Communication
Be open and honest
“To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful.” ~ Edward R....
Communication
Communication
Women, leadership and improved success
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of facilitating a webcast for the Association of Talent Development, which is the world’s largest professional training...
Communication
What we learned Monday in communication
Today was the first full day of “Communication,” a weeklong blog series co-hosted by SmartBrief’s SmartBlog on Leadership and the folks at Switch & Shift. Keep...
Communication
Coach K’s “Ah-ha moment” and his secret to sustainable success
Credit: Ahodges7 (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license) Mike Krzyzewski (pronounced “sha-SHEF-ski”) is amazing. As Coach K prepares to lead the Duke men’s...
Communication
Going beyond “I’m sorry” after you’ve messed up
Many companies and individuals have a hard time saying, “I’m sorry,” when they screw up, even unintentionally. They seek to ignore, deflect or reject...
Communication
It’s time to revamp your internal communication
Do your employees secretly hate the communication techniques you’re currently using? According to a study by Root, Inc., more than half of employees surveyed...
Communication
Don’t let e-mail become e-fail
“I was discussing the use of email and how impersonal it can be; how people will now email someone across the room rather than...
Communication
The 2 skills every CEO needs for success
The most successful CEOs possess a wide range of skills — some are innate, others are learned. Two critical skills that can be learned...
Communication
Log on to listen
This post is part of the series “Communication,” a weeklong effort co-hosted by SmartBrief’s SmartBlog on Leadership and the folks at Switch & Shift. Keep track...
Communication
The magic words that will make your customers care
About 10 years ago, we sat through an entire presentation on an arcane software protocol called “OFX.” Befuddling. We had no clue what the...
Communication
Learn to tell a good story
All of us love a good story. So my advice to leaders is to make good use of them. Good stories can do three...
Communication
The employee engagement puzzle: Understanding conflicting messages from the corner office
Do companies want real employee engagement? Or do they want to maintain command and control? Corner offices need to figure it out.
Communication
What you don’t know can hurt you: 12 tips for presenting on-camera
You prepare. Practice. Revise. Prepare some more. Practice again. You have a solid presentation ready to go. And yet somehow, it all falls flat...
Communication
How women can level the playing field in negotiations
Having established that negotiating skills are paramount for women to attract venture capital in order to lead high growth companies, two questions remain –...
Communication
Values: How valuable are they?
This post is part of the series “Communication,” a weeklong effort co-hosted by SmartBrief’s SmartBlog on Leadership and the folks at Switch & Shift. Keep track...
Communication
How leaders can create space for creativity, communication and connection
Would an executive at your company set up shop in the middle of the IT help desk, hang a gutted fish over his desk...
Communication
How gender affects the decision-making process
This post is an excerpt from”Gender Intelligence,” by Barbara Annis and Keith Merron (HarperBusiness, May 2014). Buy the book at Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble,...
Communication
What do to with unwanted feedback
#455310525 / gettyimages.com As a leader, you have certainly been the recipient of some unwelcome feedback. The comments may have focused in on your...
Communication
Do you want to be a boss or a leader?
I was having a cup of coffee with a former work colleague who lamented over what happened at a meeting with his employer when...
Communication
“What Does The Fox Say?” 4 ways to make business communication stick
This post is part of the series “Communication,” a weeklong effort co-hosted by SmartBrief’s SmartBlog on Leadership and the folks at Switch & Shift. Keep track...
Communication
Surfacing elephants and new ideas
Credit: iStockphoto I’ve known many leaders who talk too much. They can suck the life out of a room by commandeering it and shutting...
Communication
3 ways to tap the power of community
Smart leaders are developing a competitive advantage by creating a sense of connection and community among employees and customers. In the fitness world, SoulCycle...
Communication
Summertime quotas: When sales quotas are delivered late, the business suffers
A nervous group walks into the conference group. They are still trying to shake off the holiday haze, but are totally alert and loaded...
Communication
The normalization of deviance: When saying “We’ve never had problems before” becomes a problem
The space shuttle Challenger in 1983. (Wikipedia/NASA) The hours ticked down to launch time, and Roger Boisjoly had the weight of the world on...
Communication
What can you accomplish in 9 minutes?
This post is part of the series “Communication,” a weeklong effort co-hosted by SmartBrief’s SmartBlog on Leadership and the folks at Switch & Shift. Keep track...
Communication
3 lessons from the life and leadership of John Wooden
John Wooden in 2006 (Wikipedia/Rep. Brad Sherman’s office) Most people know the legendary basketball coach John Wooden for the 10 college basketball national titles...
Communication
10 phrases that will make you a better leader
Want to be a better leader? Try improving your vocabulary. No, I’m not talking adding the latest management and leadership buzzwords or jargon to...
Communication
How to keep remote employees enthused, energized and engaged
A 49-year-old father of two hits his alarm clock at 6:30 a.m., starts a pot of coffee and prepares for his daily commute. For...
Communication
The wrong side of politically correct
This post is part of the series “Communication,” a weeklong effort co-hosted by SmartBrief’s SmartBlog on Leadership and the folks at Switch & Shift. Keep track...
Communication
How well does your sales and operations team communicate by phone?
How can owners and managers improve the strategic quality of sales and logistics conversations?
Communication
The emotion-based approach to public speaking
The late Maya Angelou once said. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will...
Communication
Exude confidence when speaking to your CEO, part 2
See part 1 here. Many people owe their careers to their ability to make small talk with senior people in their companies. When you...
Communication
Aubrey Daniels on how to make a better budget
Many budget processes look like this: They happen once a year and go out a year ahead. Managers and departments have every incentive to...
Communication
What my handwriting says about me
This post is part of the series “Communication,” a weeklong effort co-hosted by SmartBrief’s SmartBlog on Leadership and the folks at Switch & Shift. Keep track...
Communication
How not to present: Lessons learned from “The Big Bang Theory”
Picture it – an empty stage. An audience leans forward in anticipation. Lights come on. The speaker steps out, and, for the next hour,...
Communication
Business pivots: Staying true to your (new) vision when dealing with resistance
So you’ve decided to take your business in a new, more exciting and more profitable direction. At least, that’s how you see it. Unfortunately,...
Communication
Microsoft: Good news and bad news. Which first?
As the saying goes, “Timing is everything.” Someone at Microsoft should tell the big boss. It seems to me that Satya Nadella, the new...
Communication
What people wished their leaders knew
During my years as a consultant, I have often had people say to me, “I wish my leader knew …” to which I would...
Communication
3 killer communication mistakes to avoid
This post is part of the series “Communication,” a weeklong effort co-hosted by SmartBrief’s SmartBlog on Leadership and the folks at Switch & Shift. Keep track...
Communication
How to receive the rare gift of feedback
Like all of you, I’ve had experiences where I had unwittingly offended or hurt someone. I have blind spots (these behaviors can cause problems...
Communication
Leadership and customer-centric habits drove Sprint’s dramatic turnaround
My family has been a Sprint wireless customer for more than 10 years. We’re happy now, but in 2007, we almost fired Sprint because...
Communication
4 leadership tips that will make people adore you
#108359383 / gettyimages.com In our leadership development training, we like to start out by asking people to list as many characteristics about their former...