Career

Many years ago, I noticed that my bosses kept asking to me explain what I was doing. I felt like they didn’t trust that I could get the job done. Everything was under control, and I was frustrated that they didn’t trust in my proven track record. Then I came across an article about messy…

We watched an interesting documentary show on the Sundance Channel, called Iconoclasts. This particular episode focused on Sumner Redstone, who controls media empire, Viacom, and movie producer Brian Glazer. Redstone said some things that were worthy to be quoted. So I paused the Tivo and took notes. Here’s a few words of leadership wisdom from…

I’ve been devouring my “magazines to read” pile. I came across an excellent article on trust in Associations Now magazine by Michelle and Dennis Reina. It’s critical to being a good leader, which seems to be something everyone should know if they don’t. However, one little sidebar on the article really stood out to me……

I’ve been on Linkedin for a long time, and at first, I thought it was going to just be a resume posting site. I knew it had potential, but it seemed to be lacking something. In the past 4 months, Linkedin has really started taking off. I think it’s starting to reach critical mass: everyone…

I just read a great post on building confidence and destroying fear at GetRichSlowly.org. I love this because I find that so many people let fear dominate all their decision-making. I have known many people who have stayed in a dead-end job, abusive relationship, or missed out on a great opportunity because they were too…

I read a very good article in Maximum Impact’s newsletter, called “7 Reasons Why Speakers Flop.” For years, I have worked with CEOs on speaking at conferences, and these are all things I worked to get across to each of them each year. As I read this article, I wanted to stand up and yell,…

This is my second post on an innovation presentation that I recently attended by Kathie Thomas of Fleishman Hillard at the PRSA St. Louis monthly luncheon. Although Thomas presented many great ideas, one of the takeaways I enjoyed most was the brainstrorming guidelines. We’ve all been a part of such ridiculous brainstorming sessions at work…

Today I accidentally deleted all the “real” comments off this site when I deleted all the spam comments. How did I do this act of stupidity? Not paying attention to detail. I could blame this website’s interface, but in reality, I just wasn’t paying attention. It’s funny how all these years, I thought I was…

I recently went to an excellent presentation on innovation hosted PRSA St. Louis. The speaker was Kathie Thomas of Fleishman Hillard (headquartered here in St. Louis). She’s their innovation guru, and this presentation was also presentated at a national PRSA conference. I thought I’d share a few bits of her presentation that I found interesting.…

We’ve all heard a lot of talk about change lately, and I’ve experienced big changes this year. But how do we really successfully manage change in our business and personal lives? I read this quote in Maximum Impact’s Leadership Wired newsletter today, and I thought it was very wise. “The most successful businessman is the…

I had so much to say on the topic of great writing, that I had to break it into multiple posts! Here’s a few more tips to follow to improve your writing process: Read out loud. After writing, speak what you write. This unveils awkward phrasing, gaps in the structure, and areas that need revision.…

Want to look smart? Learn how to write clearly and concisely! Writing has never been more important as we all spend hours every week writing emails. Although this list applies to nearly all business and promotional writing, I wouldn’t suggest applying it to essays and creative writing. This is, however, a great checklist the next…

“Gratitude is the ‘forgotten factor’ in happiness research,” according to researchers Robert Emmons (Univ. of California, Davis) and Michael McCullough (Univ. of Miami). A workplace news brief in ASAE’s Associations Now magazine, tells how these researchers are conducting a long-term study on gratitude, its causes and its effects on health and well-being. Highlights from the…

I have to admit, I have some big pet peeves with email. I think its the most abused communication tool ever invented. I think this is because its purpose is has been overextended, and it’s available at the sender’s convenience. You can send an email anytime you feel like it, but you can’t call your…

Today, I had the pleasure of participating on a panel about careers in communications at St. Charles Community College. It was fun! It was put together by the SCC Speech and Communications Department, which includes Darren Osburn, associate professor, who I knew from our days together at Culver-Stockton College. The other panel organizers were: Curt…