“Hey, I’ve got a question for you… with all the travel you do, how do you and your wife keep your marriage strong?” The conversation just got real. I asked my good friend that question right after we finished talking about the Cowboys vs. Eagles game. My friend and his wife have a strong marriage […]
Everyone looked at him and waited to hear his response. All nine people in the conference room had their attention fixed on one person. After a brief but dramatic pause, he began to speak with a calm voice and a solid solution. The rest of the group seemed transfixed as they listened. It was hard […]
“Well, that guy’s an idiot.” He said it so matter-of-fact. As if he were pointing out the color of the car we were riding in. It was stated as if “Everyone knows it. It’s common knowledge and everyone agrees with me.” Wow. That’s a strong opinion. I couldn’t help myself. I just had to ask one […]
I flew to Dallas for a meeting with my new boss. As a Business Development Manager I would be negotiating contracts for the company so I asked him about negotiating prices. He glared back at me and gave a direct response, “We don’t sell on price here! We sell on value!” Now, I didn’t disagree […]
I recently finished Gallup’s Strengths-Based Leadership: Great leaders, teams, and why people follow, by Tom Rather. What I found most interesting in the book was not the 34 strengths applied to leadership, or even how these 34 strengths break down into 4 unique leadership categories. What I found most interesting were the results of the […]
There are two ways to get someone else to do something. You can tell them or you can persuade them. Telling can lead to compliance or conflict. Persuading can lead to commitment. I’ve found that gaining commitment through communication can be done in four steps. I call this method WiFi. It’s not what you think. […]
Isn’t it funny how there always seems to be that “one guy” in every audience that seems bound and determined to get the best of the speaker? I’m not going to oversimplify this by saying every tough question is asked for the same reasons, but we all know tough or even aggressive questions will eventually […]
My student finished presenting his persuasive case to the audience and then opened it up to questions. “Have you calculated the internal costs to our organization due to the downtime this project would cause?” When I saw my student’s face, I knew this hadn’t been part of his calculations. Every second the pause hung in […]
Why do we have so much trouble putting off the things we want, yet we have no problem putting off something we think will be work? The final entry for this series is the 4th and final mental hurdle we all deal with daily… wait for it… procrastination! We never seem to have trouble putting […]
Out of all 4 mental hurdles, I struggle with this one the most. Agonizing… doesn’t that just sound awful? While the label may sound worse than what it really is, it can still crush your forward momentum. Agonizing creates a total lack of progress for one simple reason… Perceived Risk! When we see the risk as […]
