I recently got a call from a participant who attended one of my negotiating seminars. She told me she followed all of the steps outlined in the workshop but was still unable to close her deal. I asked her “What is your hook? “What’s a hook?” she responded, “you must have covered that when I stepped out to make a phone call!”
So for all of you who may have stepped out or nodded off during my workshop let me explain what a hook is. Read more…
In 2011, Fast Company published an article entitled, “The Most Influential Women in Technology.” The article highlighted 30 women in all aspects of science, technology, engineering and math who had made significant strides in technology. Indeed, the list was very impressive and included women ranging from CEO’s to scientists and engineers. Shortly thereafter Digg.com picked up the article, and the comments that followed drastically altered the original intention of the article. So much so, that they were just down right disappointing:
“That woman is a stone cold fox.”
“That girl is hot. I bet she has a way of controlling the men around her.”
Other comments that followed suggested that these women got on the list by utilizing their sexuality, and so on and so forth. One mother even commented that she wished her daughters would go into a career of technology because it would offer them “a lot of money to buy clothes, handbags and shoes,” but alas, their minds just “aren’t inclined to that type of work.” Read more…
I remember April 17, 1970 very well. I was a senior in high school and looking forward to the future; I was still lamenting that fact that on April 10th Paul McCartney announced the breakup of the Beatles. It was also the day that Apollo 13 returned safely to earth.
Apollo 13 was the third Apollo mission intended to land on the Moon, but a mid-mission oxygen tank rupture severely damaged the spacecraft and forced the lunar landing to be aborted. Despite great hardship caused by limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water, and the critical need to get the carbon dioxide removal system going, the crew returned safely. The mission has been called a “successful failure.”
Back in the 1990’s there was a commercial being shown around the country that In my opinion describes the prevalent American business mindset of negotiating. In the commercial a customer approaches a car salesman; you hear the customer go over key points in his head. The key points he keeps repeating are; Size up your opponent! Appear knowledgeable! From the way he approaches the salesman, another key point he may have picked up is to look stern and uncompromising. “I better look displeased so I can get a better deal!” Although the commercial is meant to be comical, I believe it accurately portrays what most people understand negotiating to be. Read more…
Have you ever watched an episode of the PBS classic Antiques Roadshow; wherein someone brings in an old, dusty heirloom that they bought for $1 at a garage sale, only to find out that it is worth thousands (if not millions) of dollars. Frozen with shock, people often say, “I had no idea! It was just sitting in the corner collecting dust this whole time.”
Some people see trash; some recognize value. Only an expert can differentiate between the two. The same can apply to business. An organization’s strategy can be worth very little, or it can make them very prosperous. What is the key? Getting expert advice to guide you toward the right path. Read more…
I grew up playing the violin and therefore acquired a penchant for classical music. Learning to read musical notations and identify rhythms, pitches and tones opened my eyes to the infinite number of combinations that can create music. It also made me wonder, is it possible to run out of combinations of musical notes so that no more new music can be written?
Math dictates that the combination of notes, rhythm, cadence and so forth are finite. These are all things that can be measured and calculated, and eventually there is an end point. However, the combinations are so immense that it is quite possible to listen to a new piece of music every minute for the rest of your lifetime.
“All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.”
I often wonder the same thing about thoughts. Are thoughts endless? After all, thoughts cannot be measured. It was the 18th century writer and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who once wrote, “All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.” Read more…
Easter is my favorite time of the year. Not only do I view it as a time of spiritual growth, but also as the start of the baseball season and spring! It also means the TV networks will be broadcasting the Ten Commandments staring Charlton Heston as Moses.
I’m sure you’re familiar with the biblical story of the Ten Commandments. Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness. He recognized that the people would eventually become a wandering, faithless mob unless he gave them rules to govern their conduct and their souls. So he climbed Mt. Sinai and days later, he returned with the Ten Commandments, inspired by God, and written in stone.
But this you may not know……. corporations have commandments, too! Because corporations are made-up of people, people who are on a journey toward fulfilling their collective mission, they too need to have commandments. Do corporations have Ten Commandments? No, in fact they have ELEVEN. Read more…
“If I had 1 hour to solve a problem that my life depended on, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining what the question is. For once I know the question it will take me five minutes to solve the problem.” – Albert Einstein
At Michigan State, one of my favorite engineering professors, Dr. Francis X. McKelvey, once said to me as I grappled with a problem…. “Gabriel, I can help you solve your problem. But what’s the question? Are you bright enough to ask me the right one? You see it’s not easy coming up with a question. A question that will inspire unpredictable answers and provoke you into thinking thoughts you normally might not have!” I remember thinking to myself “WOW!” Read more…
“The marvelous thing about lack of planning is that failure comes as a complete and utter surprise.”
– Peter Green
One of the biggest challenges organizations face is making the commitment to develop a well thought out strategic plan. “Are you kidding me!” they’ll say. “Who has the time do a strategic plan with so much work to do?” Instead they wander into the work place and react to crises. And ironically, most crises are a result of their failure to plan! So why don’t more organizations engage in strategic planning? Lack of time is one reason. Another may be confusion over the strategic planning process itself.
Even if your business commits the time to develop a strategic plan, you may be unaware that there are different approaches to Strategic Planning. Depending on the size of your organization and the desired outcomes for the planning process, there is a strategic planning process that is right for you.
“Strategic planning is the strategic thinking process whose outcome is clarifying the purpose of the business, where the business wants to be in the future and the choices the business will make to get there.”
– Najera Consulting
First off, what exactly is Strategic Planning? While there are countless definitions as to what strategic planning is, Najera Consulting defines strategic planning as the strategic thinking process whose outcome is clarifying the purpose of the business, where the business wants to be in the future and the choices the business will make to get there. Read more…
For the majority of us, just waking up each morning can be stress inducing. From the blaring alarm clock to watching the morning news (“5 murdered last night”; “unemployment is rising”) to the grinding morning commute, stress seems to be lurking all around us.
And it’s even more stressful to read reports about how stress can practically kill us by causing heart disease, killing the neurons in our brains and making our immune systems weak, among many other horrifying things.
But it’s all a matter of perspective and how we deal with stress. If you’re the kind of person that reacts to stress with anger, guzzling a bottle of whiskey or eating two days worth of donuts, then yes, perhaps stress isn’t your friend. However, if you understand that stress can have its benefits, then maybe you and stress can get along.
No one ever invites stress into their lives; it just shows up, like a D-list reality “star” to an A-list red carpet event. Who invited that person? But unlike Snooki or the Kardashian clan, stress can actually make us better equipped to face the world.
Just look to the trees. Read more…