Author Archives: Jo Ann M. Radja

Unknown's avatar

About Jo Ann M. Radja

June, 2019 Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching Certificate. June, 2019 Marshall Goldsmith Team Stakeholder Centered Coaching Certificate. As a Certified Professional Coach she specializes in working with individuals facing challenges in their careers, decision making and self-development. As a highly-trained listener, Jo Ann embraces a model of empathy, trust and honesty in client interactions. Her gift is in enabling her clients to tap into their own personal strengths, form mantras that spark achievement and advancement, and give them freedom to operate within their own core of central beliefs. Bound by a rock-solid ethic, and grounded in spirituality, Jo Ann brings a wealth of corporate experience to her coaching practice. "In coaching," explains Jo Ann, "the pronoun 'we' is powerful because the work is a true partnership. Without that mutual trust, the client cannot drive outcomes."

What’s rolling into your Year of 2016?

Aside

2016-new-year-heroBING123015

The following anagram was published today via LinkedIn Pulse at http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-rolling-from-2015-your-year-2016-jo-ann-m-radja:

H opes we had occasionally came true.

A nd we still pursued and pressed forward.

P erseverance may pay off as

P erhaps 2016 may be the

Y ear we vision it will be.

Y et, it still remains our choice to

E mbrace the negative

A nd

R eframe our hopes, targets and expectations into the year 2016!©Jo Ann M Radja

As you Choose Who You Want to be Known As have the best year ever in 2016!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

https://www.wordpress.com/disclosures

http://creativecommons.org/by-nc-sa

December Musings for YOU…

Aside

Sony122015 071

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays.  The above photo was shot last evening of the Prudential Building, here in Chicago, across from Millenium  Park.

This is the search result for John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “So This is Christmas…”

John Lennon – Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Vfp48laS8

Artists: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Plastic Ono Band

Featured artist: The Harlem Community Choir

Album: Some Time in New York City

Released: 1972

Lyrics: So this is Christmas, and what have you done / Another year over, a new one just begun / And so this is Christmas, I hope you have fun / The near and the dear ones, the old and the young… Full lyrics on Google Play
 ————–

Last week I published a Post on LinkedIn Pulse and Twitter.  Here is the link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/jingle-all-way-jo-ann-m-radja

https://twitter.com/Coach_Jo_Ann/status/677295234523529216

However you celebrate the December holidays, please Choose Who You Want to be Known As during the festivities.

Sony122015 070

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

https://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa

https://www.wordpress.com/disclosures

 

Tolerance. . .

Aside

quote-compassion-and-tolerance-are-not-a-sign-of-weakness-but-a-sign-of-strength-dalai-lama-222462120815

Biases, like diseases, have many causes; yet we throw the same cure at everything.  Dr. David Rock

 

People seem to act on beliefs that do not seem wholesome. When a sale may be imminent and your intuition has been urging you to go the other way, take a moment and choose to be compliant.   Speak up is the new mantra so we don’t find ourselves saying,  “I wish I hadn’t done that.” I  wish I had known what I know now.”   “What was I thinking.”

Our first reaction is often, judgment, after learning unsettling facts. It’s very hard to sit back and wait for the truth to be known. We feel an emotion so strong that our anchored initial judgment will not allow us to hear, let alone listen, to facts that answer our questions. The anchored initial judgment will not allow the pain to be diffused easily. Humanity hurts and our level of patience and understanding seems to have reached a level close to exhaustion because the unsettling reality is so painful. When the Challenger Space Shuttle blew-up before our eyes on television, people said enough, take it off the media. http://www.history.com/topics/challenger-disaster. The deaths we have witnessed recently across the United States in the past few weeks is enabling many people to also say, enough. President Obama offers a number of strategies to keep us safe at our workplaces: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/12/06/address-nation-president. Tolerance is a basic American value, both at the workplace and our community.

We are living and working in a new era.  Our responsibility lies within us to follow the advice of our Leaders to maintain the common good for all of us.  Peace. 

 

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa

Pepper Spice, Nuts, Fruit and other Bounty

Aside

PinterestonBING112315a8c92ffe625b77a88ca1d83ef3f344d2Our workplace demonstrates how diversity enhances our well-being. We like to hear: “We’re glad you’re here.” “Thanks for bringing up that point, it adds to our conversation.” “I didn’t know that’s what it means in your culture.”

Our commonality looks for the difference we bring to the Table. It enables us to understand another viewpoint and how the viewpoint impacts the discussion.

With pride, we may bring to the Thanksgiving Table, pepper spice, nuts, fruit and our local Bounty – just a few of the diversity items we add to the mix of celebrating Thanksgiving. Because it is a centuries old tradition of giving thanks for a good harvest, our ancestors taught us to recognize how adversity shows us to step back and give thanks for what we did right during the year – whether during our career or personally.

New beginnings definitely took place during our career this year and we survived events we never contemplated. As You Choose Who You Want to be Known As this Thanksgiving, have a safe and enjoyable Holiday!

Shown below are a few websites that may bring a smile of knowing new facts about Thanksgiving —

8 Terrific Turkey Facts: http://www.livescience.com/17057-turkey-facts-thanksgiving.html

11 Surprising Thanksgiving Facts: http://www.livescience.com/41506-surprising-thanksgiving-facts.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=most-popular

Historical Facts about Thanksgiving you may not have known: http://www.plimoth.org/learn/multimedia-reference-library/read-articles-and-writings/thanksgiving-history

Enjoy! “Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

http://www.wordpress.com/disclosures

http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa

Pexels112315red-lunch-green-knolling

Monday Musing – 16 days into November 2015

Aside

 

 

no_barriersBINGsearchforcontinuityimaes111615 Continuity in everything is unpleasant.  Cold is agreeable, that we may get warm.  Pascal

 

New words that describe continuity, words we might want to use and one word with 12 meanings are the subject matters of the following three recently posted articles on different aspects of continuity in today’s workplace.

 

http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/38-convincing-words-and-phrases-to-adopt-immediately-.html

 

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/12-reasons-to-hire-employees-who-make-mistakes.html

Have a great week in your careers!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive & Career Management Coach

http://www.wordpress.com/disclosures

4th Day of Ethics and Compliance Week 2015

Gallery

Posted on by

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Even when there is no law, there is conscience. Publilius Syrus It’s Ethics and Compliance Week and I would like to share with you two anagrams for you to consider. Have a great week! E nvy crept into the conversation … Continue reading →

When YOU least expect it…

Aside

barn-owlfromBING101915What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.  This rule, equally arduous in actual and intelligent life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

It continues to give me pause of the biases people have, based either on age or appearance.  Each generation often greets another generation with surprise, rather than acceptance of what knowledge/skills they have.  I experienced this phenomenon again yesterday when a person couldn’t believe that I passed an exam, because her unconscious bias placed the biggest look of surprise on her face I haven’t seen in a long time.

Positive outcomes during the day often balance the negativity we may experience.  It is a work in process to learn how not to take certain actions personally or become judgmental of what may be said.  The daily balancing of our soft skills is the platform for managing ourselves and others in our career path.

Surprising ourselves with what is curious could be a mantra that leads us to self-development.  As you Choose Who You Want to be Known As this week, when you least expect to — have fun practicing the element of surprise of a curious situation.

Enjoy your day!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

http://www.wordpress.com/disclosures

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/

 

Impossible fun . . . with curiosity

Aside

th6NJHG7XZMickeyMouseclipartBING092515It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.   Curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.  Walt Disney

Earlier today I published a post on LinkedIn Pulse with the Title of The Three R’s.  http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/three-rs-jo-ann-m-radja.  Here is a modified version of that post.

A man in a creative job had been working on a new project. He submits it to the client and a discussion ensues. Even though the project was deemed unacceptable for the marketplace, he believed the discussion was fair. It was such a shock and a setback to subsequently learn his staff was hired away from him (except one man) by the company who deemed his work was out-of-fashion. This story occurred sometime during the 1920’s.  Whether it is a myth or a restatement of history, unfortunately, this story rings true for many people.
The terms of reinvent, re-engineered, retooled or right-sized were not spoken in this creative man’s era; his story has universality for us today, some 90 years later.  What Walt Disney did with his one employee was to collaborate and re-work his original drawings. Mickey Mouse was then born and introduced to the community. Many of the action terms we use today – customer driven, vision and focus, brain-storming new ideas and visualizing real-world activities for the new character – took place in the development and implementation of the Mickey Mouse character.

How quickly do you rebound from a serious let-down? What did you tell yourself to regroup and continue on? Did you re-frame the situation or just recognized perhaps the timing was all wrong? Stating these questions another way: What feedback did you receive that continued the spark in you to recognize, relate and resolve your actions to the next step? How frequently do you rely on YOUR three R’s As You Choose Who You Want to be Known As?

During the month of October, I hope your three R’s work to your best advantage as you recognize, relate and resolve.

The Three R's542by478

“Jo Ann” M. Radja Executive and Career Management Coach

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa

http://wordpress.com/disclosures/

. . . on the Contrary

Aside

7041825-chicago-lake-shore-drive7themesdotcomviagoogle092215.jpg

Earlier today I published two anagrams you might enjoy reading on LinkedIn Pulse at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-contrary-you-jo-ann-m-radja. The text of that post now follows:

C onventional wisdom

O ften, yet not always, is right.

N ow is the time

T o consider whether the

R isk we’ve focused on merits,

A n all-out program

R oll-out this quarter. I vote

Y es. How about you?©Jo Ann M. Radja

E nergy to keep up with

T he reading

H as its downside. The upside

I s the kernel of applicability to understand

C onsequences we face in the

S hort term.©Jo Ann M. Radja

                 Have a great Fall Season in your career as you Choose Who You want to be Known As.

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive & Career Management Coach

http://www.wordpress.com/disclosures

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa

LINING Your Portfolio . . .

Aside

DSC00800

I do not pretend to start with precise questions.  I do not think you can start anything precise.  You have to achieve such precision as you can, as you go along. Betand Russell

I’m not sure when it exactly happened; I think it started with my first photography course at college.  Lines fascinate me, perhaps because what they represent in your mind becomes a design that you live with in your life and your career. As we approach the end of the month of August, another opportunity presents itself to create, enhance or begin a new line, lined or lining in your career.

Earlier today, I published another version of this theme as a LinkedIn Publisher at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lines-lined-lining-jo-ann-m-radja.  Here is a copy of the text for your review:

“It’s somewhat rare that we do  not find a line running through our careers.  When our career began we had straight lines between a resume + interview + job offer.  Within a year or so our performance may have warranted  a testimonial or recommendation.  Our performance lined a file and formed a lining within our portfolio.

Today, many of us have accepted we move though our careers via a step line of asking many questions.  How are we able to >>>>>?     How can I modify my >>>>> to achieve >>>>>?       What do I have to do to complete >>>>>?  What are the expectations for this assignment and how will my performance be measured?   What questioning gives us are steps to embrace whatever perceived or real negative may lie before us.  More importantly, we exercise whatever control we have to accept and choose a line of action. 

We are presented with options and possibilities as we approach the last four months of  2015.  As you choose Who You Want to be Known As, what questions will you ask yourself to continue lining your portfolio?  Enjoy your 4th quarter of 2015!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach'”

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa

http://www.wordpress.com/disclosures