In a truth-facing moment, my speech coach told me this: “If you are saying ‘um’ and ‘uh’ often in your presentation, you might as well be saying ‘dumb’ and ‘duh’ because that’s what the audience hears.” Filler words. Disfluencies. Distractors. Whatever you call them, I was a repeat offender. The coach asked me to tell a story off the cuff … [Read more...] about Dumb and Duh
power
The Magic of Borrowing Self-Discipline
"I don't know how she does it." "I hate him. He's so fit." "I could be that successful if I wanted to." Some people are just so flipping disciplined. I'm thinking of Tim Ferriss from Four-Hour Workweek or Serena Williams, or, heck, my friend Russ Peterson. These are people who have dreams and then, with a relentless effort, make those … [Read more...] about The Magic of Borrowing Self-Discipline
Jumping with The Big Boys
I was enjoying watching the chaos on the trampoline. Three 9-year-old boys were hoisting a yoga ball up and slamming it into each other with raucous laughter. It looked like (risky) fun. Then my 3-year-old daughter wanted to join. I unzipped the protective netting, made the boys give up the ball, and put her in with the stern instruction to … [Read more...] about Jumping with The Big Boys
Balancing Power in Relationships
"You've got to have an ace in the hole." ~ Clint Black It only takes a matter of seconds to discern someone's status. At work, it's easy to pick out the VP in a room full of people by how others treat her: making room for her to walk by, greeting her enthusiastically, and allowing her to initiate conversations. But even in relationships with … [Read more...] about Balancing Power in Relationships
The formal power of uniforms
In the study of compliance-gaining, power figures heavily. We are suckers for people who have higher status, perceived authority, or power. So, how do you get power? The first type of power is formal power. Formal power is conferred to a person through: Uniforms - Leonard Bickman first published a study in 1974 in the Journal of Applied … [Read more...] about The formal power of uniforms
