Archives for June, 2008
Brain Researcher’s New Found Nirvana Offers Insight for Sabbatical
With a clot the size of a golf ball in her head, Jill Bolte Taylor’s work at Harvard’s brain research center got personal. Her stroke left her without the use of her left hemisphere. She lost the basic analytical functions like her ability to speak, understand numbers or letters. Surgery and eight years of recovery […]
When Money Deters the Sabbatical Dream
While we will continue to share amazing stories about what people are doing on sabbaticals, there is also inspiration in how people factor in financial reality and still manage to soar into a sabbatical experience. Even when salary and benefits continue, the money for one’s dream sabbatical might not exactly be floating around in a […]
Company Sabbaticals in India
An Indian media outlet, The Financial Express, just published an article about a new study from Boston Consulting Group that finds that Indian companies will juggle between solving manpower shortage and offering work-life balance to its employees in the next five years. In the article, BCG was quoted as saying: “By 2015, 56% of the […]
A Life Lesson Today
Peggy Noonan’s Declarations column in the Wall Street Journal stays pretty political, but yesterday (6/21-22/2008) she tackled the sadness felt at the death of American television journalist, Tim Russert. While the media coverage on Tim Russert was extensive, the messages were also extremely consistent. For four days, we were told how to live a well-lived […]
Can I Take on that Extra Work? (and step up my career!)
Bud Bilanich, “The Common Sense Guy”, in his blog, “Vacation Time is a Great Time to Establish Yourself,” presents your co-worker’s vacation as THE opportunity of a professional lifetime for YOU – who will not be on vacation. Simply by volunteering to take on some of his work, you’ll be growing your skills – and […]
Small Business Owners and Sabbaticals
Cedric Blye commented recently about the challenges of small business owners taking sabbaticals. “How can a one-man-show/sole proprietor with a growing business that needs nurturing reap the benefits offered by a sabbatical?” he asked. No doubt, while small business owners have more control over their time, they also have unique challenges with sabbaticals. In Escape […]
Sabbaticals Pay Off Before You Even Leave
As business sabbaticals garner more interest and experience steady growth, the benefits touted are largely on the back end – after the individual returns. Almost uniformly, employees return to their jobs feeling renewed, committed, more engaged and provides plenty of cross-training opportunities for the employees who pick up the slack. The freedom to explore life […]
What You Learned Today is Your Future
With the Allegheny Mountains in summer glory, the Tau Kappa Epsilon class of ’58 gathered at Penn State University last week. I attended with my husband with expectations of a bad chicken dinner in the company of people called TKE’s with whom I don’t have much in common. I was, after all, tuning in to […]
Tim Ferriss and his Mini Retirements
Not that I see Tim Ferriss’ ideas as pie in the sky. I don’t. I liked his book, The 4-Hour Workweek, a whole lot, and I know he’s inspired many, including me. Blogger Get Rich Slowly recently interviewed Ferriss about his ideas for financing mini retirements, and U.S. News & World Report’s Katy Marquardt wrote […]
Find Your Inner Follower
If you want to improve as a leader, make sure you do some following. I learn more about excellent leadership - what it looks like, how it feels and pays off - as a board member of a non-profit, volunteer at beach clean-up and in a wetsuit. Books about leadership, content loaded and inspiring, pale […]