Starting her own stationery store had been Shelbie’s secret dream ever since she was a little girl.
Her happiest career day was leaving her “big girl” PR manager job to open her shop; her saddest day was hanging the “going out of business” sign on the front door. Continue reading
In my book of leadership fair play, a basic rule is praising in public and criticizing in private. Making people look — and feel — stupid or foolish or ill-advised (no matter how atrocious their offense) in front of others is just plain wrong.
So imagine my shock and surprise to have a project partner level some hard-hitting criticism my way during a conference call with the project sponsor. The project was co-authoring an article for online publication. We passed the article back and forth via email countless times as we edited and refined the content. Continue reading
There’s one in nearly every work group — that certain someone whose words and/or demeanor gets you all fired up. Perhaps their opinions and values are worlds apart from yours. Maybe they plain don’t like you. Could be a personality clash. Who knows.
But whatever the reason for the conflict, you can’t avoid or ignore them because your job requires you to interact with them.
So what’s a professional gal to do? What all savvy business women do: Take the personal high road and manage yourself. Continue reading
“Tell me why you didn’t say anything to Katy about her performance problems.”
“I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”
This exchange occurred during legal discovery in an unlawful termination lawsuit. Fed up with an employee’s ongoing failure to meet job requirements, the supervisor had fired her. Having not received any feedback about her job performance, the employee believed she had been let go because she was the oldest person in her department. Continue reading
With the popularity of TedTalks, Slideshare, GoogleHangouts and Skype, presentations are everywhere. If you haven’t been doing them already, sooner or later you’ll be asked to show off what you know either onstage or on camera.
This is a debilitating prospect for many of us. I know so many people who are great 1-on-1 or in a small group, but get them in front of a big room and they either freeze up or turn into the most boring, monotone person on the planet. Continue reading
Have you ever heard yourself saying these things?
“Ask for a raise? No way!”
“The call center consolidation project? Ah, it was nothing.”
“I couldn’t possibly tell an interviewer that! It’s bragging.” Continue reading
Every interview is an exercise in psychology, with YOU playing the therapist.
Here are techniques to get the best responses when you need someone to spill their guts or just explain something, on camera and in full sentences, whether it’s for a corporate video, your website, or YouTube.
THE BASIC OUTLINE OF A GOOD INTERVIEW Continue reading