Four stories to get your audience excited about your manual, guideline or procedures – Part 3

This is the third in a series of several stories providing metaphors to help you get your audience invested in a new manual, guideline or procedure. Regular readers know that I believe telling stories and creating metaphors to help drive points home and convince an audience to act after a presentation is over is one way to persuade listeners. Read more

Four stories to get your audience excited about your manual, guideline or procedures – Part 2

Telling stories and creating metaphors to help drive points home and convince an audience to act after a presentation is over is one way to persuade listeners. This is the second in a series of several stories providing metaphors to help you get your audience invested in a new manual, guideline or procedure. Read more

How to connect with your audience for a successful presentation

Earlier this week, I wrote about how I drafted a presentation for what I assumed would be a demanding audience with high expectations. (The fact that they could leave the presentation at any time and were not obligated to stay for the end was a little intimidating as well.) Read how I got my ideas together HERERead more

10 ways to improve your observation skills (and your career), part III

How did you do on the observation test? If you found your observation skills lacking, it may be something to consider working on, as

For people who plan to become the leaders of tomorrow, developing a keen sense of observation is a must. Read more

Problem solving and your career, part II

In Part I, I suggested how to frame a question so you know how to begin to find an answer. Hopefully, you took some time to think about, and outline, the underlying issues. What is causing the problem? What are the potential answers to the problem? Once you have a hypothesis, you can focus on a solution. Read more

7 questions to consider to help solve a problem, part I

Remember back in grade school, when you first learned about the scientific method?

Wikipedia defines it:

Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. Read more

How to turn “win” into “winning” – strategies for success at work

When was the last time you played Scrabble? If it’s been a few years, you may be a little rusty. How can that be? Isn’t it just spelling words? If you are a true competitor, you know that there is more to it.

The recession encouraged people to spend less on media and going out and to return to basics for entertainment. Yes – “game night” is back in vogue. Read more

Change for change’s sake does not equal success

Good ideas fuel companies. Isn’t there some commercial that says, “Business is changing at the speed of light?” Any successful business needs top talent to help it stay ahead of the crowd. It is much better to be ahead of the curve than chasing it. Think about it – are YOU ahead of the curve? Read more

Understand your problem before you try to solve it

If I had one hour to save the world, I would spend the first 55 minutes defining the problem. – Albert Einstein

Think about it – don’t we often do the exact opposite in our daily work lives? How often do we spend the time planning that is necessary to REALLY get the job done – and done well? Read more

Problem solving – Big Bird style

Looking at holiday pictures this week reminded me of the story my mother told for years. It was about the time that Big Bird invoked my curiosity and a lifetime interest in problem solving. It was Christmas Eve, 1977. I was so excited; I had received the Bradley Big Bird Talking Alarm Clock. It had to be wound like the formal clock on the hearth, not something I was allowed to do at age five. Read more