Inspiration | Kontrary by Rebecca Thorman – Careers, Business, and Life Advice

The real Generation Y work ethic

by Rebecca Thorman on October 1229 Comments

I’ve been in my new job for almost two months now, and there’s something I’ve noticed on the face of the hundreds of young professionals I’ve encountered.

Exhaustion. Our generation is tired. Really tired. Me too.

One of my favorite young professionals is a member of our Entrepreneurial Committee. He works for a Fortune 500 company here in Madison by day, and by night and by weekend, he runs two companies that he founded. Two. He calls it straddling. A leg in the corporate world, a leg in the entrepreneurial dream. His eyes and cheeks and mouth though, they are suffocating in exhaustion.

Know thyself. Or get a psychic.

by Rebecca Thorman on September 2631 Comments

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Hercules and I recently visited Janet, the Psychic. The Psychic Gallery has bright red carpets, a strange mix of leather couches and plastic lawn chairs, and the fee is $35 to get your palm read. She also offers tarot card readings and full on what-is-your-future readings sans the crystal ball. The entire atmosphere screams rip-off, and it is located a short block from the State Capitol. Only in Madison.

No matter. It was just the entertainment Hercules and I were looking for on a rainy afternoon.

I didn’t want my palm read, but humored Hercules inside. After Janet the Psychic finished a surprisingly accurate reading of Hercules, and told us, in detail, about the zit beneath her eyebrow, Hercules decided that I should get my palm read too.

Follow the cool people

by Rebecca Thorman on September 1711 Comments

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The handsome guy to the left is Sam Davidson, the co-founder and president of CoolPeopleCare, Inc.

Sam offers an incredibly unique and talented perspective to the Follow the Leader series:

“Telling the stories that need telling in order to motivate others to change the things that need changing, Sam is a social entrepreneur who believes in the power of local communities. He has spoken and written on the power of the Internet to change the world for the better, and specializes in studying new and emerging trends within the nonprofit sector, especially as they relate to younger generations. His first book, “New Day Revolution: How to Save the World in 24 Hours” will be available in October.

Prioritize your authenticity

by Rebecca Thorman on August 3032 Comments

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I don’t openly discuss the fact that I’m a tree hugger because it makes people uncomfortable. See, Mother Nature reminds us a lot of our own mother; we believe they’ll always be there for us no matter what. So I don’t talk about being an environmentalist. It would be like reminding the other person that they haven’t called their mom for two weeks. And no one wants to be reminded of their mother during happy hour.

That’s a mistake, however, because I get miffed when others claim to be environmentally concerned, and are blatantly not. Like the people who shop at Whole Foods, and think that gets them a golden ticket to the garden of earthly delights, even though they have a SUV parked in the lot.

My new job

by Rebecca Thorman on August 2635 Comments

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Update: This post was also published at Damsels in Success.

I started a new job on Wednesday. At 23 years old, I am now the Executive Director of a young professional organization whose mission is to attract and retain young talent and leadership in my area in order to contribute to the regions’ economic, civic, social, and public policy futures. Can’t get more Gen-Y Princess than that.

After one of the best first days at work ever, a day that left me dazed at the possibility of it all, I sat with my friend Hercules at his condo. His condo is trendy and beautiful, and immaculately clean, like in a commercial, the kind of clean that makes you feel dirty even if you’ve just taken a shower.

Mark your calendar to unite!

by Rebecca Thorman on August 211 Comment

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Update: Obviously, I do not have any advertising on this site, so I cannot donate the revenue. Instead, I will donate .25 for every subscriber I have for the blog on October 15th and will split the donation between my favorite online environmental charity and my favorite local environmental charity.

I’m participating in Blog Action Day on October 15th. Are you?

Young Go Getter summarizes:

“It’s called Blog Action Day, and the blogging event is scheduled to take place on October 15th. The idea is simple: 1) Write a post about about an issue or solution that relates to the environment.

What it means to be a Gen Y leader

by Rebecca Thorman on July 3036 Comments

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This post was originally published at Employee Evolution.
Update: You can also find the post at The Industry Radar.

It’s a myth that the workplace is turning into one big leaderless state. Just as decisions made by committee often require head banging, life without leaders would be one big headache. Yes, leadership has changed and decentralized organizations are here to stay, but there will always be leaders. We want success. We want to win, and winners have leaders.

Once you’ve tossed aside the crutch of hierarchical authority though, “knowing how to build relationships, use influence and work with others is crucial to achieving the results you seek,” according to Valeria Maltoni, a specialist in connecting ideas and people.

Advice from top Executives, Presidents, and CEOs

by Rebecca Thorman on July 2516 Comments

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We won’t all be Steve Jobs, but many of us will be the top executives in our respective cities. I recently met with seven of the top Executives, Presidents and CEOs in Madison, Wisconsin. Here are their keys to business and leadership success—

Share your success. It is incumbent on the person being promoted, according to Mark Meloy, President and CEO of First Business Bank, to pull others along with them. Make sure that as you become more successful, your leaders feel that their careers are moving forward as well.

Network to problem-solve. Finding groups that help you problem-solve will save many a headache, according to Brett Armstrong, CFO of the IT company Trident Contact Management.

One of many lessons from my acting debut

by Rebecca Thorman on July 1515 Comments

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The first words in the play came from me, “Turn on the lights, sweetheart. Makes it less lonely.” And so commenced the wide open step I took out of my box on Saturday night.

I had imagined that with a twenty minute play and by marking “None” under acting experience I would have gotten a few lines, maybe five or six, in a play. But when I received my script, “Hi, Rebecca? Nice to meet you. You’re Daria,” I realized that when you sign up for Blitz, those folks don’t care.

I had a real part, with A LOT of lines.

24 hours from page to stage

by Rebecca Thorman on July 106 Comments

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I had a lot of great posts lined up for this week, but all I really want to write about is what I did as I was walking home after my day ended. I live near a theater, just a couple blocks away, and have lived here for about two years never thinking much about it. But today were the sign-ups for a play. A special type of play where you don’t have to have any acting experience and it’s all created in one day. You go in at 10:00 am and at 8:00 pm that night you perform. With no experience whatsoever.

Millennial confidence and failure go hand-in-hand

by Rebecca Thorman on July 0719 Comments

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I just spent the last twenty-four hours (and months of thinking and planning), working on this website. Not just this blog, but an events calendar that is far from going “live.” Creating this blog was fun for me. I know enough HTML to make some creative design decisions in order to create a clean modern site, with enough whimsy that expresses my style and brand.

The events calendar, however, sounds simple enough, but my desire to create something that fully expresses my brand got me in trouble. For some reason, I thought that since I could build this blog on my own, with a few tweaks, that I could build the events calendar as well, with just a few tweaks.