2017 Year in Review: The Beginning

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” ~ Henry Ford

2017 is drawing to an end… Along with my first nine months as a Blogger.

As it were… my beginning.

I thought it would be nice to pull together a list of the posts you read most in the past nine months… the posts that piqued your interest

1:  10 Ways to Make a Terrible First Impression

With more than 1,000 unique page views since publication in mid November, this is by far the most popular post on the site.

It focuses on ten things that you can do – often inadvertently – on your first day in a new role that will leave your new colleagues wondering what they’re in for… and of course, it lets you know what to do instead!

Clearly, we all worry that we might not make a great first impression!

2: “I’m Not Good Enough”… The Gender Confidence Gap

With about 700 unique views since it was published in August, this article about the gender confidence gap also touched a nerve, particularly with Facebook users in the UK, where the majority of the visitors arrived from.

This post also generated a very fascinating discussion on Facebook between me and an oil rig worker in the US, who disagreed with me quite thoroughly! At least in the industry he works in, where he maintained that women are treated very well and generally better than their male counterparts. If only this was universal!

3: “I’m Not Going to Make it…” Surviving Professional Crises

This post from mid-September was very popular with Linked In readers, who read the article inside Linked In  close to 3,000 times. A few over 300 readers visited the site to read the full article.

This would be the most, or at least close to the most, personal post I’ve written. It’s hard to say an email made you cry… but it did, so that’s what I shared!

4: Overcome Impostor Syndrome by Becoming a Superhero

Published in early June, with only two months of blogging experience under my belt, this post has a very credible 315 page views, and still gets a regular trickle from Google. It’s something we can all relate to, I think.

I resist the urge to rewrite and update this post – because it’s an authentic insight into how far I think my writing (and my blogging skills more generally) have come over the past year!

It’s a little mind game to play so that you can ‘don’ the character of the kick-ass woman or man who would absolutely ace those first days, weeks and months in that exciting, but scary, new job!

5: 12 Traits of Bad Bosses and What to Strive for Instead

Published as a two part series in June 2017, these two posts collectively have totted up a respectable 380 page views. It seems we all like to hear about the bad things other people do! Because of course we don’t do any of these things ourselves!

These posts were great fun to write, because the stories were so formative in my own career… the only thing I had to be careful of was ensuring nobody was ‘recognisable’!

6: The Inexplicable Power of the Humble Question Mark

Although it has less than 200 views, this is the last one to make the list, and is actually one of my personal favourites… not for its actual quality, but because of what I was trying to express, and how strongly I feel about it.

Asking great questions is such an important leadership trait – both asking them of yourself, but also asking them of your team. And just as important, when you are asked questions by others, not always rushing to answer them!

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I’d love to hear what your favourite post from 2017 was! Let me know in the comments below!

 

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i3 Leadership Insiders

I want to help you to lead.  Not from a position of power, but from exactly where you are now.

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