My 1000 days in business have been a combination of every emotion possible - to celebrate reaching this milestone here are some reflections.

By the time you get to your year-end review, you probably will have forgotten some of your achievements from the beginning of the year. Imagine what it's like for your manager, who has several people reporting to her - she has probably forgotten everything except what you did in the last few weeks - so if you have screwed up recently, that's what she will have in mind. So what does this mean for you if you want to get the best out of your year-end performance review?

I love TED talks and this year I have been developing some online course work focussing on managing your career like a business. Part of the course work covers our limiting beliefs and unspoken assumptions around ourselves and our careers. In researching this topic these are 7 of my favourite TED talks that I have watched! Save this blog and watch them as and when you get time - they are well worth it!

I was reflecting on what to expect from coaching based on a comment made by one of my clients who, fairly emotionally, blurted out in a session: "This is not what I was expecting. I was expecting to just put a plaster on some of my behaviors. I wasn't expecting to uncover a whole series of gaping holes in my life”. Now being a human with beliefs, emotions and feelings, this comment threw me a bit as it really concerned me that I might have been pushing this client way

Few people like giving negative feedback. Being on the receiving end is just as hard. However feedback that is skilfully delivered provides valuable opportunities to learn – and therein lies the rub! Many of us never learn how to skilfully deliver or receive feedback, and in many cases have been socialised to see negative feedback as a bad thing. Bill Gates is quoted as saying: “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”.

Businesses spend a lot of time creating and working on their brand - their logo, value proposition, offerings to various different stakeholders, their differentiators, social media presence and voice, the "personality" of the business. In essence, businesses create the image and experience that they WANT to be known for. Just like businesses, as an individual managing your career like a business, you have the ability to create your brand... and should be doing so. Why? Read