In my previous field of Higher Education, I had the pleasure of working with highly intelligent people. Highly. But I can’t tell you how many presentations from very educated and intelligent people bored me to tears. Their message got buried in Powerpoint templates and horrible visualizations. They resembled the fourth grader reading a sad report on “What I Did Last Summer.” No matter your information, if your exe...

Recently I had a conversation with a Twitter friend about a change his team was about to go through. Here’s how the advice and how you can help your team deal with change.Change isn’t easy, but if you do it right, you can minimize the long-term pain your team will go through as a result of the change. 1) Explain why you’re making the change – Why are you making the change? Your team probably thought everything was going we...

Successful managers aren’t perfect. Successful managers do get more done, get better results, and have lower retention rates than unsuccessful managers. I don’t know all the secrets of being a successful manager, but I do know seven secrets that can help you be a more successful manager.Successful managers...1) Are comfortable being themselves – Know who you are, and be comfortable with that. Know who you’re not, and be com...

Twitter is a great communication tool. There are over 10 million people with Twitter userIDs, and many million tweets per day, from folks all over the world. As a manager, the time is NOW to sign up and get using Twitter.Seven Reasons Managers Need To Use Twitter:1) Communicate more succinctly – 140 characters is all you get to communicate your message. Are you up to the challenge? How long are your e-mails? Try to make the...

Recently I spent a few minutes with Anita Bruzzese, talking about how to make meetings better. I’d encourage you to check out Anita’s article as I’m not the only one who offered insights into how to make meetings better. Of course, Anita didn’t use all of my suggestions (and I didn’t expect her to) so her editing is your gain. I spend over 25% of my work life in my meetings, and I’ve been to more than my share of good (a...

My entire IT department is getting restructured, to ensure we have the right folks in the right seats on the bus, and so everyone clearly knows what direction we are headed. I’m quite excited about this, as it will give me help in re-writing job descriptions, understanding where I fit into things, and how my team shapes up with what our needs will be for the next 5-10 years.I’m also excited because the goal is NOT cost cutt...

I am a goal setter. I enjoy setting SMARTER goals, and I enjoy achieving my goals. I might even be considered a bit of a goals junkie. As I reflect on how I’ve achieved many of my goals, it all comes back to one simple question I ask myself when I go to bed at night: Did I do at least one thing today that moved me closer to achieving a goal?This might mean you: - Had coffee with someone who could help you find a job- Read...

Here's the easiest self-coaching system of all time. Ask yourself these two questions:What’s working for me to achieve my goal?What do I need to change to make it possible, easier or faster to achieve this goal?Two very simple questions. Two very powerful answers.Think about any goal you have, and ask yourself these two questions every day. Then add two more to your list for the next day’s planning:Did I do what I said I wa...

When you are thinking about who you are and what you stand for, it's important to remember that uniqueness does not equal usefulness. When I interview candidates for jobs on the team I lead, I often ask folks, "What makes you the best candidate for the job?" Often, they tell me about something that makes them very unique, but not often enough are they able to tie their unique quality back to something that we can use to mak...

OK, so you finally got the job interview at A Big Company. Congratulations! So you're going along through the interview, answering question after question, the interviewer is smiling, you're smiling, and then...The hiring manager asks you, "Do you have any questions?" You think to yourself, "What do I say? If I ask a question, will I look like I wasn't paying attention? Will I sound dumb? Help me!" The answer to those ques...