Shifting your perspective isn’t only necessary to offer empathy to others, but it gives your own views much more depth. Here’s an excerpt from my February post for The Pastry Box, published today: On our first day of class, the teacher led us out of the building and brought us a few blocks away to [Keep Reading…]
Why Coaching Matters
Everyone could benefit from seeing themselves from a different perspective. Our beliefs, our blind-spots, and our self-imposed limitations are all too often barriers to becoming who we’re really meant to be. This is especially true of professionals entering a new phase of their career or students entering a new course of study. The inner critic [Keep Reading…]
The UX Career Path: From Wireframes to Coaching
I have attended the IA Summit every year since 2008. This year’s event takes place in my new home of San Diego, so naturally I’ll be there. It’s hard to believe it will be my 7th consecutive year when I still feel like a newbie. I love this community, I love this conference, and I [Keep Reading…]
Where in the World is Whitney? San Diego
After a year of balancing on a rock in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, we packed up the Jeep, wrapped up the boat, and left Key West for the West Coast. Two weeks and 3600 miles later (we took a few pleasure detours), we arrived at another water’s edge: the rocky coast of the [Keep Reading…]
On Losing a Teacher: Remembering Christy Svanemyr
I was camping in Acadia National Park when I got the news. As we pulled onto the highway, I regained cell service for the first time in two days and my phone buzzed with incoming emails. I had promised myself a week away from email, but scrolled through them quickly just to make sure there [Keep Reading…]
5 Years of Independence
Happy anniversary to me! Today marks five years since I left my full-time job to go indie — and what a hell of a ride it’s been. I want to thank all my clients who have valued what I could contribute to their organizations and the countless friends, colleagues and strangers who pointed them my [Keep Reading…]
The First Four Episodes of Designing Yourself
It’s been a whole month since Paul McAleer and I started our podcast Designing Yourself and we’ve already launched four hour-long episodes. Whoa. We pick a topic each week, usually one word, and just start talking. No script, no outline, just impromptu, fluid conversation. If you’ve listened, you’ve probably noticed how candid and personal we [Keep Reading…]
Give Us the Answer
“You are an expert,” he told me. “We want you to give us the answer.” “Then I’m not for you.” I guess I could have just taken the money, but it would have cost me my integrity. Many companies don’t believe they have time to learn a new way to work. They just want someone [Keep Reading…]
The Evolution of User Experience
When I started my career in user experience, my purpose was to make digital products easier and more pleasurable to use. Interfaces were poorly organized, poorly labeled, and took forever to learn—and I wanted to fix them all. I applied my knowledge of best practices and emerging trends. I used design patterns and standard elements [Keep Reading…]
Designing Yourself
At some point along the way, I realized I was putting so much energy into growing my business that I was stunting my own growth. All of the decisions I made were to benefit the work, not the woman. I’ve designed hundreds of digital experiences, I’ve designed dozens of organizational experiences, but what effort have [Keep Reading…]
