The Roche Report

Throughout my career, I've spent a lot of time coaching young professionals and one of the things that I've observed is that the colloquial language that is often used amongst peers is one of the biggest detractors in what is coined as "executive presence" but is really just speaking articulately in a business setting. Executive presence is a nebulous term - kind of along the lines of "professional maturity."  I started making a list of common phrases that I hear and/or have coached people on - but then took it to the "streets" aka my team slack channel, asking what words they have worked to stop using in professional settings. What was interesting in the conversation was people chiming in with requests for help (UGH I DO THAT - what are better ways to stop?), and then awesome suggestions for help. Below are some of my thoughts - and some of the team's thoughts. I've color coded the big female / male ones as well: Ending a statement in a qu

One of the luckiest things in my life is that I am in several group chats with different sets of mom friends with kids ranging from 0 - 5, where we have the opportunity to ask each other questions or vent about the random situations our kids get themselves into. A perfect example of this was on Veteran's Day when my daughter and nanny interrupted one of my meetings to inform me that my daughter had cut her hair completely off on one side of her head ("but I wanted long hair!" she exclaimed, making her decision to saw off her hair completely more confusing). In reflecting on those group chats, and in conversations with many first time parents on my team, I often have this thought: first time parents are so  hard on themselves (third time parents can be too!, just less).  I've been thinking about some reflections that I wish I could share with myself pre- or early-parenthood self.... more below:  Prioritizing your kids over work is usually easy - this was my big worry