Insights on EX and Leadership | Blog

Employee Experience Employee Wellness

April 8, 2025

Time to Burn Down What We Know About Burnout

What assumptions do you make about burnout? Perhaps we’re missing the opportunity to solve the complete problem because we’re not addressing the root cause.

Rachel Cooke

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Leading Through Change Organizational Effectiveness

November 12, 2024

These Unsteady Times

Let’s consider a new framework for leading change in today’s world. Here’s what you can do as a leader in the face of so much change.

Rachel Cooke

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Leaders Workplace Conditions | Sun + Wind Fable

Leadership Development

October 22, 2024

Leaders, You’re Doing the Wrong Job

Leaders, let’s fix this and take a look at all your job isn’t. Maybe there’s a lesson to be learned in loosening our grip in the workplace.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development

October 8, 2024

Solving Big Problems the Easy Way

Solving big problems… What if there was an easier way? SPOILER: There is!

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Leading Through Change

September 24, 2024

5 Reasons Your Change Efforts Are Failing

Companies are failing in their change efforts — too often and for no good reason. Here are the 5 biggest causes of failure I see on repeat.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development

September 10, 2024

Solving All the Problems IS Your Problem

Your team is drowning. It’s chaos, and you know it. But where do you even begin to address all the problems that demand your attention? The solution may not be as complicated as you’re making…

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development

August 20, 2024

Frankenstein’s Workplace: A One-Star Review

The thing about Frankenstein is — he had all the parts. It’s just, their nightmarish construction left him…clunky. Unagile. Monstrous. And who among us hasn’t used one (OK, all) of those words to describe the…

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development

August 6, 2024

My Team is Asking for the Impossible

If you’re avoiding asking your teams what they need — for fear of not being able to deliver on the ask — it may be time to reframe. There are likely some easier wins that…

Rachel Cooke

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Activation (Performance Concept Concert)

Leadership Development

July 23, 2024

Stop Performing & Start Activating

Are you singing and dancing instead of asking and listening? I love a good stage performance, but it’s time to drop the curtain and Activate your leaders.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Leadership Development

July 9, 2024

Lessons Learned From Dragons and Trash

With exciting innovations on the horizon — like generative AI and virtual workplaces — leaders need to be sure to not lose sight of the wisdom that can still be found in past experiences.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience

June 25, 2024

Your Engagement Survey’s Crushing Your Employee Experience

Use the right tools at the right time! Engagement surveys are great measuring tools, but too often, organizations are mistakenly using them to build an action plan. So what’s the fix? Read on.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Organizational Culture

June 4, 2024

We’ve Got to Stop the Insanity

Are you addressing the same problems with the same solutions — even though they didn’t work last time? Here are three situations I see on repeat within organizations.

Rachel Cooke

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Go Further Faster | Stronger Team Performance

Leadership Development Organizational Culture

May 21, 2024

Secret to Stronger Team Performance? The Off Switch

In today’s workplace, we’re all striving to go further faster. But we’re over-indexing when we need more time to float, pause, rest.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Organizational Culture

May 7, 2024

The Future of Work: It’s Too Sexy!

Yes, the future of work matters, but we need to make sure we don’t focus on the future at the expense of the present.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Leading Through Change Organizational Culture

April 23, 2024

How to Lead Hard Changes Well

Hard choices and changes at work are in abundance these days. And while hard changes are hard, they’re part of business — of life. And there are ways to just do it better.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Organizational Culture

April 9, 2024

Stop Being So Afraid to Ask!

Don’t be afraid to ask — to orchestrate an employee focus group and listen to your employees. The anxiety is reasonable but often misplaced.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Leading Through Change Organizational Culture

March 19, 2024

Leading Change? Shift Left

It’s a strategic directive. Not a political one. Because the struggle with change is real. And this advice holds the key.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Organizational Culture

March 5, 2024

You Want It? Earn It

Leaders, we all know what you want — our innovation, our ingenuity, our most creative ideas. How are you going to activate it?

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Leading Through Change Organizational Culture

February 20, 2024

Are We In on the Joke?

Do you remember your first love? For me, hands down, it was Shel Silverstein. His book The Giving Tree illustrates what it means to be “in on the joke.”

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Organizational Culture

February 1, 2024

Your Engagement Survey is Holding You Back

Don’t get me wrong: I love a good survey. But don’t let it stop you from ACTIVATING.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Organizational Culture

January 23, 2024

Time to Trash-Talk Your Team

We need a solution — and it’s trash. Let’s take a look at how you’re talking to your team — and how you can activate them.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Organizational Culture

November 27, 2023

Let’s Pull the Jump Scare Out of Change

We are struggling with so much change not due to its presence, but due to our inability to see it coming. Leaders must communicate better.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Organizational Culture

November 7, 2023

Will It Make The Boat Go Faster?

Successful teams are invited to contribute their ideas - to define success and identify the employee experience that will drive achievement.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Organizational Culture

November 7, 2023

Ready to Activate a Strong Year End?

Teams that deliver high performance and experience employee engagement are fully activated. They can deliver, develop, connect, and thrive.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Organizational Culture

October 8, 2023

Unblock Behavior Change With Leadership Development

Leadership development is only as good as the behaviors it changes over time. Behaviors change only when we spot and resolve obstacles.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Organizational Culture

October 8, 2023

How To Solve Big Problems

Solving big problems requires framing the question but looking for small solutions that ladder up to big impact.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Organizational Culture

August 15, 2023

How To Crush 2023’s Second Half

Building culture in the workplace is about taking meaningful action. Not checking boxes. Learn how to do this well.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Organizational Culture

August 15, 2023

Are Your Leaders Future-Fit?

Building culture in the workplace is about taking meaningful action. Not checking boxes. Learn how to do this well.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Organizational Culture

August 7, 2023

Struggling To Build Culture? Stop Checking Boxes

Building culture in the workplace is about taking meaningful action. Not checking boxes. Learn how to do this well.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Leadership Development

June 23, 2023

What We’ve Gotten So Wrong About Surveys

Surveys are a great tool for telling us how we've done. But we also ask them to be a vehicle to inform what we do next. Let's solve this.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Leadership Development

June 23, 2023

Keep Engagement High. No Budget Required.

Leaders can engage their employees by just asking, listening, focusing, prioritizing, and moving obstacles. Give them what they need. No budget required.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development

June 6, 2023

Let a Recession Fuel Your Leadership Development

Leadership development is a must-have investment in seasons of needing teams to do more with less. Here's how to do it well.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Organizational Culture

May 17, 2023

Solving The Great EX-ecutive Buy-In Challenge

Executive buy-in is where a great employee experience begins. Use data to earn their support.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Organizational Culture

May 17, 2023

Let’s NOT Talk Employee Experience Today

A well-crafted employee experience solves business problems while retaining talent

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Organizational Culture

April 25, 2023

The Power of Strategic Interruption

The employee experience doesn't just happen. Leaders need to interrupt their teams from routine and ask great questions.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience

April 11, 2023

The 4 Filters That Make Your Employee Experience Magical!

Crafting an impactful employee experience begins with filtering out the less important so you can focus on what matters

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Leadership Development

March 9, 2023

REAL Answers To REAL Questions From Leaders

Leadership development for new leaders means giving a safe space not just to learn but ask the "dumb" questions. And get real answers!

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Leadership Development

February 24, 2023

We’ve Got A 5-Alarm Fire To Put Out

Leaders are cutting in reaction to economic uncertainty. But instead they should be responding with an engaging employee experience.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Leadership Development

February 2, 2023

Deer in Headlights Don’t Win Prizes

Employee anxiety is high. Leadership must be communicating with kindness, clarity and consistency to repair the Employee Experience.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Leadership Development

January 20, 2023

Great EX-Pectations

Employee experience is key. Focus on small actions and celebrating wins. Read on for a few more ideas to consider as you evaluate your EX.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Leadership Development

January 5, 2023

Here’s To Keeping 2023…SIMPLE!

How will you tackle 2023? I’m going for SIMPLE. That desire for simplicity lies in SIMPLE group coaching. Leadership development is about action and accountability that is achieved through group coaching.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication

December 20, 2022

2022: Highlights, Gratitude, and Next Steps

Well, 2022’s just about down the hatch. It’s been an adventure and I’m ready for a big old rest before diving into the new year.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Organizational Culture Organizational Effectiveness

December 16, 2022

Your 4 Talent Plays for 2023

Your 4 Talent Plays for 2023 Talent has really given us a run for our money this year. They’ve resigned greatly, they’ve quit quietly. They’ve been in short supply, and also we’ve laid them off.…

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Organizational Culture Organizational Effectiveness

November 17, 2022

Why It May Be Time to Stop Listening

Silence has something to teach us If you’ve been listening to the world around you, then you know there’s been a collective rallying cry for more listening. Professionally and politically, calls for active listening, for demonstrating…

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Organizational Effectiveness

November 1, 2022

How to Fuel Future Plans with Hindsight Intelligence

We’re all sitting on piles of golden rocket fuel… I ran a team offsite last week. In person. With people and pants and posters. It was so great. As we look ahead, let’s also look…

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Leadership Development

October 18, 2022

Answers to Your Never-Dumb Questions

Remember when our teachers used to encourage us to ask the “dumb” questions because if we were wondering, chances are others were too? They were so right! And I’ve carried this with me as a…

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Talent Engagement

October 4, 2022

The New Face of New Leader Development

I’ve always loved magic. Quarters and cards, rabbits and hats charmed me endlessly. So when I got a “How to do Magic” book on my 7th birthday, I dove all in!

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Leadership Development

September 12, 2022

What “Quiet Quitting” is Trying to Teach Us

Quiet Quitting. Kinda the loudest thing on the socials right now. Amiright? Feels like it’s everywhere, sparking countless debates!

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Leading Through Change X Featured Post

August 24, 2022

How Leading Through Change…Has Changed

Remember when change was a choice? Made with intention in pursuit of a known outcome? Remember when change was a contained thing, with a beginning and an end?

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience

August 9, 2022

This Summer’s Hottest Employee Experience Insights!

Not sure what you’ve been up to, but my summer’s been pulsing with Pulse Checks!

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Employee Wellness Talent Engagement

July 27, 2022

Craft an Employee Experience in “Recessiony” Times

An economist I am not. So, I’m unapologetic about my using the word “recessiony.”

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Organizational Effectiveness

June 13, 2022

The 4 Horsemen of the Decision-Making Apocalypse

Decision-making is coming up in Pulse Checks a lot these days. But the conversations aren’t about power or entitlement.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience

June 13, 2022

Your Real Communication Problem (and How to Solve It!)

Let’s talk about Communication — the capital “C” brand of communicating; the brand that’s a discipline, an art.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Organizational Effectiveness

April 22, 2022

5 Ways to Recharge + Lift Your Leadership Development

We’ve infused a lot of leadership development into this past year. Organizations are recognizing the need to invest in their leaders – to grow their capabilities, to leave them feeling invested in.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience

March 18, 2022

Focus on Employee Experience…or Business Results?

You know the answer. It's YES! Because of course. It's a trick question.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Leadership Development Organizational Culture

March 2, 2022

Time for Real, Messy Dialogue and Debate at Work

To all my clients who continue to ask, “how can we spark debate when we are a conflict-averse culture?” please hear me: You’re asking a flawed question.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Leadership Development Organizational Effectiveness

February 18, 2022

How (and Why) to Run a Wayfinding Session

In the earliest days of the pandemic we all went into GO-mode. We scrambled and raced and efforted…we carried worlds on our shoulders to keep it all on the rails.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience

February 18, 2022

5 Tips for Kickstarting the Employee Experience

Employee Experience (EX) is kind of everything right now. It’s that magical force that retains, sustains, and unleashes the power of our talent. And whose top priority isn’t talent right now?

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Organizational Culture

February 18, 2022

How to Define the Future of Work

Between ages 5 and 14, I was asked 1,278 times what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development

January 4, 2022

What HR Leaders Across Industries Say About Talent Retention in 2022

Retaining top talent is top-of-mind for HR leaders across industries. Call it the Great Resignation, the Big Quit, the Great Reshuffle...but just call it. Talent today is holding all the cards.

Rachel Cooke

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Organizational Culture Organizational Effectiveness Talent Engagement

December 1, 2021

The 4 Most Valuable Lessons of 2021

When my girls were little, they never stopped talking. In the moment it felt like auditory assault. In hindsight, though, I wish I’d listened more. Now, in teen and tween years, I must pull teeth…

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development

November 10, 2021

Three Levers to Amp the ROI on your L+D

In the earliest months of pandemic life, as panic pervaded, and our collective focus was on keeping the train on the tracks, learning and development (L+D) went into hibernation mode.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development

October 31, 2021

The 3 Drivers of Innovation in 2022

New ideas, reinvention, and creative energy are the lifeblood of success today. Yet so many companies in my orbit play in highly regulated and/or risk-averse spaces.

Rachel Cooke

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Organizational Culture Organizational Effectiveness Talent Engagement

October 12, 2021

Our Top 7 Discoveries of 2021

At Lead Above Noise, we design experiences. And those experiences are built upon a foundation of Discovery.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Organizational Effectiveness Talent Engagement

September 29, 2021

Four Keys to a Meaningful Q4 2021

And while Q4 is the same size and shape as the others, it always seems to fight above its weight class. Q4 holds the most pressure but also the most promise. It's about closure…but also…

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Organizational Culture Talent Engagement

August 30, 2021

Is Your Team Ready to Shift Into High-Gear?

A change of season commands a change in energy. And specifically, the transition from summer to fall may be the most demanding.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Employee Wellness

August 11, 2021

The Burnout Antidote: It’s Not What You Think

We’re starting to burn out on burnout. Burnout is still commanding headlines – rightfully so. Because we’ve not solved it.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Talent Engagement

July 30, 2021

Solution-Seeking May Be Your Problem. Let’s Fix It.

When a system is down, IT must fix it. When compensation is inequitable, HR must fix it. When a product fails a customer, Product Management must fix it.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience

July 9, 2021

Buy a Hole. Not a Drillbit.

I've paraphrased thereby reducing classiness - but hopefully not impact.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Talent Engagement

June 23, 2021

5 and 1/2 Ways to Stop the Great Resignation

For efficiency's sake, I'll assume you're aware we've been living and working through pandemic times. That burnout's been insanely high and survival has trumped thriving and we're all just so damn tired.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Organizational Culture

June 22, 2021

Are You Nourishing Your Culture?

Culture only thrives when we fuel it. Culture is a living, breathing thing. And like all living things, it requires nourishment to thrive.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development Organizational Effectiveness Talent Engagement

June 1, 2021

Why Leadership Development is Failing

And how to pivot. The imperative for leadership - real leadership - has never been louder or clearer in the span of our working lifetime.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience

May 12, 2021

Big Problems, Simple Solutions. What If We…

Just because the problem's complex, doesn't mean the solution need be. I challenge clients weekly with this little nugget.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience

May 7, 2021

Let’s Talk Virtual Employee Experience

I'll assume we all understand EX is critical to human performance and team success. But how's yours coming along...virtually?

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Organizational Culture Organizational Effectiveness

April 23, 2021

I Don’t Do Reorgs. I Do This Instead.

Pop quiz. I say "reorg" and your instinct is to… A or B…

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Employee Wellness

April 15, 2021

A Moment of Renewal

Take what you can afford. Even just a breath. There are traditional moments of renewal. Clean slates. Fresh starts.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Leadership Development Organizational Effectiveness

March 17, 2021

Are You Retrofitting or Reinventing?

Whatever your role or industry, things at work have changed. Six-months into #PandemicLife, some of us are operating 100% virtually while others on the frontlines are live and in person.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Organizational Effectiveness

February 23, 2021

Manage the Tension Between Fast and Right

When the two feel at odds...how do you map your course? The world - including the world of work - is changed. Maybe forever. And we're all in a collective season of reinventing how we…

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Leadership Development

January 8, 2021

Ready for a Reset?

Let us help you find renewal with your team. With a free tool.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Leading Through Change

December 18, 2020

Do These 5 Things in 2021

2020. We've almost done it! And it's been... ! The year may not have been pretty. But it caught us off-guard. Which, in turn, offers us the gift of foresight for 2021.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Leading Through Change

November 19, 2020

It’s Time to Lean On Some Certainty

Some days I feel like I'm floating between two islands. On the first is all that was but is no longer. On the second is all that will be that I can't yet see.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Leading Through Change Organizational Culture Talent Engagement

October 23, 2020

How to Forge a Path Forward

How the tools and framework for #EmployeeExperience can show you the way. You know how this moment feels weird and fraught and dystopian...but also the littlest bit settled?

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Leading Through Change Talent Engagement

September 19, 2020

How to Lead Change in a Crisis

Traditional change leadership begins with articulating a vision. And articulating a vision presumes the change was designed with intent: that leadership has opted to shift its strategy or alter its structure or implement a new…

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience

September 16, 2020

Building the Talent EX of Tomorrow: t.EX.t

Ready or not, the world has changed. And over time it will reset...but never quite return to what was. Rules have changed. Competition for talent will be global. Fancy office spaces not-so-relevant. New ways of…

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience

August 27, 2020

Inclusion. Connection. Voice.

The needs of humanity and the needs of business have finally, truly collided. The state of the world has unleashed a pervasive experience of isolation, anxiety, uncertainty, devastation, and a ravenous appetite for purpose and…

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Leadership Development

August 19, 2020

Let the “Adjacent Possible” Define What’s Next

Remember when the OG iPhone could've knocked us over with a feather? It's ubiquitous today, but collectively we spent a hot minute in silent awe.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience

June 24, 2020

Listening Posts: The Tool You Need Now

As this moment of chaos and uncertainty continues to prevail, the true experts in the business - the ones we should all be heeding and following - are no one.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience

June 23, 2020

The Moment for a Pulse Check is Now

Hi. How are you? And how would you answer that if you and I were hanging out by a water cooler (remember water coolers?)?

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience

June 18, 2020

Make Connecting Your Top Priority

Getting things done matters now. But making sure we're all OK matters more. Let's talk about that.

Rachel Cooke

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Leadership Development

June 6, 2020

Oops…I Made It Better!

Confession: I sobbed uncontrollably while watching Saturday Night Live's virtual premier. Something about Tom Hanks hosting in front of his oven just broke me.

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Leading Through Change Organizational Culture

June 4, 2020

Future of Work Have you Spinning? Time to Simplify…

It’s easy to get lost in the spin of all we can’t predict; the totality of questions we can’t answer. But what if we focused instead on a single question we can answer?

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Leading Through Change

May 29, 2020

Is It Time to Redefine “Work”?

Is work, for you, defined by effort? Exertion? Impact? Is it about time spent? Results achieved? Does it depend on what you’re doing? Where you’re doing it? With whom? Is it grounded in the experience…

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Talent Engagement

May 23, 2020

How We’re Moving Toward the Future of Work

When it comes to the Future of Work (FOW), I'm grateful for the trendwatchers and makers out there. I consume and celebrate their wisdom.

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Talent Engagement

April 16, 2020

What’s Your Noise?

When I named my company, Lead Above Noise, six years ago, I was shooting for pithy and on-brand in three words or fewer. Those were my three. And I stand by them now more than…

Rachel Cooke

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Employee Experience Employee Wellness

April 8, 2020

Anxiety. Resilience. Some Resources to Support You.

So much in this moment is hard. Scary. And yet, there is something about its universality that's been sitting with me. I've had so many conversations in recent weeks whose themes echo all the other…

Rachel Cooke

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Communication Employee Experience Employee Wellness Leadership Development

March 28, 2020

What Leaders are Getting Dangerously Wrong Right Now. And How to Fix it.

The convergence of the persistent Covid pandemic with the racial injustice and calls to action in the US (and abroad) has led to a moment in which emotions and stakes are running hotter and higher…

Rachel Cooke

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