Brene Brown did a podcast last spring called Permission to Feel. She said that the average American can identify three emotions - mad, sad, glad. If you’ve watched Inside Out (one of my favorite movies) you can probably add disgust and fear to the list. 

This limited emotional vocabulary leaves us vastly unprepared for the human experience.

In a matter of hours or days or seconds, you might feel anxious, disappointed, and enraged as you witness a violent mob descend on the US capital. Or you might feel hopeful, elated, and relieved to usher in a new president and a woman Vice President for the first time in American History.

You might feel exhausted from living through such a prolonged state of crisis and you might feel inspired by Amanda Gormon’s message of hope in her inauguration poem The Hill We Climb.

How do you process these feelings?

To quote my friend Cait Donovan, who hosts a fantastic podcast on burnout, it is okay to admit you are not okay. 

In fact, I challenge you to eliminate the word okay from your vocabulary. Someone recently challenged me to stop using good, fine and okay because they’re words that don’t mean much. 

Instead, start naming what you’re actually feeling. Challenge your brain to think beyond glad, sad, and mad and make space for those feelings. 

My word of the year is allow. 

I chose this word as a reminder to allow all my feelings, to not pass over the anger, fear, sadness, grief, and exhaustion, and commit to experiencing it all.

The impulse is to push them away but it's actually allowing them that will help you let them go.

Do you have a word or theme of the year?

I’d love to hear what it is. 

Hi, I’m Madeline.

I help quiet leaders and organizations communicate their story and invite audiences into their world.

Together we’ll transform how you communicate, at work, at home, in life.

Get in touch at madeline@madelineschwarz.com

It was snack time at my house and my kiddo pulled a giant orange out of the fridge and told me it was a dinosaur egg.

In a previous life, I might have argued, and stated the obvious.

Instead, I played along. 

This didn't always come naturally, but it's a skill I learned in improv. 

Accept what's given, build on other people's ideas.

That’s what I did – I acknowledged his reality and indulged in playful banter.

Why not eat dinosaur eggs for snack?

This technique is useful for:

• Brainstorming sessions where teams use their imagination instead of crushing each other's ideas (It’s possible and not just in dream land!)

• Business meetings that spur creativity instead of verbal tug of war (Yes, please)

• Family interactions and long car trips (purple gas station where the gas costs a dollar, I’m in) 

The next time someone offers up a bad idea at work, instead of jumping to shut it down, play along.

Sometimes those crazy ideas solve themselves when you’re willing to indulge them. That’s what happened to a design team I was working with. The client wanted to use QR codes and instead of compiling a list of why it was a terrible idea, the developer got curious, asked questions and the client thought it threw and eliminated it on their own.

Let people convince themselves if an idea is viable.

It makes life more fun. 

It ends arguments. 

It spurs creative thinking and innovation. 

For more communication lessons I’ve learned from Improv.

Hi, I’m Madeline.

I help leaders and organizations tell their stories, lead their teams and make change in the world.

I combine a project manger’s sense of process and a creative’s sense of play to bring more clarity, creativity and collaboration to communication.

Get in touch at madeline@madelineschwarz.com

“Dream with ambition. Lead with conviction. See yourself in a way that others may not, simply because they haven't seen it before.”   

– Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris

Yesterday, I caught the most amazing moment of 2nd-grade remote school.

They were discussing the book Grace for President and one of the students told the teacher “I think you should be president. 

She replied, “I'm honored and I hope to teach a future president.”

What are you dreaming of? 

And how can I help?

Next week, I'm speaking at the Career Breakthrough Summit, an event for professional women designed to support you as you get promoted and move toward a senior leadership role.

If you’ve ever talked yourself out of opportunities because you worry it might require too many personal sacrifices, this event is for you.

Liz St. Jean is a leadership expert devoted to closing the leadership gender gap and ending dysfunctional workplaces.

I couldn’t be more excited to share 5 principles you can use to activate your empathy and listening power in difficult conversations. Join me Monday, November 16th.

I’m one of 14 experts sharing tips and strategies to advance yourself without losing yourself.

Topics range from setting boundaries, making working motherhood work for you and taking control of your energy in the most stressful situations..

Tickets are free and you can join us here.

Hi, I’m Madeline.

I help quiet leaders and organizations communicate their story and invite audiences into their world.

Together we’ll transform how you communicate, at work, at home, in life.

Get in touch at madeline@madelineschwarz.com