Melissa’s Memos
Senior Leader Plateaus
Every senior leader is operating in three different rooms at once, and each one requires a different version of them.Most senior leaders never make this explicit. They just experience it as being pulled in multiple directions all week. The exhaustion of never quite being fully in any of the rooms. Naming the three rooms and…
Read MoreThe Question That Stopped Her From Turning Down a Great Offer
A client called me Friday afternoon. She had an offer in hand. A good one. A role she’d been working toward for nine months. The company was strong, the comp was right, the team had been everything she hoped for in the interviews. And she was about to turn it down. Not because of anything…
Read MoreWhy ‘I Don’t Know Yet’ Builds More Trust Than a Confident Wrong Answer
There’s a version of executive presence that almost nobody on LinkedIn talks about. It isn’t posture. It isn’t voice. It isn’t the way you take up space in the room. It’s how you handle being uncertain in public. The senior leaders I’ve watched build the most durable authority are the ones who’ve gotten comfortable saying…
Read More5 Signs It’s Time to Leave Your Job (Not Just Normal Friction)
One of the most common questions I get from senior leaders is some version of: “How do I know when it’s actually time to leave?” They’ve been restless for a while. They keep talking themselves out of moving. They wonder whether the discomfort is real signal or just the inevitable friction of any job. They…
Read MoreHow Do I Know If Coaching Is Right for Me?
I get one question more than any other in my DMs. It goes some version of: “I’ve been reading your posts for months. I’m thinking about reaching out about coaching. But I don’t know if I’m the right person, or if my situation is the right situation. How do I know?” Here’s my honest answer.…
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