Latest News

So what’s the difference? I talked to professional coaches and mentors to really understand the key difference between coaching and mentoring.

More than 2,100 miles west in San Diego, the fortunes are reversed for Maresa Friedman and her husband. Both remain employed and aren’t spending money for travel, work meals, or other everyday perks since the pandemic began.

Workshop Presentation

The popular dichotomy between introverts and extroverts obscures a more important factor: how well you can adapt your personality to a given situation.

You’ve been working all month on a new idea for your company, and you can’t wait to present it during the next team meeting. Work has been going well, and you’re sure this new project is going to help you earn your next big promotion. The only thing that has been distracting you is one of your co-workers is constantly coming over to your desk to ask you what you’re working on. You don’t think anything of it, so you tell her, and then return to your work. The day of the meeting, you’re itching to share your new idea; however, you’re cut off by your co-worker, who proceeds to tell the boss about her new idea. It’s the exact same one you were telling her about a few days ago. What should you do?

Local executives will be honored at the San Diego Business Journal’s 10th annual Most Admired CEO Awards on Thursday, June 15, at the Hilton San Diego/Del Mar. The awards reception recognizes our local industry leaders who have taken the lead in driving their businesses and groups to great success. Nominees will be judged in the categories of nonprofit organization, business nonprofit, education, family-owned business, government agency, privately held company and public company.

We all know that happy employees perform better—especially when their employer is focused on their overall well-being. However, implementing a daily self-care practices for your team is more often easier said than done. The day-to-day office grind can be exhausting and make it hard for employees, let alone employers, to remember daily self-care.

SD METRO is proud to present winners of our 40 Under 40 Awards for 2016, a group of men and women who represent some of the best and brightest minds of San Diego County.

Job interviews can be nerve-wracking enough without having to worry about whether they will require situational examples. More and more companies are turning toward behavioral questions during an interview to get a good understanding of how a potential candidate will react under stress, pressure or when challenged.

Individuals of all stripes often turn to professional coaches to help them assess a complex or risky endeavor, navigate a career crisis, or simply live a more fulfilled life. As a coach, your role falls somewhere between a therapist and a teacher: You must know how to listen carefully to your clients' problems, as well as impart your wisdom to help them succeed.

Gaining the trust and respect of your coworkers is job one on your first day at work. This can go a long way in helping you achieve your professional goals and make a lot of your responsibilities easier to manage day-to-day. The same can be said about your reputation with your clients. According to a report by Monster, part of having a better reputation at work is “being smart” when it comes to interacting with your coworkers. Being tactful and figuring some things out on your own can also help you maintain a professional relationship that isn’t strained and forced.

Decades ago, the majority of people chose an industry and stuck with it through their entire careers, from college graduation through retirement. In today's market, where job-hopping, industry-wide downsizing, and "second act" careers are all prevalent, it seems that anything goes – and this can be a good thing for professionals who want to (or have to) change careers in their 40s or 50s. It may seem daunting to switch to a new industry after several decades climbing the ladder in a different one, especially if the change is abrupt and not by choice. However, it's certainly not impossible, and you may even find that you are happier, less stressed, and more fulfilled after you start your new career.

With 87% of users trusting LinkedIn as a source of information, according to a report by the professional social media platform, publishing on the site is a must if you want to maintain a strong online presence and become an authority in your niche. Mastering the site can be more of a challenge, as you look to engage with customers, as well as your business networking members. LinkedIn is the preferred social media platform to reach professionals and customers in a more succinct and straightforward way. Offering leadership content on the site needs to address the demands of your client base and, according to LinkedIn, you need to be relevant, topical, and efficient in your delivery.

Middle managers often get the short end of the stick. They have smaller roles with large amounts of responsibility, and sometimes, they don't seem to get the full credit they deserve. Your middle managers may feel neglected by your company if they are never really appreciated for all the work that they do for your business. According to Insead, middle management importance will grow in the future, as these positions are often the glue that holds the day-to-day operations of the business together. These positions are also where a lot of the blame is pinpointed when things go wrong. But, businesses can shift this neglect and focus more on the value that these positions bring to their operations.

When you work for a micromanager, you may feel like your boss doesn't trust you to do your job. It can be difficult to perform well and bring new ideas to the table when someone is constantly checking up on you and scrutinizing your work processes. Although it's common for newer managers to struggle with delegation, it's ultimately a bad habit that will lead to a negative work environment with an unhappy team and an unhappy boss. If you approach the situation professionally and tactfully, you can bring this issue up to your manager and help them see that you're capable of doing the job you were hired to do.

Personal mission statements are an excellent way to create a framework for what you want to do, as well as define why you want to do it. Reviewing this statement periodically can keep you on task and on point, or help you understand how — and why — what you value has changed in the intervening time. Creating that statement, though, will take effort and hours. You are trying to encapsulate goals, image and self into a touchstone in order to guide your future. This means introspection and careful work to craft something that moves you emotionally.

If you've ever found yourself struggling on your professional path, you may have considered hiring a business or career coach to help get you on the right track. A good coach will listen to your concerns, give you an honest assessment of your weaknesses, and help you leverage your strengths to maximize opportunities. If you decide to hire a coach, you've taken the first step toward greater professional fulfillment and success. However, this person isn't a mind reader; you must be willing to work with them, and part of that is asking the right questions.

As you sit across from your interviewer, a number of small things begin to gel for you. The interview started 10 minutes late, which is something that you know can happen, but the interviewer didn't seem too concerned. They've been running through a list of questions off their phone while occasionally checking their email, and have rarely looked up to get your reactions to things. When you walked in, the person leading you seemed friendly, but you noticed that very few people engaged with them — or each other. The brief glimpse you got of the work area seemed to be a lot of staff moving around, but very few smiles. Everyone seemed focused or stressed.

In recent years, the job market has swung heavily in favor of candidates, with companies working hard to attract and retain their industry's top talent. While this is still largely the case, it doesn't mean job seekers always have the upper hand: In fact, many applicants still face steep competition for coveted positions and must find a way to stand out from the crowd.

Self-discipline is a regular challenge in any aspect of your life. You may decide that you want to lose weight, set yourself up for promotion, or simply work through a set of tasks faster than you have previously. But good intentions only take you so far. No matter how diligent you start out, you can easily find yourself struggling and demoralized a few weeks into a new routine.