You know, firefighting at work has become so normal, we've almost stopped noticing when we're doing it.

But it doesn't have to be this way. So many of the fires we're battling started as sparks.

And today, let's talk about some ways we can look for those sparks and put them out before they explode.

Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor.

I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, where we help leaders work better by design to reimagine

how work gets done so that results and well-being rise together.

If this sounds like a needed refresh, I'd love to speak at your next event or offsite.

Reach out at leadabovenoise.com slash connect.

Oh, and also, I've launched a new Work Better by Design email series, totally free and there

if you're curious to learn more about the practice.

Hop over to leadabovenoise.com slash email to subscribe today. And you'll find those links in the show

notes. So when my daughter was eight, she came down to dinner one night after a play date and she was

doing this thing with her hair, like holding onto a piece of it kind of oddly. I noticed, I asked about it,

and she looked away like she had no idea what I was

talking about. She had not yet mastered subtlety, and I was her mother, so I knew something was up.

It wasn't until the next morning, though, that I found a big old chunk of her hair in the garbage

can, and I went to confront her and I found her now

looking like an alfalfa sprout. It turns out her friend had cut a small piece of her hair,

but she didn't want me to get mad at the friend. Truth be told, it really hadn't been a big

issue until she made it one by trapping her own hair off. What started as a small snip became a very unfortunate situation, ending with emergency bangs

and a solid year of zero photos allowed.

I share this not only as a PSA to avoid emergency bangs at all costs, but also because

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