3 Ways to Make the Best Use of Time and Talents
image by Karin Christensen -Scientific Animation & Illustration As a communication skills and speech coach, I repeatedly see how professionals get held back by lack of focus. We are interrupted throughout our day by stop-ins, callers, email notices, text messages, Facebook updates, LinkedIn status/connection requests, noise and trips to the coffee pot. The one thing .. read more
Our Focus Drives Our Results
It’s not only in what we say, it’s in what we do. Our focus determines our results. Lack it, and those of us business owners who want to get in front of our best audiences will ramble incoherently while others around us scratch their heads wondering how to help us. The focused and strategic business builder is apt .. read more
Simply subtract
Addition is the usual sign of success. More toys, more friends, more dollars, more cars, more land, more square footage, more vacations, etc. Rarely does someone select “subtraction” as a standard mode of operating when their career is going well. Yet simplicity is the ultimate form of reward. And simplicity leads to clear communication – .. read more
As Mark Sanborn suggests, "Change this inconsistency!"
By nature we automatically think one thing and do another. See the problems in others and not in ourselves. Do those things we wish we wouldn’t. We are inconsistent creatures. There is one inconsistency that Mark Sanborn has tweeted about lately. How can you keep commitments to others if you can’t keep commitments to yourself? .. read more
What it takes to be a tree
Yesterday I read a tweet from the author of Be a Tree, a presentation pointer. Wonderful advice about how to come across as though you stand for something. Here is some of what he said: Stand still as a presenter. Get your weight on both feet. Balance yourself. Do not stick one hip out like .. read more
What I Believe about Coaching
So many of us are looking for the magic bullet. Whether to attack incompetence, ineffectiveness, self-doubt or lack of strategy. We want help. And the bottom line beneath this is our feeling of inadequacy. We want to feel adequate to others. We want to have our voice heard. We want to erase the past and .. read more
Mondays – in the rough
Over the weekend I saw a video of a country recording titled something like, Who are You When I’m not Looking? Really great perspective on the fact that most of us are slightly different in public than we are on our own. This leads me to today’s topic – Monday behavior. Keeping the same theme .. read more
Success Story: Reclaiming Energy
One of the members of the Business Owners Accountability Group recently shared a need to insert downtime into her week. She knows that any group member may agree with her challenges, share their experiences with solutions, or ask further questions. Here is a re-created version of the conversation at BOAG and the road to success .. read more
Success Story: Results from a very targeted focus
17 months ago I moved to a new city. Although business still happens in my previous city – where my network is strong and the need continues – in the new I needed to get very strategic about business development. I am a networker, realizing the value of relationship and referrals for my service-focused communication .. read more
The most fearful part of the speech
Recently a local firm engaged me to help a junior associate with a few areas of professional development, including her ability to give public presentations. Although competent and equipped with intelligence to deliver quality information, this attorney didn’t trust her own ability to speak with confidence. Once we sat down I asked her, “What is .. read more
