Easter break felt so good and so bad at the same time. Good because it was chill time, and bad because it was too chilled… as in lazy chilled. Alright, what I am trying to say here is that I have been lazy these past few days. I have literally been having the laziest Easter break that you can ever image: a couple of coffee dates, some shopping and some home organising is all I did in the past four days, but really nothing else that can fall under the productive bucket – no gym, no book reading, nothing. I suppose I can use this as just “resting” and hope that as of tomorrow I am starting up more motivated and active than ever.
Oh, I also finally booked my summer holiday at the end of June so let’s count this as the productive bit of my long weekend. It definitely serves as motivation for getting more active. With that in mind, below are the picks for this week:
Absentee Leaders. I am pretty sure everyone has dealt with some sort of an incompetent leader/manager in their careers so far, and if you have not, either think twice about whether you are being critical enough or just lucky you, enjoy it while it lasts. There is plenty of literature out there on less-than-great leaders and, interestingly put in this HBR article, absentee leaders seem to be the most common type of incompetent leaders.
Mentoring. I personally don’t think it should matter if the mentee is a woman or a man, and when I see gender targeted articles I get quite cringed out. Even though this HBR article on mentoring women is definitely gender targeted, it says it right: “The finest reciprocal mentors are interested in helping mentees hone things such as self-efficacy, emotional intelligence and resilience in the face of stress.” – very relevant and to be hones I don’t see a necessity to apply it depending on the gender as it should be applicable to both men and women.
Money Diaries. You need to read this. I just discovered the Money Diaries series from Refinery 29, and I totally love it. They ask young women/millennials how they spend their money in a week and track all expenses. I have literally spent quite a good part of this morning going through all the stories I could find, starting with this one. Very interesting and it makes you think about tracking your spending and expenses as well.
Career advice. Take some from Deloitte’s CEO, Cathy Engelbert. Asked what she wished she had known earlier in her career, Cathy Engelbert responded: “Your career is not linear, it changes. You need to raise your hand and have confidence and take risks. When you don’t want to do something, you have to have what you want to do, right behind it. The leader that thinks of you for positions wants to know you’re helping solve another problem they might have”. “I wish I had known more about when to raise my hand, how much confidence I could have in myself and my abilities,” she continued. “I share my story a lot about failures I had because we learn so much more from our failures than our successes.”
The Ordinary. I finally order four of their flagship product and can’t for them to arrive and try them. If you are interested, here is a pretty good review of their main products.
Daydreaming. Because I just booked my summer holiday and can’t stop dreaming of more holidays and city escapes, here are five European cities to visit for your next weekend getaway.
