Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Tag: integrity

  • Karl Shares Six Words… #10


    Difficult to sell an excuse factory.


    Karl Edwards

  • Karl Shares Six Words… 7


    Belittling lecture undermined by eggnog mustache.


    Karl Edwards

  • Quote to Consider: Caring in Principle Only

    quote-to-consider“The fact is that the possession of a highly social conscience about large-scale issues is no guarantee whatever of reasonable conduct in private relations.”

    Lewis Hastings

  • Quote to Consider: Before Pointing the Finger

    quote-to-consider“It seems to me probably that any one who has a series of intolerable positions to put up with must have been responsible for them to some extent… they have contributed to it by impatience or intolerance, or brusqueness, or some provocation.”

    Robert Hugh Benson

  • Keeping It Real: Hearing an Unexpected Truth #1

    Have you ever had someone make an observation that strikes you—however unexpected or novel—as absolutely true?

    Has that observation ever been something about you?

    It can be difficult to hear information about ourselves that does not jive with our self-perception. Whether positive or negative, such new data can catch us off guard. So off guard, in fact, that we either simply do not hear anything or quickly dismiss everything.

    It can also be difficult because many observations are, in fact, inaccurate. They may arise out of the other person’s unmet needs, skewed perspective, and/or unrelated frame of reference. We need to be discerning about how much weight we give to the voices that would seek to influence us.

    Every once in a while, though… On the rare and exceptional day… will intrude a word of truth so profoundly insightful that it slips past our defenses… overcomes our deeply entrenched self-perceptions… and outmaneuvers our ever-shifting and ever-shortening attention spans.

    And we pause.

    We stop dead in our tracks as I did the other day and exclaim to ourselves, “Oh my God.”

    Helpful insights don’t spell out for you what you need to do with the information. They simply share the information.

    That leaves us (me) with the task of personal reflection, discerning research and creative experimentation. A task I welcome even as I welcome—however tentatively—this unexpected new information about myself.

    Check back here for updates on my process and what I mean by personal reflection, discerning research and creative experimentation.

    Keeping It Real is a column where I put what I am learning out on the table. No faking. No posturing. No pretending. Just learning. Always learning. 
    Beware of the teacher or leader who is not always learning themselves.

  • Quote to Consider: I Hear a Different Drummer

    quote-to-consider“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

    Henry David Thoreau

  • Keeping it Real: It’s Easier to be Yourself

    I am the world’s foremost expert on being me.

    I am a novice at being someone else. Anyone else. Even someone else from whom I might have a lot to learn.

    Yet so many consultants, coaches and career counselors are advising us that we need to be someone other than ourselves.

    “If you want the job.” “If you’re serious about the promotion.” “If you want to negotiate well.”

    I find myself over-thinking interview and sales situations. I am managing both a conversation with the person I am with as well as a conversation with myself about how I am going about the conversation with the other person.

    How can I possible be fully present with someone when I am preoccupied with talking to myself?

    I’m not! is the answer I pretty consistently receive from those willing to tell me.

    Key for me has been realizing that I am an incredible expert on being myself. The task doesn’t require any more thinking. I can give my full attention to the issue on the table and the people I am with.

    When I let go of the need to impress, to appear unrealistically competent, or to artificially mirror the qualifications of an attractive job description, I am free to come alive in the skin within which I am most comfortable—my own.

    I make a very attractive “me.” Even if I’m not a fit or match for every client, job or interview, I will come across infinitely better as myself than any image of competence I might be tempted to put on.

    It’s simply much easier to be oneself.

    On your side,

    – Karl Edwards

    Keeping It Real is the column where I share what I myself am learning. Beware of the leader who is not always learning themselves!

  • Quote to Consider: Getting Over It

    quote-to-consider“The best way out is always through.”

    Robert Frost

  • Choosing to Show Up… Showing Up Engaged

    bored-at-workNo matter how powerless you feel at work. No matter how little power you actually wield. You always have control over how you show up.

    You can wield this “power” in a childish manner. Resentfully drag your feet and do the bare minimum at the last minute and only when asked for the umpteenth time. In other words, barely show up at all. As powerful as it feels to “stick it to the man” in this way, you end up diminished as a result as well. In other words, you’re only hurting yourself.

    Do yourself a favor and choose to show up engaged no matter what’s going on at work. Even for the most ungrateful supervisor, show up engaged. Even for the most uncooperative team members, show up engaged. Even for the most toxic of work cultures, show up engaged.

    You don’t have to keep working here—in fact, you should probably be looking for a change if you’re in an unhealthy situation—but while you are here, (more…)

  • Quote to Consider: Waiting for the Applause

    quote-to-consider“Not in the clamor of the crowded street, Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, But in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.”

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow