April 28, 2020
Handsome man doing homework by candlelight
April 25, 2020
Throwback Thursday for Joe’s birthday
April 24, 2020
April 20, 2020
A few more reviews from people I've coached
I worked with Lara when I transitioned from being an individual contributor to a manager where I was developing a new Professional Services offering for customers. I feel extraordinarily lucky to have had Lara as a mentor through this process. She has inspired the type of leader and problem solver I'd like to be.
Most impressive is her ability to provide guidance on a wide variety of problems by pulling frameworks from different aspects of her own career. Using her experience, she coached me through capacity planning for a new team, change management for implementing new systems, and how to approach my own professional development. As others have noted, she has a unique ability to help break down and bring order to overwhelming problems. Through a thoughtful line of questioning she often helped me to identify the most important issues to address, create a plan, define objectives, and feel confident to take on next steps.
I would highly recommend working with Lara if you're in a career transition, facing a seemingly overwhelming challenge, need a thoughtful sounding board, or simply want to improve everyday work skills such as communication and time management.
Most impressive is her ability to provide guidance on a wide variety of problems by pulling frameworks from different aspects of her own career. Using her experience, she coached me through capacity planning for a new team, change management for implementing new systems, and how to approach my own professional development. As others have noted, she has a unique ability to help break down and bring order to overwhelming problems. Through a thoughtful line of questioning she often helped me to identify the most important issues to address, create a plan, define objectives, and feel confident to take on next steps.
I would highly recommend working with Lara if you're in a career transition, facing a seemingly overwhelming challenge, need a thoughtful sounding board, or simply want to improve everyday work skills such as communication and time management.
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Lara is one of those people that you know about long before you meet her. I first heard about Lara during a conversation in which a colleague was recapping a difficult operational scenario where they were pretty stuck between a rock and a hard place. That individual shared that Lara had helped them identify potential solutions and together they crafted a route forward. Person after person chimed in that they too had benefited from Lara's guidance.
There had been at least 3 separate stories I heard about Lara before I decided to reach out to her for career mentoring. I'm SO GLAD I didn't wait any longer. Lara promptly set me up with a series of calls in which we covered topics such as how to better engage with executives, understanding other perspectives and assessing risk in tough decisions. After each call, I walked away with actionable next steps and a sense of comfort. I cannot recommend Lara enough.
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Lara coached me professionally during various interactions. She has a few strengths that really shine. First and foremost, she is a great listener -- she really focuses on understanding the problem before helping to solve together with you, and also make recommendations from her vast experience. In my case, I had multiple challenges at once and she helped me prioritize and hone in on the things that were going to help the most in the shortest amount of time. Having worked with many other coaches and mentors, Lara is at the top of the list, the perfect partner to help you solve your greatest challenges!
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Lara is strategic and compassionate leader. At the beginning of this year, she offered mentorship to her network. I jumped onto this and am grateful for the lessons she has imparted to me that have helped me transition to management. I've appreciated her range in helping me solve problems. Topics included managing up, leadership, influencing others, and putting structure to nebulous problems. I highly recommend!
April 18, 2020
Mom’s banana bread recipe
April 17, 2020
April 16, 2020
Another review for my coaching!
In the beginning of 2019, I transitioned from being a Software Engineer to a manager, and it was quite the change. I had to quickly adjust to dramatic shifts in my day-to-day schedule, interacting with upper management, ensuring my reports had all they needed to succeed, and a host of many other new challenges. As I worked through this transition, Lara was an invaluable resource. Her knowledge, experience, and genuine desire to help allowed me to transition into my new role and allowed me make significant contributions to my team. Specifically, I benefited from her ability to listen to arbitrary challenges I was dealing with, then break the problem down into its component pieces. We could then address a series of smaller problems rather than the monolithic hurdle I had originally understood it to be. As a Software Engineer, I was used to this process in the context of engineering problems - Lara allowed me to extend it to manager-specific issues. Additionally, Lara provided great insight into how to effectively influence decisions in a constructive manner. Being a new manager, I certainly had ideas about how my team should work and interact with colleagues on other teams. However, I initially found it difficult to affect change, as I was unsure how to present my ideas. Lara worked with me on communication strategies and, specifically, how to take on the perspective of someone else. I can't say enough about the assistance Lara provided me during a very significant career transition.
April 13, 2020
April 12, 2020
It’s been a rough few days for Eli
April 11, 2020
April 10, 2020
What a nice review!
I have been doing some pro bono leadership coaching, and one of my "clients" wrote me a recommendation today:
"When I started meeting with Lara, I didn't know what to expect. What I thought I needed was a coach who could help me create some new workflows and processes to improve my team's operations. What I got was a thought partner and a master mixologist who took the time to actively listen and help me find a healthy work/life blend. Lara started working with me during a challenging season where I had just come back from maternity leave. I was trying to settle into a new role and completely overwhelmed by the demands at work and the emotions of being a new parent.
Our first sessions focused on problem solving and getting operationally organized to support my team. We worked together on things like resource planning, giving and receiving feedback, and clear communication. In addition to growing my skills as a new manager, we covered career progression and development. Lara has a really practical and down to earth coaching style. I walk away from our 1:1s with a bunch of reference material to read and research on my own. Over time, our sessions have evolved: In the beginning it was a lot of hands on working on a doc or project together. Later on, she gave me a framework for problem solving that I use in my day to day workflows and my sessions with her.
Lara gives me a space to talk about the mixed emotions I have about trying my hardest at work and still feeling off my game. These conversations are so vulnerable. Her warmth and openness to share learnings from her own career as we talk through a problem really puts me at ease and helps me to open up without fear of judgement. My favorite part about working with Lara is the way she keeps the through line between the work and the personal. Understanding how to blend the two has allowed me to really open up, so I can lead and learn from an authentic place."
"When I started meeting with Lara, I didn't know what to expect. What I thought I needed was a coach who could help me create some new workflows and processes to improve my team's operations. What I got was a thought partner and a master mixologist who took the time to actively listen and help me find a healthy work/life blend. Lara started working with me during a challenging season where I had just come back from maternity leave. I was trying to settle into a new role and completely overwhelmed by the demands at work and the emotions of being a new parent.
Our first sessions focused on problem solving and getting operationally organized to support my team. We worked together on things like resource planning, giving and receiving feedback, and clear communication. In addition to growing my skills as a new manager, we covered career progression and development. Lara has a really practical and down to earth coaching style. I walk away from our 1:1s with a bunch of reference material to read and research on my own. Over time, our sessions have evolved: In the beginning it was a lot of hands on working on a doc or project together. Later on, she gave me a framework for problem solving that I use in my day to day workflows and my sessions with her.
Lara gives me a space to talk about the mixed emotions I have about trying my hardest at work and still feeling off my game. These conversations are so vulnerable. Her warmth and openness to share learnings from her own career as we talk through a problem really puts me at ease and helps me to open up without fear of judgement. My favorite part about working with Lara is the way she keeps the through line between the work and the personal. Understanding how to blend the two has allowed me to really open up, so I can lead and learn from an authentic place."
April 9, 2020
Getting some fresh air
April 8, 2020
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