It’s All in the Details!

Even if you don’t see yourself as detail oriented, paying attention to details can make a difference between average and outstanding communication. The expression, “it’s all in the details” takes on fresh meaning in these situations. Consider these examples:

The executive who isn’t clear in his instructions but expects his assistant to know precisely what he has in mind. The assistant books his travel and the exec yells at her because it wasn’t the exact schedule that he wanted (which he, of course, never mentioned).

Read More


Expand Your Thinking to Enhance Your Brain

Do you know people who have rigid views about just about everything? Conversations with people like this either turn into spirited debates or one-sided monosyllabic dead ends.

Even if you have a firm perspective on a given topic, when you open your mind and hear a different perspective, it can enhance and expand your thinking.

Read More


The Over-Confidence Trap

In the past few weeks, several clients shared stories of gaffes that occurred when they made important presentations. The stories had different types of audiences: one was a speech at an industry meeting, another was a board presentation, and the third was a sales presentation to a prospective client.

All these people are experienced professionals. In each case, though, too much was left to chance. Simply put, they weren’t prepared.

Read More


Reflections on Freedom and Food

Today is Independence Day in the United States, offering a moment to reflect on freedom and food. If you hadn’t thought of pairing those two topics together, it’s a natural given the holiday.

Any time I hear people say that they’re trapped in their lives, they’re implicitly saying that they don’t feel free. But it also infers that they are holding themselves as victims to their circumstances. Victims are not free; they are captive to their conditions.

Read More


The Domino Effect

Team members rely on each other. When everyone does what they commit to doing, the results can be fabulous. On the other hand, if one person neglects to hold up his or her end of the bargain, it can create a domino effect where the house of cards tumbles down.

If your organizational structure is built around teams, as the leader, it’s your responsibility to make sure that the teams function to their best advantage. There isn’t room for prima donnas, lone rangers, or slackers. They need to understand that no matter how talented they are, they will drag down the team if they behave in such fashion.

Read More


Your Employees Are Not Clairvoyant

Does your team have clearly defined roles, responsibilities and expectations for performance? If it doesn’t, it’s a recipe for confusion and misunderstandings. Think about it: if people don’t have clarity about what their supposed to do and how they’ll be evaluated, they’re walking around in the dark.

Consider these examples

Read More


Relax – Relate – Release

I was standing in line at the pharmacy and the man in front of me was disruptive and disrespectful to the person helping him. After he left, she and her co-worker were commenting on what had happened. As I approached to get my prescription, she greeted me, zen-like, saying “Relax – relate – release.”

Of course, I was immediately drawn in, and wanted to know more about this mantra. Had they had customer service training? Did she read about this in a book? Perhaps she had seen something on the internet?

Read More