Almavina Insights

Welcome to Almavina Insights, Reader! I am beyond excited to officially kick off Almavina Insights, twice-weekly nuggets of wisdom and truth about organizational culture, career development, and women in the workplace, delivered straight to your inbox. When I left my full time job last fall, I wasn’t sure where I was headed. I spent some time prioritizing my health, considering my options, looking at job postings, reading (a lot), and writing (even more). I realized two things – I loved...

Dear Reader, I’m having a hard time tackling my writing this week. Ever since I got home from vacation, I keep moving it from one day’s to-do list to the next. It’s not that I haven’t been productive. On the contrary, I have accomplished a lot. I have packed up about 90% of my house, completed a number of required change-of-address tasks, closed out two lingering projects, met with three clients, and more. But what I haven’t done is write, which is a big open-ended task that ends up being the...

Dear Reader, It’s been quite a month. High school graduation, the ups and downs of selling the house, inspections, and the seemingly never-ending process of moving. In the middle of it all, I left the country for a trip to Corfu, Greece and Edinburgh, Scotland. I have just returned and am slowly but surely reintegrating into “normal,” although this summer I don’t think that word has a clear definition. The first part of the trip was a deep writing and reflection retreat with my coach and...

Dear Reader, In the last two weeks, I have talked to three different colleagues who are going through layoffs, restructuring, or other major pivots at their organizations. The conversations have reminded me how important the HOW is when you leave a job – both on the employee’s part and on the part of the employer. Last year I wrote a piece on “how to leave a job” that I’m resharing below. That took the perspective of the person leaving. Today I want to add a note about the importance of...

Dear Reader, Almost all of my current clients are actively seeking new roles right now. Are you? According to everything you read and everything you hear, the current job market is the pits. It’s tough out there. While it’s important to have a healthy perspective on reality, constant reminders of a tough market can have a devastating impact on your will to put in the work. You can’t control the market, so focus on what you can control. I wrote some tips for job seekers last year – and they...

Dear Reader, June is often full of transitions and this year I’m feeling it more than usual. Rather than being distracted by the chaos, I am trying to embrace these pivotal moments and see what there is to learn. Last week I was at what could have been my last baseball game as a parent. For the last 14 years I have enjoyed (at times in the early years more like endured ) cheering on both of my sons at baseball games. At the game last week, our team was down one run at the top of the final...

Dear Reader, Fifty-two years ago yesterday, my parents put pen to paper on a decision that would be a topic of conversation for the rest of my life. My parents named me Susan Beth, with every intention of calling me Beth from day one. So for the first 29 years of my life I was Susan Beth Wolfmeyer. I blissfully ignored any related confusion in my early years – I assume my parents just registered me as Beth for most things. When I was older and needed to use my legal name, things got dicey. In...

Dear Reader, The first stage of heavy lifting is done. The house is listed, and now we just have to be able to vacate at a moment's notice. So it's still a full time job. I will take all the prayers and good real estate mojo you can send my way -- would love to get this baby sold quickly! ICYMI Since I picked up TJ from (gasp!) his sophomore year of college last week, I thought it was an appropriate time to bring back "Advice for my college-bound sons," which I wrote after Timmy's first...

Dear Reader, Well, this is a lot of work. Over the next few weeks I am packing up a good portion of my home for 17 years to prepare it for listing. Turns out you can accumulate a lot of "stuff" over 17 years. So, I'm taking a brief hiatus from writing. I appreciate your understanding! ICYMI Since many of you are new in the last few months, I figured I would use this as an opportunity to reshare some early content. 5 signs your boss might be making you sick They say your boss has a greater...

Dear Reader, James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, has a newsletter called “3-2-1.” It is, unsurprisingly, full of tiny “atomic” nuggets of wisdom. Here’s the format: three ideas from Clear, two quotes from others, and one question for the reader. No elaboration or commentary on the items in the list, just truly small pieces of content to get your mind thinking. At least that’s what it does for me. One of the “three ideas” a few weeks ago was: “Take all the energy you spend on… - worrying...

Dear Reader, I subscribe to a lot of newsletters and my inbox shows it. Knowing the effort it takes to put each and every newsletter together, I like to make sure that if I am subscribed, it’s something I give the time it deserves. If I don’t have the time to read on the day it arrives in my inbox, I leave it unread and then I spend some down time catching up. In one of my recent catch up sessions with Daniel Hartweg’s High Performance Newsletter, I read his take on change management,...