In my quest to become a better leader and a better communicator, I read everything I can get my hands on and I practice, practice, practice (my piano teacher, who was also my great-aunt, used to say, “Perfect practice makes perfect).

I likely drive my team nuts at times because I practice on them. Sometimes the skills I’m developing work and sometimes they don’t. It’s not easy being at the top – you don’t have anyone to teach and mentor you. You rely on your (very understanding) team to let you try different things.

That’s why I was interested to read about Google granting 10 percent raises to ALL of its 23,000 employees. It’s not like they can’t afford it, as of this morning they’re now offering to buy Groupon for $6 billion (which, BTW, is just insane money, but that’s a different topic for a different time). (more…)