Personal Change

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Conversations That Bridge Generations

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | September 2, 2025 |

Most of us laugh at the Friends episode where no one can remember what Chandler Bing does for a living. (“Statistical analysis and data reconfiguration,” anyone?) But it made me wonder: do your kids — or even their friends — know what you do? This question hit me at a memorial for my best friend’s…

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Why Career Regret Misses the Bigger Picture

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | August 26, 2025 |

Have you ever found yourself wondering, “What if I’d stayed at that job?” or “Maybe I’d be in the C-suite by now…”? That nagging feeling—career regret—is more common than you think. But it’s also often incomplete. I recently spoke with a client who was reflecting on a previous role and questioning if leaving was the…

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Would You Buy Land You Can’t Use?

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | July 29, 2025 |

Are you familiar with the well known saying “Buy real estate like there’s no one watching”? No? Ok, the real famous comment is “Dance like there’s no one watching” but recently I’ve been thinking about the alternate real estate version. This thought came to me during a recent stay in Carmel, where I discovered an…

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Experiment or Stay Safe?

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | July 22, 2025 |

As leaders, we often wrestle with one key question: When do you experiment and when do you listen to tried and true wisdom? I recently remembered a time I served on a nonprofit board. Whenever new members suggested ideas, I’d catch myself shooting them down: “We tried that already” or “That won’t work because…” Eventually,…

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When Change Isn’t an Option

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | March 19, 2025 |

We’ve all encountered situations at work that feel stuck—difficult dynamics, organizational red tape, or systems that refuse to budge. Often, our first instinct is to figure out how to fix things: change the people, the processes, or the circumstances. While this can be powerful, sometimes change simply isn’t possible—at least not in the short term.…

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Feeling Stuck? 3 Steps to Move You Forward

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | February 26, 2025 |
For this article by Jo Ilfeld, CEO of Incite to Leadership on feeling stuck the image shows a woman in front of a laptop, rubbing her temples.

This article originally appeared in Forbes. I was on a coaching call this week with someone who felt very “stuck.” Outside of my work, most people I chat with generally use the word ‘busy’ whenever I ask them how they’ve been, yet as an executive coach, the most common word clients use to describe themselves,…

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No pain, no gain. Not always.

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | February 18, 2025 |

I’ll be honest here. I have a love/hate relationship with the phrase “No Pain, No Gain.” On the one hand, as a leader, you need to do hard things. That’s not only part of your leadership remit, it’s part of being human and learning, growing, and developing. It’s not easy work but you don’t get…

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Time to Reset Boundaries

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | February 12, 2025 |
For this article by Jo Ilfeld, CEO of Incite to Leadership on reset boundaries the images shows a line that appears on a football pitch or court to delineate the boundary.

At work, we often train people to treat us a certain way—by always being available, or by letting small requests slide. It’s easy to create these patterns without even realizing it. But here’s the truth: you have the power to reset boundaries whenever needed. Let’s say you expect an agenda before a meeting, but you’ve…

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Best Advice for New Grads

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | October 23, 2024 |
For this article by Jo Ilfeld, CEO of Incite to Leadership on the best advice for new grads shows a set of steps made out of wooden blocks.

An edited version of this article appeared in Forbes Coaches Council If you could go back in time, what advice would you have given your newly graduated self? I wrote this latest newsletter this past summer when I was in Carmel for my third annual “work-cation” with my husband. I’ve come to value this time…

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