In talking with a colleague and finalizing arrangements on where and when to meet. I had another meeting up the freeway from where she and I were meeting, and I wanted to end our meeting with plenty of time [in Houston traffic] to get to my next meeting. As (more…)

The studies have finally caught up with what we all know:  business owners are losing sleep because of the economy.  Anyone that owns a business with less than 99 employees, is an executive for a company with less than 99 employees, or works for a small company, has known this (more…)

The year is nearly half over …how are things going?  How many of your goals have you achieved?  Did you identify your motivations and your obstacles?  Were your motivators strong enough for you to overcome your obstacles?  Did you have to revert to Plan B? Plan C? Plan D? Or further down the alphabet? I have attended several training and coaching sessions so far this year.  One of the key points that comes up is setting goals.  I heard another word for ‘obstacle’ that I found to (more…)

I had to go to an attorney to look over a many-page legal document. I do not like to deal in details, especially legalese-details. Just to be sure, I thought having an attorney review it would be in my best interest. After he read my document, he (more…)

I gave a Supervisor and Communications seminar recently to first and second level supervisors.  One of the topics the President wanted me to discuss was “How do you let your direct reports, and others that are not your direct reports, know their jobs are important?” Instead of (more…)

Why don’t we tell others how to manage or communicate with ourselves? This seems like a very simple concept, doesn’t it? Think about how much easier, or simpler, our lives would be if we were forthright with this information. Aahh Behold the Ultimate Truth! We are! We (more…)

We seem to go in cycles of “You said ….” “No I didn’t, I said …” “No you didn’t …”, and we are in the midst of one of those cycles now.  I am reminded of a trip to an attorney to review a many-page legal document. I do (more…)

Our actions can have an unintended result on others.  What we perceive as teasing or playing around, another can see it as bullying or harassment.  Corporations have sexual harassment training.  It is quite interesting in that an employee can be reported for sexual harassment even if both ‘parties’ agree there (more…)

For hours today I was at my computer trying feverishly to clear out my inbox. Some of my ‘unread’ emails I had already taken care of [thank goodness, although there were not nearly enough of those], some had to be filed elsewhere, some could be deleted, and others, well those I kept as ‘unread’ so I could handle them later. Every fifteen minutes or so I would glance over my new incoming messages. All was going well until I received a high priority email … you know the ones that come with the red exclamation point. “Hmmm” I thought “this must be important, this must be something I need to read immediately, for I am sure it will help my company.” I opened the email and, amazingly, it had absolutely nothing at all to do with my company. It was an email totally unrelated to increasing my company’s position. The fact is that it was the sender’s perspective, and therefore the sender’s reality, that the message was very important. I can only think that if I were to purchase the products that this company was selling, it would be a huge benefit to that company. Now let me clarify who the sender was … someone I had never met [although I have received high priority emails from people/companies I have not interacted with in years], a company I was not familiar with, and a product I would not purchase. This company and my company happen to belong to the same very large professional organization. We can get so focused on our own perspective and in our own world that we do not think to step back and take a broader perspective of the situation. We communicate from our own viewpoint. We need to do it from the viewpoint of our listener or of our reader. Many times it is simply our point of view that we pay attention to and disregard the other point of view. This is much like proceeding on with our own agenda without considering how it will affect the other person, if it is a good time for the other person, what unwanted consequences can result from our own narrow viewpoint. Remember, in every ‘conversation’ there are three points of view: the speaker’s/sender’s, the listener’s/receiver’s and their blended points of view. Whose point of view are your emails targeted to?

“I admire you in the way you’ve handled yourself on and off the field.   Best of luck in your post-NFL career” These are on some of the handwritten notes that Peyton Manning sends other NFL players on their retirement …. players that have NOT played with him, (more…)