Monthly Insights & Musings
Tips for starting off right with a new boss
While there might be a hundred reasons why you might get a new boss at work (and let’s face it: a lot of ‘em are born out of messy situations), there are really only a couple of places your new boss can come from. Either management promotes a current employee from...
Why the Best Leaders Know How to Let Go of Control
As a manager or supervisor, you’re likely familiar with the struggle between wanting to control everything as opposed to trusting your team with the work. During these times, it may seem as if only you can accomplish these tasks or no one else can be trusted to do...
How to be a great boss – and a decent person (They’re really both the same!)
Employee Inspiration. Motivation. Focus. Loyalty. Going the extra mile. Positive company culture. As is true with so many things, it’s all about the relationships that you, as the boss, create with your employees. Here are a few key points for being a standout leader:...
Five job-hunting fails to avoid – plus three bonus cover letter tips!
Job hunting. Ugh. Most of us don’t approach it with much enthusiasm. And yet, if we open our minds to life’s possibilities and cultivate a more positive attitude, job hunting can be one heck of a fun adventure! What’s more, it’s an adventure that just might lead to a...
Self-promotion: How to be your own publicist – Part II
There is no point at which you can say, "Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap." Carrie Fisher, Author and Actress Hello, and welcome to Part Two of my two-part blog on How to be your own publicist. In part One, I covered the first four of eight...
Self-promotion: How to be your own publicist, Part I
There is no point at which you can say, "Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap." Carrie Fisher, Author and Actress Self-promotion is simply another name for marketing yourself. Just as publicity agents make sure that the media pick up stories...
Empowering employees to control their own destiny
Employee empowerment. It’s a term that’s bandied around a lot these days. Just go ahead and Google it, and you’ll find countless articles on the subject—almost none of which will tell you anything that’s really meat-and-potatoes (or tofu-and-brown rice) useful. And...
New Rules for Modern Business Communication
In virtually every meeting that I’m in these days, there’s texting going back and forth between the people sitting at the table and — from the receiving end — anyone from co-workers, customers and vendors, to significant others, family members and the person they just...
How to successfully delegate to a persistent question-asker
Have you ever heard of the 1970s television show, Colombo? The detective in the series, played by Peter Falk, kept returning to ask the suspects questions until they practically confessed, just to get rid of him! Maybe you have a Colombo as an employee—you...
Coping with Chronic Complainers
For many years, I worked at a company with a person who greeted me every morning with some variation on, “You won’t believe what they’ve done now!” Part of my job was to listen to any complaints and recommend solutions to the owner of the company (my boss), or...
Dealing With People Who Seem to Fly Off the Handle
Wow. It must be “Difficult People Season!” I’ve never had more follow-up questions than I did to the article I posted two weeks ago, on dealing with difficult people. So, let’s continue the conversation over the next few weeks… One of the toughest difficult...
How to handle difficult people
Do you happen to have your very own difficult person? How many times have you ever wished your difficult person would just stop being difficult? Did that change their difficult behavior? How many times have you ever told someone else about your difficult person: “I...