Welcome to Gems & Gemisodes®

Easy-to-digest insights on workplace, personal, and leadership optimization

Dive into our most popular gems for actionable insights  to help you optimize

gem = standalone article | gemisode = two-part article

We speak candidly about the workplace, leadership, and personal optimization insights you need to know, but others often shy away from.

In sharing our perspective, our goal is simple: to spark curiosity and inspire the actions needed to create a more optimized future for all.

Ever wondered why you miss small errors in your work even after hours of perfecting it? It turns out, the brain's quest for efficiency is to blame—overworking leads to missed details and biases that hinder optimization, but with the right mindset and tools, you can train your brain for growth and success!

The Keys to Personal and Business Optimization are...

gem | Organizational Optimization

When you think of leadership, do introverts come to mind? This post challenges traditional views, highlighting how introverted leaders—like Charmaine—excel through deep listening, empathy, and thoughtful decision-making.

Quiet Strength: Embracing Introverted Leadership in Business

gem | personal optimization

Grief knows no timeline. Supporting grieving employees is essential for cultivating a compassionate and resilient workplace culture. This post delves into how leaders can create environments where grief is acknowledged, employees feel supported, and both emotional well-being and productivity are strengthened, fostering a more loyal and engaged workforce.


































Grief and What Every Leader Needs to Get Right

gem | personal optimization | leadership optimization

Check out our latest Gems & Gemisodes ®

row of white on white empty desks

Editor’s Note: In recognition of National PTSD Awareness Day (June 27th), this first-person essay from our Founder & CEO, Charmaine Green-Forde, offers a rare, unfiltered look at the toll toxic workplace culture can take—especially from behind the scenes in HR.   Is the danger of toxic workplace culture overblown—or are we just used to it? […]

Refilled Seats and Forgotten Lives

Gem, Leadership Optimization, Personal Optimization

A Gemisode® Series Let’s not sugarcoat it: Comfort is costing you. It’s costing trust, innovation, top talent, market share, and time you’ll never get back. In Part I, we explored why resistance to change runs so deep—rooted in behavioral patterns like status quo bias, loss aversion, and inertia. In Part II, we uncovered how culture […]

Committed to Comfort Part III: The Real Cost of Comfort (and the Way Forward)

Gemisode, Leadership Optimization, Organizational Optimization

A Gemisode® Series   If Part I asked us to confront the psychology behind resistance to change, Part II takes us deeper—into something more subtle but just as dangerous: how culture becomes the cloak that comfort hides behind. Here’s the thing: comfort doesn’t just show up in what people do—it shows up in what organizations […]

Committed to Comfort Part II: Culture Is Not a Cloak for Comfort

Gemisode, Organizational Optimization

Comfort Zome

A Gemisode® Series Many leaders and organizations say they want change. But when it’s time to do the work? They choose comfort. Again. They bring in consultants. Coaches. Experts. They draft bold vision statements and announce transformations. And yet—when the moment comes to make decisions that require courage, vulnerability, and behavioral change? They stall. They […]

Committed to Comfort Part I: You Said You Wanted Change… But You’re Clinging to Comfort!

Gemisode, Organizational Optimization

A Gemisode® Series – Part II Once celebrated for its flexibility and adaptability, we opened Part I of this series by asking whether Agile is showing signs of cracking under its own weight. In other words: Has the movement become too rigid to serve the needs of teams and businesses today? And if so, what […]

Is Rigidity Becoming the Fragility of Agility Frameworks? – Part II

Gemisode, Organizational Optimization

A Gemisode® Series – Part I First introduced in 2001, the Agile Manifesto—authored by 17 software practitioners and guided by four values and twelve principles—was about defining core values and principles for software development, prioritizing flexibility, collaboration, and adaptability. Over two decades later, the methodology continues to significantly shape the business world as its adoption […]

Is Rigidity Becoming the Fragility of Agility Frameworks?

Gemisode, Organizational Optimization

Chess board

A Gemisode® Series – Part II Women are judged regardless of their actions, so our belief is that you might as well go ahead and ask for what you need, want, and, let’s be frank, very often already deserve. In Part I, we got real about  the double standards women face in the workplace and […]

Women: Ask for What You Want, You’re Being Judged Either Way – Part II

Gemisode, Personal Optimization

Chess board

A Gemisode® Series – Part I In the workplace, it’s no secret that women often face different expectations and challenges compared to their male counterparts. These double standards not only affect their day-to-day experiences but also their opportunities for advancement and compensation. Despite contributing significantly to their organizations, women are often judged on subjective criteria […]

Women: Ask for What You Want, You’re Being Judged Either Way

Gemisode, Personal Optimization

Knowledge is Power written against sage background.

A Gemisode® Series – Part II In part I of this Gemisode, we introduced the term intersectionality, coined by legal scholar, educator, and activist Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. We also shared our perspective on the impact of failing to address and educate people on the realities of the human experience. Now it’s time to […]

Is Intentional or Unintentional Ignorance at the Root of the Attack on DEI? – Part II

Gemisode, Organizational Optimization

Knowledge is Power written against sage background.

A Gemisode® Series – Part I It’s June, which means another month of highlighting and bringing awareness to various causes has arrived. This month, in addition to Pride, which celebrates and recognizes the contributions of members of the LGBTQ+ community, we also focus on Men’s Health, which seeks to bring attention to the unique health […]

Is Intentional or Unintentional Ignorance at the Root of the Attack on DEI?

Gemisode, Organizational Optimization

A NYC certified Minority/Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE)

 © 2021- 2025 Chapter too™  all rights reserved.