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JoAnn Corley

Subscribe to my twice-a-month leadership development newsletter for bite-sized, actionable insights drawn from 27+ years of professional coaching experience - built on my Leadership, Lived experience-based leadership development system.

Book cover art of My Mother's Daughter
Featured Post

Special News: My Mother's Daughter

Hi friends and family, Many of you know that all four of the kids in my family are adopted. In recent years, three of us decided to do DNA testing, which opened up a journey for each of us that was quite unbelievable. For my sister, she discovered a biological sister named Tracy that had been looking for her. Tracy wrote a book, My Mother's Daughter, about finding her and their mother's journey. The book's official release is today, however it's gotten rave reviews already and is being...

A woman smiles while working on her laptop.

Wisdom is the ability to use knowledge, experience, understanding, and good judgment to make sound decisions, see beneath the surface of things (insight), and discern what is true, right, and lasting, often involving an ethical or moral dimension and understanding long-term consequences, going beyond mere intelligence to grasp human nature and reality. It's about applying learning for good, discerning wise actions, and can also refer to accumulated knowledge or wise teachings from a culture...

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The Gut as the "Second Brain" When people say they “feel it in their gut” they’re not being metaphorical. They’re describing a real biological process that plays a critical role in intuition and decision-making. The gut contains its own independent nervous system called the enteric nervous system (ENS). Referred to as the second brain, it consists of over 100 million neurons (more than the spinal cord!) and operates largely outside of conscious awareness. In other words, your gut processes...

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A Little-Known Superpower: Intuition in Decision-Making Intuition @Work In today’s workplace, intuition often gets dismissed as soft, unscientific, or unreliable. We’re taught to trust dashboards, KPIs, benchmarks, and spreadsheets - and rightly so. But quietly, behind many of the best leadership decisions, there’s another force at work. Intuition. Not guesswork. Not emotion. And certainly not “going with your gut” in a reckless way. True intuition is a highly refined leadership capability -...

Woman smiling at work

As a follow-up to our kick-off edition, Being Happier at Work, which emphasized identifying your personal satisfiers, I wanted to build on that conversation - specifically for those in leadership and management roles. I’m doing this intentionally because, over the years, I’ve worked with thousands of managers and uncovered a consistent truth: many are reluctant managers. For many professionals, management becomes the default next step. It’s often the most visible - or sometimes the only -...

Leadership, Lived

It’s already 2026, and we’re at the end of January! This first month has flown by. Whether you’re the kind of person who eases into the new year or someone who thoughtfully sets resolutions and goals, one thing is certain: most of us are back at work. As I write this, I’m on my way to a client for a one-day workshop on career planning and management - based on my years as a career coach and the workbook I released last year, The Real You @ Work. What a great way to kick off the year! I want...