Magenta Search

Happening tonight...the first ever Founding Members of the Magenta Group, Magenta Search's community network, are coming together IRL for dinner. I'm excited and grateful. #gummybearswag

It was Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2006, when my stepmom went into emergency brain surgery at MGH. She had 2 aneurysms rupture simultaneously.  For 18 hours, we sat with the unspoken fear that my father would become a widow for the 2nd time. Our story ended well. She survived, recovered, and she's with us today in health. Obviously, the surgeons and nurses who worked for 18+ hours, well into their own Thanksgiving, saved her life. I share this because we are seeing WFH and RTO debates rage with white hot emotion on this platform everyday. I see all sides of it. One of the worst days in my career was when I was 6 months pregnant with my 2nd, and had just moved to the farther suburbs than we would have liked. I was sitting in traffic commuting into Boston and received an email (on my Blackberry) that WFH was no longer allowed in any capacity. This was 2012. It was long before we ever believed a pandemic could hit the US shores and shut down society as we knew it. I'm sharing these stories because I have been on the receiving end of people who worked long after their shift to save a life, and because I cried my heart out when I lost my work from home flexibility. I understand all sides. That said: I remind myself to take a beat that there are millions of people out there who keep our country and our society safe, who do not have the option of working in their fuzzy slippers. Our military, doctors and nurses, truck drivers, teachers, firefighters, sanitation crews...they are not arguing over if they go to work, and how many days is acceptable. They are saving lives, maintaining our safety, and keeping our infrastructure running every single day of the year. I'm not saying this to make any of us sitting at our desks feel guilty. Everything has pros and cons. We all get to make decisions that make sense for our goals and our lives.   But I do want to take a moment to appreciate that if no one was willing to work outside the home, we'd have massive infrastructure failure. So here's to everyone who puts on helmets, scrubs, military uniforms, work gloves, bullet-proof vests, and anything else - often 7 days a week, sometimes for 24 hours+ when necessary - to earn a living and allow our society to function. 

The grass is always greener. Until the grass is buried in an early October blizzard. This is Mount Washington, North Conway, NH - right now. 3F with wind chill. We love you, too, New England. “Every storm leaves a lesson in its wake. Reflecting on those lessons, I realize I am not just surviving the storm; I am the storm.” – Maya Angelou

David Pollard and I shared an exchange on LI yesterday, which got my gears turning. He posed the question: "I have always wondered why companies cannot retain the same trust we see in startup environments as they scale. The trust that makes start-ups dynamic and exciting are replaced by control. It makes no sense to me." My thought is legalities. As they scale, companies are motivated to maintain consistent, uniform rules and regulations to prevent and minimize legal turmoil. But I'm sure there are other answers. So inquiring minds want to know - why does the internal trust inevitably seem to evaporate with scale?

I have a question for the LinkedIn masterminds out there. Is there a negative impact to accepting any/all requests for connections? Outside of exposing yourself to people you don't know and obvious safety precautions with sharing private information, location, etc. - does the algorithm change what you see or which people see you with a larger, broader network? I need a LinkedIn 101 class here on the pros/cons of accepting connections if you don't actually know them. Any advice?

i've done this once before...writing in all lowercase as to very quietly put this into the universe without jinxing the progress. so i'll say this in a whisper: i am really, genuinely, one million percent seeing hiring pick up. i'm seeing people who've been on grueling job searches finally land. it makes linkedin worth coming to.

To my network - I need your help. I am looking to refer a career coach who specifically works with employees with ADHD. For more context, we're working to help a sales engineer/solutions architect who has been on a very challenging job search. Credentials and experience working with neurodiverse/ADHD clients would go a long way. Do we know of anyone we think highly of? Feel free to DM, be in touch however is most comfortable. Thank you very much.

Often, there is nothing more comforting than talking to others who have walked in your shoes. I’m so grateful to Kara Lamparelli, Michele Magazine, and Sarah O'Brien Hammond for sharing their stories with me over the past week as to how they’ve built their own wildly successful recruiting and coaching businesses. (And Angela Howarth, I’m excited for our conversation this week - so I’ll say thank you in advance!) Kara was a heavy-hitter on Wall Street before her recruiting days. Michele spent her earlier years as one of the first female power players in publishing on Madison Avenue. And Sarah O’Brien Hammond was an inspirational managing producer and leader within national firms while she ideated her own female-driven coaching and community business. They made hard decisions and took big risks. They wasted no time with regrets. They have been so generous to share their stories with me, as I blaze my own trail with Magenta Search. Everyone has a story to share. Thank you to the candidates, clients, colleagues, bosses, LinkedIn connections, friends and strangers who have shared their life and career stories with me. Keep sharing. #entreprenuer #recruiting #community #storytelling