Madeleine Homan Blanchard

Dear Madeleine, I manage a team of project and program managers responsible for keeping software implementations on track for a global company. I have five regional directors, each of whom manage...

Dear Madeleine, I am sixty years old and really love my work. I have had a long and varied career and had hoped to get another decade in before retiring. The institution I worked for closed down...

Dear Madeleine, Before COVID, I led a high performing, intact team. There are twelve of us and we all used to work in one office. I hired three new people just as the stay-at-home order was...

Dear Madeleine, I am a director-level leader in a national insurance organization. The culture here is that things get done slowly, and only when everyone agrees with the change. I have been...

Dear Madeleine, I run a compliance and risk group for a large regional credit union. We have a new CEO—I’ll call him “K.” K was our organization’s CFO for several years before he was named CEO, so...

Dear Madeleine, I am an EVP of sales in an organization that is growing insanely fast. I have a brand new Chief Sales Officer and my regional counterpart just quit—so I have gone from four direct...

Dear Madeleine, I manage a team of very experienced and talented people. One of my people is particularly essential to the work we do and has vast institutional knowledge. A couple of other teams...

Dear Madeleine, I work in a research organization. My colleagues are very well educated, as is most of the executive leadership team. I’m not a scientist, a PhD, or a doctor. I’m a middle manager...

Dear Madeleine, I am a cofounder of a retail swimsuit company that is really taking off. We were lucky the pandemic hit just as we were about to sign leases on some actual stores, so we really...

Dear Madeleine, I am a sales EVP in fast growing but incredibly competitive software. The pandemic threw demand into overdrive, which is great, but it means quotas have ballooned as well. Our...

Dear Madeleine, I just read your blog Boss Talks Over You? and wow—can I relate! My problem is similar. My boss constantly interrupts me while I am speaking in meetings. She causes me to lose my...

Dear Madeleine, I just read your blog Boss Keeps Interrupting You? Ask Madeleine. Excellent points there, particularly the pre-meeting meeting. My problem is a boss who talks over me chronically....

Aloha Madeleine, I’m currently a Human Resources director in the hospitality industry. I believe right now, more than ever, our industry needs strong coaches. What resources can you share to help...

Dear Madeleine, I was promoted to VP of sales a few months before the pandemic hit. I feel like I have been in an industrial washing machine ever since, and am just starting to come up for air....

Dear Madeleine, I was promoted to VP of sales a few months before the pandemic hit. I feel like I have been in an industrial washing machine ever since, and am just starting to come up for air....

Dear Madeleine, I am a client services manager at a new cancer center in Lagos, Nigeria. I have just had my six-month appraisal with the CEO. Along with my responsibilities, I have been helping my...

Dear Madeleine, I read your article called Terrified about Doing a Presentation at Work? and I am writing to see if I can get some help. I have spent 23 years in the IT industry and am still...

Dear Madeleine, I lost my identical twin brother to COVID late last spring. Of course there was no service, and I organized a Zoom event that was almost too sad to bear. A cousin was also...

Dear Madeleine, I was recently promoted to director of contracts and compliance at a global staffing organization. I have a great team, I seem to be well regarded in the organization, and I get...