The Cubs are World Series Champions! Honestly, part of me never thought I would be able to say that. But after watching this 2016 season unfold part of me thought I had a really (really) good chance to finally type those words and say them out loud. And, well, it happened. It actually happened. What […]
What an amazing ride it’s been these last five years! I’m grateful for such a tremendously inspiring, challenging and rewarding experience of leading employee communities and collaboration at Walgreens. What an honor it’s been to have had so many opportunities to learn, grow and build new relationships and strengthen partnerships, and help the organization […]
I recently celebrated five years at Walgreens, and as part of this career milestone employees are given a ceremonial 5-year pin and the team gathers around as managers and colleagues say a few words about the milestone and the employee’s accomplishments and contributions to the company. At Walgreens, this pin holds an important cultural significance […]
As I continue to explore how to work out loud and grow our employee communities at Walgreens I’m always on the look out to find good books that give me inspiring ideas and stories about how to work better and develop our community strategy. So I thought I’d share a list of books about working […]
Yes, it’s that time. It’s time to work out loud again and share with you my three words for 2016. Models Reflecting back on my experiences in 2015 many books I read talked about mental models and the importance of being aware of how they impact my worldview and how I interact with those around me, […]
Okay, so I did it. I completed my experiment and went 365 days without watching any live sports on TV or in-person. Honestly part of me is sad that this experiment is over because I learned so much during the experience. And I didn’t think it would take me this long to reflect and gather […]
One of the most important things you can do to increase engagement and adoption of an enterprise social network (ESN) and employee community is to invest time and resources in branding and marketing it. At Walgreens we’ve invested a lot of time into branding and marketing our ESN and social intranet experience and it’s been […]
Each week I look forward to the inspiring buzz I get from #ESNChat and I’m excited to join the team leading #ESNchat. If you’re new to #ESNchat, it’s a weekly Twitter chat founded by Jeff Ross in September 2013 for those interested in Enterprise Social Networks (internal social networks for employees of businesses). The topics covered are primarily of […]
I recently had the pleasure of speaking to graduate students at Depaul University in Chicago about the future of work and internal communications. Looking back on this talk I was surprised and delighted because it was not only a chance to talk with students about the future of work that’s unfolding within organizations, the talk was […]
In my work building employee communities for Walgreens and other organizations I’ve have had to lead communities through change many times. While experiencing the impact of organizational change I’ve learned that it’s critical to have a change plan for your community. It’s also important to not only be reactive to change but you must be […]
I was inspired by this Working Out Loud post by John Stepper. It’s a post asking what you can do to accelerate working out loud (WOL). I’m accepting John’s challenge and I’m going to do “my something” and share with you how my son, a toddler, is inspiring me to think differently about and […]
It was extremely valuable to have three words to guide me last year so I’m going to do it again. My three words for 2015 are: Simple, Focus and Give. Simple For me this means that I’m aiming to add more simplicity to my life. As hard as that might be, that’s the goal I’m […]
Have you ever wanted to do something you’ve never done before and really make it matter? And make it matter not just for you but for others too? Well, I did. I ran the Chicago Marathon for these three reasons. It was an amazing adventure that changed my life. It was so sweet on so […]
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to speak at the J Boye intranet conference. During the conference I shared the story about how at Walgreens we’re using community management strategies to roll out a new social intranet, develop an internal social media program and build communities of practice. During my talk I shared this quote […]