough, no boss loud enough, no report timely enough, to look up, look out, and get it done, for any reason greater than your colleagues are depending on it.

No boss is strong enough, no rhyme reason enough, no siren shrill enough to polish it off, finish it up, and put it away, for any reason greater than your customers are waiting for it.

Warning to Teams without Players

No goal is clear enough, no value grand enough, no cause worthy enough to get together, pull together, and get it done together, for any reason greater than that’s the way this game is played.

No reason is valid enough, no need compelling enough, no cause desiring enough, to get it done, outside the isolation and comfort of your mind,  for any reason greater than they need you to be there.

Warning to Players without Teams

No group is large enough, no talk complete enough, no break long enough to get you back to work, getting it done, for any reason greater than you’re bothering folks.

No quiet is safe enough, no space sane enough, no reflection revered enough, to keep you from using your cascade of words, just because they are there to be spoken.

Warning to Visionaries without Plans

No scape is grand enough, no leap long enough, no star far enough to keep you from unleashing your insight on those least capable of hitching it all to a wagon, and driving to get it all there.

No path is clear enough, no strategy sharp enough, no objection judicious enough to keep you from derailing the good that you started with your dreams.

Warning to Doers without Vision

There is no time good enough, no turn safe enough, no prediction right enough to leave behind your need to be absolutely sure before the journey is begun.

There is no path straight enough, no rule right enough, no detail plain enough to abandon your need to know from getting in your way.

Warning to Leaders without  Followers

There is no command strong enough, no control tight enough, no rigor right enough to satisfy your need to be all, have all, regardless that no one follows your lead.

There is no language tough enough, no mandate sure enough, no distance far enough from the people you drive to the place they don’t want to go.

Warning to Followers without Leaders

There is no map clear enough, no need great enough,  no strength strong enough,  to bridge the distance from where you are to where you need to go.

Warning to Leaders without Passion

There is no analysis sound enough, no logic clear enough, no goal defined enough, to merit the movement of people who care, by those who aren’t able to express why they should.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Frank needs some help and no one here seems to be able to get through to him.

I asked Frank’s boss to describe the problem. His response told me more about what it wasn’t than what it was.
“Frank’s not rude or withdrawn; he’s not outspoken or overbearing. He never gets angry. The guy is very intelligent. He understands how our business works and does what it takes to get his job done. We could let him stay here and rock along, but we’re not going to do that. We’re looking for leaders. Here, it’s up or out. The way he’s going, it’s going to be “out”. He’s a bright guy, so that’s a real waste of  time and talent, for us and for him.”

As directors go,  Frank was young; maybe early thirties. A senior vice president, who felt that his protégé needed to improve his leadership skills, had referred him. 
My initial reaction to Frank was that he just didn’t project much. He answered my questions by saying as little as possible. Whatever the subject, he offered no spark, reaction or comment that revealed his state of mind or sense of  well being.

He did provide an opening when he described positions  he had held when working for a former company.  Those job requirements demanded  skills and abilities 180 degrees from those he was currently using. I asked which roles he preferred and he responded simply “it doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter?” I pushed back. “How can it not matter?”

“Nothing matters if all you’re trying to do is earn enough money to  retire before your work kills you.”

And that was his bottom line. We just got there faster than I thought we would. Now he started to open up.

Frank had career dexterity. He was competent in whatever position he worked while not excelling in any. Frank had pride in his ability to adapt to the circumstance he faced. His early childhood experiences trained him to keep his head down, get his chores done, and stay out of trouble. Success in his first few jobs continued the pattern: keep your head down, get your job done, and stay out of trouble.

In order to sustain himself, Frank chose one goal worthy of such self restraint: earn enough money to retire early and live whatever life was left.

That worked as long as he was part of a command and control organization. The game changed when he changed companies.

The new rules required that he work through his direct reports, empowering them to do and be more. The new company’s culture was about trust and communication at all levels and to all people. To succeed, Frank would have to put his future and his confidence into the hands of the people that he managed.

As capable as Frank was, nothing had  prepared him for working in an organization that forced you out of the trenches. The lights were on and Frank couldn’t find the dimmer switch.

• Leading others is about more than getting the job done while watching the bottom line.
• Leaders must develop different strengths from those they relied upon earlier in their careers.
• Leaders take calculated risks, learn from their mistakes, and keep going.
• Leaders encourage and empower others to take chances and to learn from the mistakes they are going to make.
• Leaders provide others the training to learn and opportunity to work out the kinks.
• Leaders don’t have all the answers; they just have most of the questions.
• Leaders keep their egos in check  by realizing that their success is sustained and enhanced by the best and the brightest around them.They learn to take care of each other.

Making it, in today’s workplace, is about much more than keeping your head down, working hard, and staying out of trouble. If that’s been your pattern up to now,  heads-up. The future has landed.

* * * *

Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.