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G is for Gracious

Here are some of the words starting with the letter G that we can use to describe a highly effective speaker. See which ones you resonate with, and then let me know if you can think of others. Gracious. I know it sounds obvious, but when we are speaking we often become terribly self-focused. Instead …

Social Media and Your Next Crisis

Protect your business, be prepared for social media crisis management Let’s face it, social media isn’t going away. People love to talk about what’s going on in their lives, and now that they can do it with millions of others right from the smart phone in their pocket, it’s practically irresistable. What this means to …

A Human Resources Fable

You get a resignation notice from a top performing manager. You weren’t prepared. You have been talking about succession planning, but other priorities got in the way. Now you have the notice. So what do you? This is an important role and will be key to the future success of the company. Knowing the spot can’t go vacant, you take a look at the team and offer the position to the top performer. The top performer tells you he’s not ready. You know that he will be fine. You tell him that, hand him a set of keys and get busy on those other priorities.

Are We All Here?

Two years ago I was deploying a high-technology project for a client. It was a worthwhile project, whereby we were going to give sales people the ability to communicate instantly with their developers in Asia. A few weeks into the project, the client’s own Security organization became very interested… and proceeded to shut us down! …

Managing a Geographically-Dispersed Grant-Proposal-Team

Until recently, most government grant proposals were developed in a defined physical space. The proposal team worked near each other, had frequent face-to-face contact, and used conference rooms in its work. The New Virtual World of Grant Proposal Construction Today, however, this traditional model of proposal development is rapidly changing. An increasing number of government …

Cost of a Culture of Fear? $500 million for starters

SAIC, a major government technology contractor, just agreed to pay the City of New York $500 million to settle charges of fraud in the development of an employee timekeeping system. Yes, a couple of employees were the real bad apples, engaging in fraud, kickbacks, and money-laundering. But SAIC’s real crime, the actions that cost it …

How To Say No Comment Without Saying No Comment

When it comes to crisis management, choose your words wisely One of the most common requests from clients of ours are for ways to “say no comment without saying no comment.” Yes, communication and transparency are crucial in today’s business environment, but sometimes it’s just not in your best interest to discuss a particular topic. …

The Top 7 Interviewing Mistakes: Are You Making Them?

Have you ever hired someone who did not live up to expectations? I’m sure many of us have at one time. An effective interview can prevent that from happening? The purpose of the interview is to obtain good information about an applicant to make a wise selection decision. It may sound simple but then why …

When Do You “Tell the Truth” During Coaching?

A hallmark of coaching, whether coaching oneself or others, is to ask generative questions — questions to help clarify a current priority, to address the priority and learn at the same time. However, are there times when a coach should “tell the truth” — to assert the coach’s perspective without the use of questions? In …