You know people.
So why is it still hard to ask for help?
I'm Dr. LaShawnna Harris, an educator, strategist, and founder of sharedtalent. I speak and write about designing learning experiences that build trust, connection, and the courage it takes to ask for help.
Sound familiar?
I've stopped getting promoted, and I'm not sure I want the next rung anyway.
I'm the one everyone calls. I never make the call myself.
I want work that feels like mine, not just the next title.
Free · Dec 11, 7:00–8:00 pm ET · Zoom
sharedtalent turns 7
Join me for an hour of celebration and a look at what's next.
Dreams grow faster in community.
Most of us were never taught how to build relationships on purpose. The Bond framework, grounded in my research on trust and social capital among entrepreneurs, gives you five practices to nurture and activate the relationships you already have.
Visibility
Show up consistently in spaces that matter.
Curiosity
Invest genuine interest in who others are and what they need.
Generosity
Give help, ideas, and resources without keeping score.
Participation
Show up in the moments that matter and share experiences that become the connective tissue of a relationship.
Bridging
Build relationships beyond your usual circles, so more information, introductions and opportunity can reach you.
Pick the one that fits right now.
Workshops
Workshops and learning
My workshops now live at sharedtalent, a learning space for accomplished women ready to be beginners again.
1:1
1:1 coaching, by request
I take a small number of coaching clients each year. Reach out to ask about availability.
What changes.
“The timing of this workshop was perfect. The materials provided a practical framework for assessing my current professional connections and generating actionable strategies for network growth. I left empowered and with a clear path forward.”
Lanna Minor
Workshop Participant
The Bond Journal
A tool for nurturing and activating relationships. A year-long guided practice for founders, leaders and changemakers who know relationships matter and need a nudge to act on it.
- A self-assessment that shows where your relationships are strong and where they need attention
- Quarterly pages to map your bonds, set intentions, and track follow-ups and opportunities
- Ready-to-use outreach prompts for when you don't know what to say
The 2nd Edition adds Bridging, a practice for building relationships beyond your usual circles.
The 2nd Edition is available now. $18.
Buy the Journal
Bring this conversation to your stage.
Keynotes, panels and fireside chats for conferences, associations, alumni groups and leadership programs. Talks draw on my research on trust and social capital and 20+ years of leading schools and supporting organizational improvement.
Talk topics
- •Why it's still hard to ask for help, and what to do about it
- •Trust as the real core of community
- •Learning in public: accomplished people as beginners again
Request Dr. Harris
A truth-teller.
A connector.
I do this work because I watched too many brilliant women carry everyone else's ambition and never get to name their own. The relationships that should have opened doors stayed closed, not because the talent was missing, but because no one taught us how to ask. So I teach it.
Founder of sharedtalent and creator of the Bond framework. Former founding principal with 20+ years in instructional design and organizational improvement. Ed.D., St. John Fisher University. M.S., Mercy University. M.S., Fordham University. B.S., RPI.
"...we are each other's business: we are each other's magnitude and bond."
Gwendolyn Brooks, from "Paul Robeson."
Book Me to SpeakLetters from LaShawnna
One plain-language email a month on trust, connection and learning something new.
Working with an organization?
sharedtalent helps associations and program teams design stronger programs and facilitate with care.
Visit sharedtalent