Red Alder Leadership

04/29/2025

"I want to grow here, but how do I find the time? There’s always another fire to put out, another sprint, another deadline. Is it even possible to carve out space for my own development?”

I hear this from clients in fast-paced startups all the time. Even when growth is a company value, it’s easy for personal development to get lost in the daily whirlwind. 🔄

I’ve been there. When everyone’s juggling multiple roles, it can feel like you have to choose between getting things done and investing in yourself.

You MUST be your own advocate. 🏗️

Here are a few ways to take charge of your growth, even when things are hectic:

• Volunteer for stretch projects or cross-functional teams
• Start a conversation with your manager or a mentor about your goals
• Propose a side project that excites you
• Block 15 minutes a week for learning or reflection
• Ask for feedback and act on it

Growth often comes from the risks you take and the conversations you start. The first step is giving yourself permission to prioritize your path-even when things are busy.

What’s one small way you could advocate for your growth this week? 🌱

If you’re feeling stuck in the startup rush, you’re not alone. Let’s brainstorm together-sometimes all it takes is a nudge to get started. 🔥

02/03/2025

Mondays are for 🌟 GRATITUDE 🌟

Following the advice of Amit Sood, MD in his book Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living, I'm adding a daily wellness theme to my routine.

Research shows practicing gratitude can transform your life by:

✅ Helping you bounce back from setbacks faster
✅ Increasing your earnings
✅ Improving your sleep and recovery from illness
✅ Strengthening your social connections
✅ Boosting your energy and mood

It's been a great balance between structure and variety over the last two months and I'm grateful beyond words for all of the friends and colleagues who have supported my journey over the years.

Thank you to Paul N Larsen, MA, CPPC, Larry Seal, Marc Manley, Patrick Cahill, Michael Buchalter, Kyle Ruxton, Nathan (Nate) Forster, Andi Vanetta Smith, Kylin Ellison, Leticia Montana, MSOD, ACC, CLDP, Steven Nash, MSOD, Eric Burns, Robert Collings, Trevon Clow, Alan Mitchell, John Lundquist, David Gibson, Mahantesh Hiremath, and Jordan Burcham (in no particular order!)

💡 What are you grateful for right now? Who or what has positively impacted your journey this week?

Share your thoughts below or tag someone you’re grateful for! Share the power! 🙏✨

09/26/2024

✨ Book Recommendation for Managing Stress ✨

Balancing a successful career with managing stress and finding traditional meditation methods aren't quite working for you? I highly recommend The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living by Dr. Amit Sood.

This game-changing book offers practical, science-based strategies that can make a huge difference in your day-to-day life. It’s a refreshing, actionable approach to stress management—truly a game-changer! 💡

Check it out here: The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Justin Livingston

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Mayo_Clinic_Guide_to_Stress_Free_Liv/aSuFAAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

08/30/2024

Another big win to celebrate this Friday 🌟 - props and a massive shout out 📣 to Halle Sobczak who leveled-up her career this month by stepping into her new role as Senior Manager of Influencer Marketing at Grüns, based out of Stanford, CA! 🚀

Halle's success is a great example of how maintaining focus on 🎯, and the motivation to pursue it 🏃‍♀️ truly does lead to the greatest accomplishments: a rewarding role with the opportunity to keep learning 📚 and growing 🌱 on a great new team. So happy for you, Halle! 🎉

08/23/2024

A huge congratulations and shout out to 🌟 Diana Duri 🌟 for being selected to step up to the Strategic Customer Success team at Handshake! 🎉

She has executive poise, empathy and incredible strategic instincts that will make an impact on this new team. Her resilience and commitment to learning and growth have led directly to this accomplishment and I can't wait to see what's around the next bend. 🚀 Way to go Diana!!! 👏✨🌟

08/08/2024

Another huge accomplishment from my community today - I am phenomenally impressed with Kyle Ruxton who was promoted to Senior Privacy Counsel at NAVEX in Lake Oswego, OR! 🏅💼

Kyle's ability to see opportunities, creative solutions, and clarity among all the competing priorities are absolutely inspirational. 🧠✨ By setting his sights high and bringing steady focus every step of the journey, he's set himself up for significant and meaningful accomplishments, just like this one. 🛤️🏆 His approach to career growth is exactly why Kyle has become such a stand-out executive in his field. 🔍📈

Working together over the last few years has been an honor, and I look forward to the accolades and growth to come! 🌟🔝

08/02/2024

Overjoyed to share another incredible accomplishment from my community this sunny Friday – a huuuuge congratulations to Elliot Gluck for joining Productsup as an Enterprise Account Executive!

Elliot work and prep for this role have been exemplary, from business due diligence to doing the deep personal work to find full alignment with the product, opportunity and culture. PATIENCE, POISE AND PROFESSIONALISM.

You deserve this Elliot - can't wait to see your wins roll out this year!

07/26/2024

Celebrating Kelsey Hough on this wonderful Friday for stepping into her brand new role as Director of Partner Activation at the Portland Trail Blazers!

This is a truly incredible life and career milestone, in addition to being one of the most legitimately cool jobs out there. Kelsey brings that incredible balance of strategy, empathy and executive poise that lets us all know we are in the presence of a real leader.

I'm so impressed and excited for this next step. Kelsey, you've earned it, you deserve it – you're evidence that hard work and perseverance pay off.

07/18/2024

Another incredible 🌟 life-altering career victory 🌟 to share with everyone this beautiful Thursday. A huge congratulations and shoutout 📣 to Salazar 🎉 who's joined Coveo's new Enterprise Account Management team!

German has an incredible depth of knowledge intelligent search-as-a-service, but that's not all. He the spent time required to find the right team, with the right product, where he could truly contribute value and grow himself. He conducted his search like a complete professional, doing all the research and due diligence required, but most importantly, he remained patient and kept standards high.

German you are an example to us all 💪 - clear goals, diligence, professionalism and the wisdom to celebrate 🏆 the win when it comes. So impressed with this new chapter you've begun!

The future starts now!

07/10/2024

Celebrating a HUGE win for **Jordan Burcham** at Summit Bank who is now his team's youngest Vice President and has been tapped to support growth into a new market. I'm so excited for you!

Through the last year+ Jordan brought incredible focus and tenacity to his development and has been an absolute champion of growth mindset - where constant learning is the highest form of success.

In our current mixed economy it's difficult for many of us to know which way to lean, who to promote ourselves to, or even to be sure which next career step would be best.

It's easy to start coasting. If that's you this summer - enjoy it for a few weeks, then let's kick this thing back into high gear.

If you need a jump start, check out this TedTalk by Carol Dweck and let's all take a moment and learn from the OG of Growth.

Carol Dweck researches “growth mindset” — the idea that we can grow our brain's capacity to learn and to solve problems. In this talk, she describes two ways to think about a problem that’s slightly too hard for you to solve. Are you not smart enough to solve it … or have you just not solv...