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

A Gemisode™ Series – Part II Dr. Sarah Webb, in a 2017 essay explained that internalized oppression was “the belief among historically oppressed people that negative stereotypes about themselves and positive stereotypes about a dominant group are, in fact true.” Delving deeper into the dangers of internalized oppression, the 2022 Forbes article by Janice Gassam […]

Expecting the Ally that You Refuse to Be? – Part II

Gemisode, Leadership Optimization, Personal Optimization

A Gemisode™ Series – Part I “The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom.”― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed If guaranteed allies were freely handed out, who wouldn’t line up? Receiving support when experiencing difficulty can have a positive impact on our mental and emotional state, yet, […]

Expecting the Ally that You Refuse to Be?

Gemisode, Leadership Optimization, Personal Optimization

You didn’t expect us to give it away in the first sentence, did you? ? Before we share our keys to optimization, let’s chat about the barriers to optimization… Have you ever spent hours attempting to perfect an email, assignment, or project only to catch an error or misspelled word long after submission? Ugh, we […]

The Keys to Personal and Business Optimization are…

Gem, Organizational Optimization, Personal Optimization

Yellow dice with different facial expressions

Success, clarity, execution, balance, fulfilment, alignment, peace — or, fill in the word that best describes what you seek. Self-check:  Are you sinking, surviving, or thriving? One guarantee in life is that everyone navigates these stages and at times, all at once. Whether you’re sinking, surviving, or thriving; burnout, depression, anxiety, relational difficulties, motivational challenges, […]

Navigating & Coaching Your Chapter tOO…

Gem, Personal Optimization

Scrabble words related to learning

A Gemisode™ Series – Part II In part I, we shared established terms connected to the tenets of diversity and then offered our own and broader approach, AJEDI-B ™.  We then went on to highlight the harm and impact marginalized communities experience as a result of organizations continually narrowing diversity to an exercise of count.   […]

So, You Want To Be AJEDI-B™ Master? – Part II

Gemisode, Organizational Optimization, Personal Optimization

Leadership Fail Statements, Gemisode I, Pt. 1

In part I, we shared the first and might we add, epic, Leadership Fail Statement, “I’ll find time in the coming weeks”. The statement was made by a C-suite executive to an employee who escalated an issue they’d been unsuccessfully navigating and attempting to resolve with the direct leadership team of said executive for months. […]

Leadership Fail Statements, Gemisode 1, Pt. 2 (What to Say Instead)

Gemisode, Leadership Optimization, Personal Optimization

Black man against dark blue background with words written on post-its on his face

A Gemisode™ Series – Part II In part I, we presented the concepts and definitions central to the series, specifically, intersectionality and psychological safety. We then connected the concepts and highlighted the researched benefits (e.g., increased team performance, retention, and effective communication) of psychological safety in the workplace before sharing our belief around why psychological […]

“Psychological Safety” is Aspirational, not lived Reality – Part II

Gemisode, Leadership Optimization, Organizational Optimization

Black man against dark blue background with words written on post-its on his face

A Gemisode™ Series – Part I Could one ever feel safe in an environment that refused to acknowledge their intersectional identities and experiences? Simply put—nope. Intersectionality, as coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, is defined as: “A lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not […]

“Psychological Safety” is Aspirational, not lived Reality – Part I

Gemisode, Leadership Optimization, Organizational Optimization

Leadership Fails

Collective cringe-y or face-palm moments often follow a combination of ill-timed, inappropriate or willfully unaware statements made by those in positions of power and authority. In this series, we examine the impact of actual statements made by leaders around the globe in response to internal or external issues, which, at times, overlap. Alexander Pope first […]

Leadership Fail Statements: A Gemisode™ Series

Gem, Leadership Optimization, Personal Optimization

Leadership Fail Statements, Gemisode I, Pt. 1

When an employee finally musters the courage to reach out to you after being subjected to a toxic and harmful situation that has involved several parties, including your leadership team, who have either: 1) Been the cause of said harm or  2) Failed to adequately acknowledge or address the harm Your response should NOT be, […]

Leadership Fail Statements, Gemisode I, Pt. 1

Gemisode, Leadership Optimization, Personal Optimization

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