Blog
Coffee Break
Insights, stories, and thoughts that you can enjoy in under five minutes.
Pocket Change: Movement language in the boardroom
February’s notes on disruption from 18 Coffees co-founder Caleb Gardner exploring the importance of consistent internal communication, education, and engagement.
Celebrating the Year of the Tiger
As a second generation Chinese American, I grew up in the Chicago suburbs without many peers or friends who looked like me. As a kid and even a teenager, I just wanted to fit in and be accepted; I remember being self conscious about friends seeing the different foods my family ate (jook, pig’s feet, whole fish), what leftovers I might bring to school lunches, or hear the Chinese radio my grandparents always had on.
Pocket Change: “I do not dream of labor”
January’s notes on disruption from 18 Coffees co-founder Caleb Gardner.
Take Your Temperature: Measuring Your Capacity for Disruption
While certain elements of change are predictable, so many more are out of our control. And while leaders can’t accurately predict one hundred percent of what’s to come, they can measure their organizations’ capacity for disruption and prepare their teams to navigate change the best that they can.
To Make Organizational Change Effective, Focus on Behavior
Often when organizations identify new goals, they tend to do the same things they did in the past in order to achieve them. But it’s not just about measuring the end product when trying to gauge success.
Here’s to 2022
As we look ahead to 2022, we wanted to extend our sincerest thanks to our Community Partners. Because of you, we made it through the past year with our optimism intact and incredibly proud of the work we accomplished together.
Pocket Change: Strategic Optimism
December’s notes on disruption from 18 Coffees co-founder Caleb Gardner.
18 Coffees Holiday Gift Guide
Introducing the 18 Coffees Holiday Gift Guide! Each unique recommendation was curated by 18 Coffees Community Partners and comes from companies that are women-owned, LGBTQIA-owned, BIPOC-owned, or encourage sustainability.
Finding Your “Cookie Monster” Moment
When working with clients in change management bootcamps and training sessions, 18 Coffees walks through navigating the change lifecycle to help teams find their “Cookie Monster moment.”
Wake Up Wired: ESG’s Impact on Change and Success
18 Coffees’ senior engagement manager Phoebe Chen sat down with PwC sustainability senior manager Ellen Shieh and Dorothea Duenow, ESG reporting lead at UL, to dig a bit deeper and discuss ESG.
Finding Your Change Champions
As your organization grapples with change, it’s crucial to recruit change champions across levels and departments to serve as point people for actualizing the organization’s new blueprint.
When Identifying Leaders, Don’t Just Look to the Top
There are many people with influence in an organization. In times of change, don’t forget to look beyond your managers and CEOs.
ESG Provides New Opportunities for Employers to Show What They Value
Companies have an opportunity to take a stand in tangible ways, and they need to leverage their employees to make that stand sustainable and successful.
Top Three Resume Myths Busted
Building a resume is no easy feat. That’s why 18 Coffees connected with executive career coach Ashley Cash to bust three of the most common resume writing myths.
Hybrid Work: The Challenges of Combining WFH with IRL
After a year of remote work, corporations are slowly combining WFH with in-office time — but the transition to the hybrid work model still comes with its own set of challenges. As employers and employees alike continue to grapple with the choice to stay home or return to the office, there are three key considerations.
Trump is Gone, but Social Media’s Toxic Power Remains
The destructive potential of Twitter and Facebook is rooted in more than any one account. Here’s what we have to do next to keep it in check.
Wake Up Wired: All Things Social Media in 2020 with the Experts
Recently 18 Coffees held an exciting Wake Up Wired, our morning breakfast series, featuring social media leads from major brands to discuss how they’re navigating the once-in-a-generation crisis that is 2020 and COVID-19.
Writing Postcards for Democracy with Sister District
What can you do about the news besides late night doom-scrolling or raging on Twitter? If you’re like me, you’ve been asking this a lot in 2020. This summer, Community Partner Lauren Long gave us one concrete answer: write postcards!
As Volunteer Leader of Sister District Greater Chicago, Lauren is uniquely insightful about local races, and helped host a Postcard Party for our community to help us take action for races that matter. The interactive party was set up so that all attendees had postcard kits ready to be personalized and written before jumping on to a Zoom call together to learn more about candidates in key state legislative races, vent about the year, and put our rusty penmanship skills to good use.