#96: Giving Thanks
What Are You Grateful For in the Workplace?
Hello, and welcome to this week’s Thanksgiving Edition of the Work in Progress Newsletter. If you’re new here, drop me a line and tell me who you are, what you do, and how work is going for you right now!
Here is what’s on tap for this week’s newsletter
Thanks in The Workplace
Thanksgiving Podcast Roundup
Thanks in The Workplace
Happy Thanksgiving!
Giving Thanks is a healthy thing to do and throughout the year but especially during this time of year and for this holiday. Since this newsletter is all about the workplace, I asked some of our readers to share with me someone in their life who they were grateful for this year and their responses are below. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these and think you will too!
Question: Who is someone at work you are thankful for this year, and why?
Lucero Perez - Senior Strategy Consultant, Slalom
I’m thankful for my people leader. She has been a big supporter and an effective coach. She stays curious during our check-ins, helps me identify what’s fact from what is a story I’m telling myself, and gives me actionable and compassionate feedback. It’s been a pleasure working with her!
Steve Gilman CEO and Co-Founder, OneRange
Scott Towne - he's an engineer at OneRange. He took on a steep learning curve and has picked up so many skills in order to contribute to an amazing product.
Ben Siegel - CEO and Co-Founder, Scholars
I'm thankful for Tyler Terranova on our team. Tyler joined as employee #2 almost exactly a year ago and since then he has truly embodied what it means to be an employee at an early-stage startup. At first it was just him and I sitting in a closet grinding away and less than 12 months later we've grown to 16 people. He has played a huge role in our growth. He cares about this company as much as I do as the founder and has done whatever it takes to make our company successful.
Cara Polisini, Director of Business Development, Texas McCombs
Sarah Nathan: a big thank you to Sarah Nathan for giving me a sense of calm in the workplace. Our team & floor is such a supportive place to work. Thank you for building a team culture of flexibility, ownership, & trust. Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Brad Vonick, Marketing, Visa
I'm thankful this year for all of the advocates who have been so critical to my growth and success. They know who they are!"
Yi Lin Pei, Director of Product Marketing, Coach, TechGrowthCoach
I am thankful for my friend and former coworker, Brian Lee. We both worked as product marketers a couple of years back.
What I loved about working with him is the detailed, thoughtful, and highly observant feedback he gives me whenever I pick his brain. We eventually developed a process where we always bounce ideas off of each other and created successes for the company that we never imagined possible if we did it alone. He was generous, and introspective but mostly an amazing human being who looked at the positive side of most things and offered his time generously.
Shyvee Shi, Product Manager, LinkedIn
I'd love to express gratitude to my former manager, Albert Hwang, for how much he supported my growth over the past 3 years, challenging me to become a better communicator and how I could work on my visibility, and for being a great PM leader, manager, coach, and friend!
Nicole Gwanzura - CEO, EAC Consulting
I am extra Thankful for my business accountability partner turned friend, Tia Omodara. Tia is the CEO & Head Consultant at Hasil Consulting LLC. Hasil Consulting is a boutique operations and people consulting firm committed to transforming the workforce by implementing equitable and sustainable operations and people solutions.
Tia is the same with her clients as she is with her circle. She is highly ethical and empathetic and serves with all her might and experience at the forefront. Her thought leadership is truly unmatched.
Nneka Enurah, Global Video Partnerships, Amazon
I'm immensely thankful to my manager Natalie at Amazon Ads. Being a part of her team has allowed me to bring my whole self to work and grow in new ways both personally and professionally. Admittedly, I wasn't sure if that would be possible in the world of tech, but her leadership demonstrates that you can do meaningful work with a team that shows up as humans first.
Jen Collins, Director of Academy Enablement, Learn in
I am thankful for Sabina Sulat. Although we don't work for the same company, she is someone at work that I am thankful for this year. We met through the Talent Development Think Tank in 2021, and she supported me as I adjusted to a new job in early 2022. For the past few months, she's helped me stay focused on my personal and professional priorities with check-ins and support. Having her as an accountability buddy has helped me make progress toward my goals.
Chris Mario, Director of Learning & Development, Bain Capital
I am thankful for McKayla Bento - an Associate on our Global Learning & Development team. Our team has been busy this year as we are returning to in-person global training programs to create forums for peer connection and knowledge sharing. McKayla has gone above and beyond in the planning and execution of these programs, with an emphasis on thoughtfully curating the optimal participant experience. This has been challenging in the current environment and we are very grateful that McKayla not only delivered exceptional results in our programming, but did so with a great attitude and smile on her face. Thank you, McKayla!
Thanksgiving Podcast Roundup
Here are all the podcasts that I currently have queued up to listen to for the Thanksgiving Break. In case you’re in need of something to reflect on or ponder, give these a listen.
Managing The Future of Work: The Concentration Deficit - This is one of my “go-to” future of work podcasts, and in this episode they tackle some of the current challenges that knowledge workers face, and how we might be able to design a better way of working around this.
Lead From The Heart: Oliver Burkeman: Four Thousand Weeks - I’ve seen this book but haven’t read it yet, but I’m excited to dig in
Six Pixels of Separation: Tom Peters, On What Really Matters at Work - Tom pioneered the concept of MBWA (Management By Walking Around) as well as the modern day concept of personal branding so I’m excited to hear what he has to say about what matters about work.
How to Be Awesome at Your Job: How to Find Great Clarity, Satisfaction in your Career - This podcast is always full of actionable and practical tips for improving productivity and engagement in the workplace. The guest runs a successful career coaching company,
The Edge of Work: Our Relationship With Work - This is a conversation I had on my podcast with Business Insider Report Aki Ito. I’ve been exploring this topic as has Aki in her writing. If you're exploring this topic, let me know what you think after listening to this!
Thanks For Reading!
Hi, I’m Al Dea. I’m the writer of the Work In Progress newsletter and a speaker, consultant, and facilitator. I help companies make sense of emerging workplace trends to attract and retain talent and develop human-first managers and leaders.
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Have a Great Holiday!
Al