Glow

I’ve been sitting on this post for 6-9 months and just adding to it as it sits in my drafts.

Things that feel good and make me glow:

Being called a “People Developer” from someone who I feel I didn’t have an amazing relationship with so that was fun to be called that. I will take their respect and admiration, thank you! <<It’s been like, 6 months since they said that, and they just added a monthly call to my calendar last month to start catching up and I’m excited to continue to develop our working relationship. I played the slow game with that one!>>

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Having a talk with the new head of HR and essentially being asked to join a task-force that could potentially review how certain departments are structured. Why thank you, that sounds interesting. Please include me. Why are you asking me? I’m not gonna ask questions! <Nope, this never materialized but she has contacted me twice to go over Marketing Communications assistance in the last 6 months. I’m a resource for her, so I’ll take it for now!>

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After talking with the President, talking with my boss, and having all these slides and plans to essentially take over two other companies eComm departments; I was on an IT call with the President, and a few other “big wigs” and later that day, I was chatting with one of the people from the call on another topic and they said, “We had a back chat going on and [the Head of IT] essentially said ‘Kristi is great! Why can’t Kristi take over all of this?'”.

Yes, exactly. Thank you Head of IT. That is my evil plan. Please go casually say that to the President. Although I know he is good with my plan but it’s another step to actually put the plan into action.

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A customer service rep that I can’t remember her name but I KNOW IT – it will come to me someday. But I talked to her in the bathroom and then as we walked out she just turned around and gushed about how amazing I look, how I’m glowing, and how I’ve really changed since I first started. Made me a little melancholy at how it happened but I also want to appreciate the hard work it took and who I am now.

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One of my besties has my birthdate as her phone password. I totally forgot that and I was sitting with her and she was trying to open her phone and – anyway. Made me feel good. My freaking birthdate is someone’s code they type in multiple times a day to their phone. Girl better not forget it then!

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On Halloween, I was sitting alone in my office watching the last episode of Nobody Wants This, in the last 10 minutes, and crying… and Sammie called me to tell me she was drunk and wanted me to know that she thought I was great. Ahh children. Child. Adult. Bless her heart.

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L quit – damn, that took balls – but she is so freaking honest that I asked her for a feedback session. Notes from that, summarized by AI:

• Strong Leadership & Team Respect: Your team members- especially Ana, Laura, and Joao – look up to you and respect your leadership. You’re seen as someone who leads with vision and provides clear guidance.
• Effective Communication of Vision: You’re recognized for articulating a clear direction and purpose, which helps align and motivate your team.
• Highly Organized & Structured: You’re praised for your discipline and structure, particularly in how you manage meetings and follow-ups. You’re known as the “queen of notes,” and your prompt action items are appreciated.
• Consistency & Dedication: Your long-term commitment (six years!) and the relationships you’ve built are clearly valued. You’ve been through a lot of change and remained a steady presence.

I asked her for constructive feedback too and it wasn’t too bad but I was also proud of myself for asking for the harder feedback!

• While your communication is clear, there’s a suggestion that it can sometimes come across as too “forthright” or “gung-ho.” For example, in the DXP project, the urgency was clear, but the “why” behind the pressure wasn’t always fully explained to others.
• There’s an opportunity to better connect the dots for team members who may not be as close to the Zurich-based context or leadership decisions. This could help reduce misunderstandings and increase alignment.

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Amrita calling me to recruit me to work with her. SO pleased with that. She said the nicest things. I was not writing them down but basically I’m brilliant, a force to work with, and a total star. It’s been over 4 years since we’ve worked together and she really just showered me with a ton of praise. I’m in the middle of figuring that all out and tugging on some threads to see if something materializes but it was nice.

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Had my P4G with my boss this month and I had to remember all the nice things he said about me. I’m taking it with a grain of salt because he’s not super fantastic in follow-up but I think with the upcoming changes, I will have a chance to really work closely with him for the next year before he moves on to something else. So I want to try and take the best advantage of it. He said – even if MOST of it was parroting what I wrote in my assessment –

• I had excellent engagement scores and communicate well and make people feel involved.
• I help people grow and foster development.
• I have a very good reputation in the company and people want me involved (ref, E asking me to come to Zurich)
• He said people trust me and want to work with me more.
• He said my gift was focus and I keep projects and people on track, and I manage things very well and he trusts me with major initiatives.
• He believes I should be operating at a higher level, he wants to give me more responsibility, and is continuing to promise me that he will be looking into my promotion. He gave me a 3.5 but said it’s wrapped in 4 commentary. Ha. My instruction for this year is to ‘think big’. With no extra resources but anyway.

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In a universe reminder, Sabz texted me today OUT OF THE BLUE – she has done this before once or twice. We worked together for about a year – 5 years ago, I think. 2021 maybe. Reminder that I don’t need to hold on to these compliments and keep them close, they continue to happen and will continue to happen.

So now that this came in, I’m gonna publish this post and bask in it and not list it disappear down into my drafts graveyard.

And #goals that I create one every year to remind myself how awesome I am!