Do you want to become leadership material?

| August 19, 2014

If you want to lead and want that next promotion, you need to be a strong, high impact communicator. Three reports cited in the post are sobering evidence of this fact: The Center for Talent Innovation, The Center for Creative Leadership and a recent Microsoft Survey.

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Managing Interruptions and Managing to Interrupt

| June 12, 2013

Like modern life, meetings, conversations, and public speaking often are full of interruptions. How do you keep from being interrupted? How can you politely interrupt when you need to be heard? Learn how to manage interruptions.
 

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Books to Expand Your View of Leadership

| December 4, 2012

Reading can expand our minds and change our view of the world. Here is a list of interesting and engrossing books that will challenge your view of  leadership. Emotions Revealed, by Paul Elkman If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a facial express worth? Psychologist Paul Ekman is an expert on facial [...]

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Fast delivery can mean fast failure

| October 9, 2012

In our busy, fast-paced world we are at risk to accelerate everything – including our communications. Unfortunately, fast delivery can mean fast failure. A senior level executive recently asked me to review his personal communication process. He wants to improve. Yet, he felt there were communication problems jinxing his desired results. We began by observing [...]

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Jargon is Junk

| September 11, 2012

I was working with a client last week who riddled his speech with industry jargon and acronyms.  I felt frustrated and confused trying to figure out what he was trying to say. I was reminded of a wonderful and amusing blog post I read late last year by Dan Pallotta (@danpallotta). It was published in [...]

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Learning from Marissa Mayer: The benefits of being seen

| July 18, 2012

Marissa Mayer, the newly appointed CEO of Yahoo!, is widely regarded as a visionary leader and talented engineer. Employee #20 at Google, she led critical strategic initiatives for the company and was considered a serious candidate to take the CEO slot to replace Eric Schmidt at Google. She has an estimated personal net worth of [...]

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“Yeah, but…”

| April 13, 2012

I was at a party recently chatting with a small group of people when a new person entered the group, listened for a moment and then said “yeah, but…” As you might imagine, the group was ever-so-slightly put off. Why? Because “Yeah, but” is language that sets up opposition. “Yeah, but I hear “yeah but” [...]

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Are you giving a “Best Picture” performance?

| February 28, 2012

Are you giving a “Best Picture” performance? The Academy Award-winning silent-era-style movie, The Artist, truly underscores that powerful movements and expressions create impact. What did the actors in this movie communicate? Joy, anguish, enthusiasm, worry, fear, despair. Even Uggie, the little dog demonstrated the power of purposeful movement as he hustled down the street to [...]

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Speak Often – It’s good for business, great for your career

| January 14, 2012

Sharing your experience and expertise with industry peers is good for business and great for your career. Each year thousands of trade shows and conferences are held covering virtually every topic, industry and profession. These events provide you the chance to build your reputation as well as the reputation of the company or organization you [...]

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Executives – Get Ready for Video

| November 7, 2011

More and more executives are inquiring about training for video presentations. Organizations are using YouTube, video interviews, webcasts and website videos to reach a wide audience with key company messages delivered personally by the corporate leaders. If you’ve done some video you know it’s not as easy as it looks. To get you started: With [...]

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