Cultivating Psychological Safety at Work: Accelerating Trust on Teams

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
The End - Katie Buckman

Last month, 52Limited and Radius ECD hosted a virtual event featuring my new talk, Accelerating Trust on Teams, as part of their Cultivating Psychological Safety at Work series. [Download the Presentation PDF: Ciara Pressler – 52Limited 2020.11] Who’s your business therapist? Trust starts and ends with relationships. It’s vital to have people you can go to when you need to talk through work challenges. But you can’t just grab anyone and start spilling your problems; create and cultivate relationships over time so that there is balance and mutual support. American culture doesn’t set us up for success. The myth of the individual discovering, […]

Life with an Asterisk

Posted on by Elyse Stoner
White Flowers in the Rain - Katie Buckman

I feel like I am living life with an asterisk at the end of every sentence. When someone asks, “How are you doing?”, I want to respond, “I’m good* (*I was struggling this morning and am concerned about what may happen in a few hours, but right now… I’m good).” We are all living in turmoil, but I’ve got an added dose of upheaval spicing up today’s “basic” turmoil. You see, today my husband started a new job. I’ve been living in uncertainty for seven months as he found his way to this great opportunity. While he is working virtually […]

30 Lessons from 30 Years of Life

Posted on by Jordan Carroll
Disturbo, Acrylic on Canvas, 48_ x 48_

#30Lessons30Years I turned 30 last month. To celebrate, I’m sending you 30 invaluable lessons I’ve learned along the way… 1. There’s No End, Only the Journey (01:00) 2. No One Knows What the F**k They’re Doing (1:45) 3. It Doesn’t Matter if You Have the Right Answer (2:02) 4. Conversations Are Proportional to Quality of Life (2:18) 5. How You Treat Yourself is as Important as Others (2:51) 6. Location Independence ≠ Location Ambiguous (3:48) 7. People Care About You Less Than You Think (4:30) 8. Everything is Energy (5:05) 9. The Past & Future Don’t Exist (5:25) 10. What […]

America: A Trial Separation

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
Bliss, Acrylic & Enamel on Canvas, 31_ x 39_

We’ve all been in some level of quarantine for the past seven months; that’s not news. As a family of one, my bubble stayed small. My next door neighbors were a godsend, and I set up regular Zooms almost daily to stay in connected with friends, family, and colleagues. Summer introduced more opportunities to connect with people outdoors, and my spirits stayed high. It wasn’t bad, really. I was ready. The first few months of Covid were much like my first year of sobriety; I had the strange feeling I’d been through this before. Only this time I had tools. And everyone […]

Featured Artist: Laura Pretto Vargas

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
Laura Pretto Vargas

Italo-Brazilian artist Laura Pretto Vargas makes abstract and figural paintings that explore feelings of vulnerability, happiness, energy and sexuality. Using mostly acrylic and sometimes oil, Vargas builds the surface of her large-scale canvases with densely textured brush marks and bursts of bold color. Informed by her background in fashion and international travel, Vargas weaves together different forms of creative expression in a variety of styles. As a result, each painting pulses with universal human emotions, providing a shared space for connection and reflection. Vargas lives and works in Milan and Miami. This month at Agora Gallery, Vargas will be part […]

Sara Boone on Teamwork, Vulnerability in Leadership, and Showing Up

Posted on by Pregame Magazine
Sara Boone

In The Interview: Episode #22, Ciara Pressler interviews Sara Boone, Fire Chief of Portland Fire & Rescue. Sara and Ciara talk about… The unique challenges and opportunities of leadership during Covid Her vision for a more equitable fire department Social change Working with Pregame to sharpen her executive leadership The intricacies of fire emergencies Showing up as a leader while making space for vulnerability and compassion Sara Boone became Portland’s fire chief in 2019, 24 years after she joined the bureau. Born in California, Sara Boone was adopted by a couple from Portland, and graduated from Lincoln High with a […]

Michael Roderick on Becoming a Stronger Connector and Building Trust

Posted on by Pregame Magazine
Michael Roderick

In The Interview: Episode #21, Ciara Pressler interviews Michael Roderick, the ultimate people connector. Michael and Ciara talk about: His thoughts on the ‘return back to normal’ Creating strong and memorable ideas as a thought leader Staying relevant in the digital space Driving referrals through brand and relationships Michael Roderick is the CEO of Small Pond Enterprises which helps thoughtful givers become thought leaders by making their brands referable, their messaging memorable, and their ideas unforgettable. He is also the host of the podcast Access to Anyone which shows how you can get to know anyone you want in business […]

Emma Mcilroy on Entrepreneurship, Feminism, and Community Activism

Posted on by Pregame Magazine
Emma Mcilroy

In The Interview: Episode #20, Ciara Pressler interviews Emma Mcilroy, founder and CEO of Wildfang. Emma and Ciara talk about… Dealing with high expectations and a lack of resources as a small business Learning in real time and having the world watch you make mistakes Creating Wildfang to combat widespread miseducation about feminism Making decisions from the heart rather than through a business lens What it means to be a feminist right now in the business world Emma Mcilroy is a queer-feminist-Irish-immigrant-female-CEO. As founder and CEO of Wildfang, she’s been smashing the patriarchy and gender norms in fashion and beyond […]

Good Trouble: Marching for Jacob Blake

Posted on by Lori Eberly
keepshowingup

I’m proud to report that on Monday night, I got arrested for challenging fuckery. As a person whose life’s work is based on challenging dysfunction to create real and lasting change, silence about social injustice in our society is not an option. More importantly, as a white woman who holds enormous privilege, I believe I have a duty to remain outraged and take action to stop the ongoing genocide of Black people in America. So on Monday, in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake by police officers in Kenosha, WI, I joined about 300 other Portlanders in protest […]

The Remote Job Coach: How to Communicate Without a Workplace

Posted on by Jordan Carroll
jordan carroll

If you don’t see someone in person, how can you develop a real connection with them? Communicating without a physical workplace can be hard. Many companies and employees who’ve never been away from a central office for this amount of time are feeling disconnected. But the symptom is not the problem. To foster a connection to a company’s vision and mission, employees need to feel challenged, rewarded, and they need to be able to “feel” the culture, even if they can’t physically see it. Many remote/distributed companies do this well (TaxJar, GitLab Inc., and Kinsta® just to name a few). […]