I’ve been thinking lately about how one really moves up inside an organization. Many might think it’s about performance or schmoozing. The former is hard, because not everyone gets an opportunity to produce measureable results. The latter isn’t really true, except for those rare situations where the leadership cares more about being popular than organizational…
As of today, I’m back to blogging as the epicentre of my social media plan. For the last few months, my Facebook Page has been my go to for posting updates related to my business, writings and my outreach. Why not? It was easier than a blog post, and once you figured out what Edgerank…
As an entrepreneur, author and professional speaker, time mangement is my most important practice. I’ve spent a great deal of effort acquiring tools that make my work faster without sacraficing quality. From software to little life hacks, I’ve found ways to harness faster-better-cheaper in my worklife. At some point, though, the only way to become…
It’s been a dozen years since I wrote the first draft of my book, Love Is the Killer App: How To Win Business and Influence Friends. Since then, the world has changed significantly, and so has my perspective. In the digital future, it will be easy to make corrections to a book, to keep it…
Markets are conversations, and these days, they are often led by the crowd. Be it your customers or your employees, they are uniquely empowered to spread the good or bad word about you. Question is, how closely are you listening? More than ever, internet users have two things going for them: Transparency and Tools. They…
Twenty years ago, likely, you were desperate for more time. Managing it was the key to success. Time was the scarce resource of the uber successful and the harried executive. Today, we have more time than ever, aided by myriad tools and software solutions. We can move mountains in days, aided by digital devices and…
Whether you are a sales pro, marketing whiz or entrepreneur, business is a fierce compeition. You’ll never win unless you understand the milestones that stand between the prospect stage and the finish line. Even the most impulsive purchases follow the mental path I’ll reveal in this post. In fact, done right, businesses can elicit more…
“How can I keep up with social? Why should I care.” I have this conversation weekly with very smart people, who are still stumped by the social media phenom in our culture. They feel a strong sense of urgency if they aren’t fishing in the social stream, but at the same time, it feels like…
In our lives, we get feedback from others. Positive, negative and befuddling. It’s too easy to let that feedback become part of our self-image, personally or even as an organization. That’s a huge mistake, because often, feedback/criticism/stereotyping is just one glimpse into the fabric of who/what you are. It’s just an opinion. One of my…
Last week I was 10 minutes late for an important meeting across town. Rather than offering up an explanation (LA traffic), I simply said, “I’m sorry for being late.” Then, watching the time, I finished up the meeting on time. While many might think that the explanation excuse is helpful, it’s actually a waste of…
Great networkers are givers, not takers. That’s a key insight to mastering the art of connection. Too often, when we think we are ‘networking’, we are actually trolling for assistance in one of our ventures. We are screening people to see if they have use to us, and if we might possess currency we can…
Much of my business advice involves the following: Show up! If we can focus our attention on the others we are meeting with, much more can be accomplished. That’s why I like to turn my smart phone to non-vibrate silent when I’m having meetings. I don’t want to know about the outside world, because it…
Gotye’s smash hit, “Somebody That I Used To Know” is everywhere I go. Jacqueline introduced it to me months ago, when its stunning video made it’s way around the web, and I knew it was going to be the song-of-the-year. At this point, you might be getting tired of it, like you did with James…
If you lose readership of your email, your influence wanes at work. If you misuse it enough, you’ll turn partners into detractors. If you mismanage it as a resource, you’ll force everyone to do more work and they’ll despise you for it. To quote TechStars grad and Vanilla founder Mark Sullivan, “Don’t suck at email.”…
Last night I gave a talk to a group of donors about generosity. The point of the talk was that giving is an area of excellence in our life, just like any other activity. Some people are great givers, and others are sporadic to inappropriate. It’s critical that we approach giving with a Good-2-Great mindset…
Last year, I was blown away by The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. It was the top read of the year for me, and the most impactful book on my business life since Good To Great. Why? Because the Lean Methadology changes the game, whether you are a startup or a big-old-company. When you are…
One of worst techniques you’ll pick up in business is “let’s do lunch.” It sounds like a great device for conducting business, be it a pitch or project work. Often, your offer is accepted, after all, we have to eat! It sounds less ominous than, “I’d like to setup a meeting to come talk to…
If you are getting too many emails, it’s likely you are a manager. Depending on your corporate or company culture, it’s easy to get 100 or 200 emails a day – all expecting your precious attention. There are less leaders than two years ago, so more people report to you or feel the need to…
That which is compensated, is motivated. Nothing more, nothing less. Between my speaking and consulting, I have many opportunities to compare comp plans and the resulting corporate cultures they create. If you want to have a strong customer service culture, for example, you’ll need to aim all compensation plans at achieving it. If you want…
The above image is taken from a great infographic on Techcrunch. It’s message is simple: The more you sit, the worse you’ll feel. Recent studies suggest that of all of our bad contemporary habits, sitting all day is a killer. With the rise of the information age, more of us earn a living sitting down,…