Carol Althaus had a problem. One of her co-workers, a great hardworking guy whom everyone liked, had horrible body odor ‒ sometimes. Well, most of the time actually, but there were days when everything seemed fine. Or maybe she was just getting used to it. It had become a topic of conversation among several people […]
By Kevin Daum. Inc. 500 entrepreneur and best-selling author. Facing tough competition? Supersmart people know how to gain advantage. Here are their secrets. So much of business is competitive. Your market competitors are not the only people you will go up against to be successful. Sometimes your colleagues, employees, and partners will compete with you […]
By Jeff Haden, Contributing editor, Inc I definitely believe in the power of hard work. As Jimmy Spithill, skipper of Team Oracle USA, says, “Rarely have I seen a situation where doing less than the other guy is a good strategy.” But we can all work smarter, too. And clearly we all want to, as […]
John Lennon once famously said “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans” in his song “Beautiful Boy” And indeed, a lot of times, life doesn’t exactly turn the way we foresee it to. It seems like everything is going fine, and all of a sudden the panic button strikes. You find everything […]
All of us have experienced occasions when we wished we had listened more closely to what was being said. Usually, good listening requires self-discipline, and sometimes it requires self-examination. If you sometimes have problems listening to what others say, some of these factors may be behind the difficulty: Prejudice. You may conclude — either before […]
How often do you shade the truth, tell “little white lies” or “lie by omission” during your day-to-day business communications? In a recent survey of more than 2,000 workers in a broad range of markets and industries, more than 60% reported “occasional lies” and 18% reported “almost daily” lies in their work environment. What is most striking are […]
Eight Easy Tips for REAL Communication when the conversation gets tough Anytime you’re stuck—when a professional or personal relationship goes into a rut, or you’re having trouble achieving results in your team or organization—ask “What conversations are we not facing or not facing well that are keeping us stuck?” REAL Communication at this point will help both […]
When You Ask for It, You Get It: How Candor Leads to Commitment As the story goes, a senior leader at a global beverage company had just concluded an extremely assertive and confident presentation on strategy. He calmly took a sip of water then asked his audience of marketing executives, “So, what have I said […]
Five Guidelines for Delivering Constructive Criticism Managers are caught in a seeming paradox: They need to create and maintain good working relationships so that they can get work done through others. At the same time, they need to constantly perform course corrections on others’ performance. In other words, they need to criticize. The paradox is […]
In the complex modern world of work, conflicts are inevitable. Those who never experience conflict on the job are either living in a dream world, blind to their surroundings, or in solitary confinement! Because whenever two or three are gathered in any community for any reason at any time, there will inevitably be some form […]