A compliment, not an HR complaint
Many people in the workplace struggle with how to make sincere and authentic connections, both with internal and external clients. Many men tell me they want to interact professionally with women in the workspace and could use some guidelines. In fact, Barbara has a great phrase, "when you are talking to someone new, please don't…
Two questions you need to ask every client
Back in the 1980’s, I helped start a scuba diving store in Ottawa, Canada. We were young, we loved the sport, we paid ourselves little and we worked like demons. So not surprisingly, within 5 years, our store was certifying hundreds of people every year and we ranked in the top three productive dive stores…
Have Difficult Conversations (like a Real Human Being)
[Dave] I have struggled my entire life with having difficult conversations. I grew up in a loving and supportive family, but we didn’t have a lot of constructive debates about challenging subjects around the dinner table. People have a remarkable capacity for avoiding discomfort, so when Dad got upset and raised his voice, we all…
I Taught Him About Scuba, He Taught Me About Life
Some friends and I started a scuba diving store when we were in our early twenties. It was a great life, during the day we’d sell equipment in our store and evenings and weekends were occupied by teaching scuba in a local pool and in nearby lakes and rivers. Like many entrepreneurs, initially we were…
Networking – a new lifestyle!
Everyone tells us the best way to find a dream job is to network – but I’ve always found that most folks people dislike the concept of networking. They’re not certain why, but they believe it comes across as insincere or ineffective. The reason is that most folks treat networking like dieting. We use it…