Our understanding of career stability is being challenged and redefined like never before. So if change is a given, we’ve got to get better at navigating it. Whether you're contemplating a career pivot, facing industry shifts, or simply seeking to infuse your career path with more intentionality, this post is your guide. 

It's the end of the year, which means it's time to brace yourself for an onslaught of pressure to capture and brag about what you accomplished in 2024 (if it hasn't been hitting your LinkedIn feed already). Here’s how to take a meaningful pause and look back at what you actually did and how it actually made you feel this year—the highlights and lowlights, the growth, and the lessons learned.

Too often, leaders give gifts to recognize their employees during the holiday season—and it backfires. What’s intended as a gesture of appreciation instead leaves team members frustrated and resentful. While gift-giving is a go-to, it is not the most effective or only way to show genuine appreciation during the holidays. Here are three steps to recognize your team in a way that will truly reach them…

Sharing the tenets of effective leadership is my core mission. After researching and teaching foundational leadership practices for over a decade, these are eight tenets I know to be true…

Whether you’re a new or seasoned leader, this is your guide to modern leadership. Learn to develop & own your leadership with these strategies, resources, and tools.

Almost every single leader I've coached one on one has come with the goal of improving their time management.

And in almost every single case, their challenge wasn't actually a time management problem at all. Here’s what’s going on instead…

As a coach, I am a professional question asker. One of my favorites to ask clients is: What do you want to be known for?

It's a daunting question. It feels BIG and important and complicated to find the answer.

But what I've discovered through over a decade of coaching people through navigating their careers is that it's not so much about finding the answer as it is about holding the question.

Getting the balance between micromanaging and hands-off managing was a lot harder than I anticipated.That's what I wrote about in my most recent article for Harvard Business Review, where I offer three red flags that you're leaning too far to either direction—and what you can do to offer your team the support and direction they need to succeed.

Top athletes and prominent politicians do not drop out. When they do, it’s big news. That’s because stepping back can be seen as a sign of weakness that leaders must avoid at all costs—a sign that they’ve failed. But knowing when and how to step back is actually a sign of maturity and effective leadership. It’s a leadership skill that we need to see modeled more frequently. Here are three lessons we can learn from Biles and Biden...

American culture teaches us that self-sufficiency and independence are synonymous with success. In a highly individualistic culture, accomplishing things on your own is a virtue. I think we’re getting it wrong. Opening ourselves up to receiving help can be humbling, vulnerable, scary, and courageous. It’s learning to gracefully receive help from others that’s a virtue—and a needed professional skill.

Mission driven leaders are loyal to the mission. Loyal to the team. Loyal to the organization. But what about loyalty to self?

So many of the folks I coach are going through changes right now—one just gave her notice in order to start her own business, another is starting a brand new job after being at his last organization for eight years, and another is leading his team through a major change in structure.

Change is a major part of our work lives. We need to get better at navigating it. Let’s explore a simple model that helps us understand the structure of change and how we move through it.

In April, I became a contributor to a knowledge base that I respect and consult daily. I'm so proud and excited to share this article on a topic that's at the heart of Penney Leadership: how to build an intentional career path that is unique, enjoyable, and adaptive to change.

Here’s a link to the article and the behind the scenes story of the process (read: dreams and doubts) that can go into a career achievement like this…

I believe that the coaching process and toolbox is powerful, meaningful, and essential to helping you capably meet the challenges you face.

But what is it actually like to work with me?

Here's an inside look at some of the common questions I get about the coaching process…

As a career coach, I’ve learned that the driver for every reason is one of two things: (1) Purpose: moving towards something you want. (2) Fear: preventing or avoiding something you don’t want. Here’s how to figure out what’s driving you…

Nobody wants their “brain picked”—they want thoughtful questions that enable them to share targeted insight, experience, and resources that truly help you to move forward. Here’s my process for preparing for a meeting with my mentors…

Seven years ago, I made the leap from traditional employment to running my own business. From the outside, you might be tempted to make up a story about how brave and confident I was to make this leap. But it definitely didn't feel that way at the time.

Let’s have a look at how a prop can give you the confidence to walk into a new space with your head held high, or help a gatekeeper take you seriously.

Seven years ago, when Penney Leadership launched, I set off in my little solo spacecraft. I exited my home planet on Nonprofit and began my journey across the vast solar system.

Thanks to so many of you for your kind and accepting responses to my essay last month about realizing that I'm Autistic at age 37. I can't begin to tell you what your reflections, stories, and feedback meant to me.

Some of you had follow up questions about particular words I used or how I see elements of Autism. Here are my answers to those questions in case you wondered, too.