Score Your Level of Influence

Your level of influence as a professional will be measured by your ability to get others to listen and take action. Your level of influence can be measured. And, it can be improved. If you’re fascinating, you’re likely to wield greater influence. If you’re not fascinating … well, you’re more likely to be forgotten. This is especially true in distracted […]

8 Tips for a tough sell

Few things are so intimidating as the deadly silence of a tough client: their arms crossed, chins down, mouths set in a grim line, like a firing squad ready to kill your pitch. Yet it doesn’t matter how great your product is… unless you can sell it. You can make it out alive (and even […]

Why certain tasks feel awkward (but others are effortless!)

Think for a minute… What’s your LEAST favorite type of communication? For example, do you dislike networking events? Or speaking in front of a crowd? Or explaining the same exact process, over and over? We all have certain types of conversations that exhaust us. These interactions require so much energy that we leave them feeling […]

Team conflict & how to fix it!

The room hummed, filled to capacity with director-level executives, buzzing with a combination of caffeine and curiosity.  I was leading a keynote at the global headquarters of a Fortune 100 brand located in Northern California.  I had grouped the participants into seven different teams, according to their primary Advantage. For instance, Team Alert included all […]