Mel Butcher's Blog

I have a friend who has grown up, professionally speaking, in the software consulting space. As you might imagine, the majority of her...

After a recent talk I (Mel) gave about career mentorship and sponsorship, there was a Q&A period. A young man shared the following...

After a number of career fairs and recruiting events, I've begun to recognize some patterns. If you are a graduating or entry level...

Research shows that sometimes, women hesitate in their careers. Specifically, women are less likely to apply for "stretch" roles. A...

Feelings are fleeting. They come and go and can be influenced by all kinds of things -- your hunger (are you hangry?), your hormones,...

She delivers high quality work for which she receives praise. But she got passed over for the raise and promotion she believes she deserves.

I committed to myself some time in early January that I would show up on this blog five days per week, every week this year. That hasn't...

What do you and I have in common? If we were standing side by side, would an outsider see anything more than, “they’re both human”?...

You don't need a reminder that we're still in the midst of a pandemic. But you might need a reminder about things we take for granted that..

People don't set out to make mistakes...

...The narrative I was taught and could easily substantiate from experience about "catty" women... it never served me. When I chose to...

Being alive means being at risk. Any given day, disaster can strike - natural or manmade. How can one feel calm in such a world?

It's popular to tell professionals to be more authentic at work. It ranks right up there with telling women they should be more confident...

This is an extremely difficult time to be a job seeker. If you're struggling with the job hunt in this market, it's not you...

It can be fun to feel like you had the last word. You made the point above all points. Mic drop.

Politics in the workplace is something that gets a bad wrap. But what are we really talking about?

"...reality tells us that we reveal ourselves in many ways... the way we handle our successes as well as our failures."

Show up. What does that mean? Most often, it's about...

A friend recently shared that they heard some advice on a podcast. Paraphrasing - people should focus on doing B+ work. That friend went on

There's a concept in Akimbo world called the factory. An assembly line could be part of a factory, yes, but the concept refers to someth...