Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

The Magic of Thinking Big

Monday, September 30th, 2019

David Schwartz, the author of The Magic of Thinking Big, told us: “Success is determined by the size of your belief, and if you think little goals you can expect little achievements. If you think big goals, you win big success.”

Big ideas and big plans are often easier! Sometimes, they are no more difficult than the small ideas and the small plans. So, think big about what’s possible for you, and then get on with it!

Start making big things happen today.

Keeping Millennials on Board

Monday, August 19th, 2019

There’s no getting around it. The millennial generation is going to be a big part of the workforce for years to come.

By 2025, those born between 1980 and 2000 will make up 75 percent of the workforce. For every one of us, there will be three of them!

Learning how to keep Millennials engaged and productive should be a top priority not only for managers but for the colleagues of these younger employees. It won’t always be easy. No generation has ever been as willing to jump ship for better wages or working conditions. When that happens, it’s hard on EVERYONE.

It’s true that some millennials want to be paid for doing nothing, but every generation has some of those, especially when they are young. But far from being lazy, the best of the Millennials are actually MORE likely to stay if they have CHALLENGING and MEANINGFUL work assignments that hold their interest.

So when you’re on a project with younger coworkers, don’t assume they can only handle the more routine tasks, and be sure to ask their opinions when you can. You might be surprised at what you get.

And don’t forget the importance of a little positive feedback once in a while. It can mean even more coming from you than from the boss.

Accentuate The Positive!

Monday, August 12th, 2019


Psychologist John Gottman can observe a married couple for fifteen minutes and predict with 95 percent accuracy whether they will divorce within five years.

How does he do it? Body language? Eye contact? Whether or not they hold hands? Nope. He listens to what they say to each other, and then counts the ratio of positive to negative comments. That’s it. Couples with fewer than five positives for every negative are headed for disaster.

For a truly good marriage, the ratio needs to be 20 positive comments for every negative one.

Businesses are alot like marriages in this way. Focus on maintaining a good 5-to-1 ratio with customers and colleagues, or disaster looms. And if you want truly great relationships in your business—and who doesn’t?—aim even higher, How about 20-to-1!

Roxanne Emmerich

Gossip takes two

Monday, August 5th, 2019


Gossip is the mother lode of dysfunctional behaviors—the worst poison in a workplace culture.

And it’s an epidemic. In a survey by the American Society for Training and Development, 85 percent of people admitted to gossiping in the workplace, and 21 percent reported gossiping frequently.

This crazy and dysfunctional behavior has been “normalized.”

In fact, a survey by Equisys found that the average employee spends 65 hours a year gossiping at the office. That’s a week and a half that’s completely non-productive. No, it’s worse than that—the average employee spends a week and a half each year actively undermining the health and productivity of the workplace!

There comes a time when we have to grow up, and that time is now. That means no spreading gossip and no listening to gossip. Commit with every cell in your body NOT to participate.

If someone comes to you speaking negatively about another person, it is your ethical obligation to say something like, “I can see you’re concerned. Let’s get a productive result here. Let’s go together right now to talk to Janet and make sure you hear each other’s concerns so something changes.”

Now THAT’S a healthy agreement.

The Apologizing Liar

Monday, July 29th, 2019

David Horsager, author of The Trust Edge, makes a powerful case against the apology. Well, that’s not exactly right. He makes a case against apologies that are really just lies, which is most of them.

When someone drops the ball and says, “Sorry about that!”, it’s usually just something to say. Most of the time it doesn’t literally mean, “I regret that I did that, and I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.” It’s just the thing people say to get past an awkward moment.

If we accept that response in ourselves or in others, we normalize the lying apology. We get stuck in weak results, lose trust, and reduce our chance of a real breakthrough.

So the next time someone apologizes to you, go one step further to ask if their apology includes a massive commitment to fix the problem and avoid a recurrence. And if you’re the one apologizing, snap out of the automatic response. Make sure your apology has substance and meaning, and a massive corrective action plan to back it up.