I am thankful for the invitation from Career Press to review Mile Figliuolo’s new book The Elegant Pitch. One key element of a successful career is the ability to convince others. Often called “The Pitch” how we sell our ideas, skills, products and services determines the level of our success. Learning to effectively pitch our […]

Several of us would be happy to have a mentor. Trouble is finding one. What makes someone take enough interest in you to expend the time and effort to be a true mentor? Even in organization where there is a formal mentor program, most are failures. Most senior staffers are still competing for the same […]

I met a new friend with an interesting job situation. She is the sole representative of a foreign company in New York City. Being a long way from the home office has created some real challenges. First there is a lot of envy among her home office coworkers, which results in less than desirable support. […]

Although designed for use in the short interval when you have a captive audience in the elevator, an elevator pitch is also handy when you have just a few minutes to pass on information or make a favorable impression. While for the longest time, I thought that elevator pitches were shameless acts of self-promotion, and […]

This week the news media focused on the threatened government shutdown. Politics aside there were some great strategies and tactics employed by all sides to advance their goals. Soon you will see subtle variations of these strategies and tactics in the workplace. The political arena is the crucible where the art of organizational and personal […]

This week my heat pump broke.  There is a light that indicates the probable cause of the malfunction. After some searching I found the flashing code on the thermostat pointed to a circuit board in the outside unit.  When I took a look, the board in question appeared easy enough to change. A few plugs […]

One of the greatest clichés is that there are no mistakes or failures only learning opportunities.  While I do believe we learn from our mistakes, I am not sure that we always learn the most beneficial lessons.  More often the lesson we take away is DON’T TRY THAT AGAIN!, instead of learning how to succeed […]

Confidence is a necessary skill that is often neglected in the development of a career strategy. There are different kinds and degrees of confidence, and finding the balance that best suits your personality and goals is often difficult. As many people suffer from over confidence as lack of confidence not only in themselves, but also […]

Most of us spend more time working than at any other activity, but we manage our working relationships less than in any other situation.  In our personal relationships we usually seek and obtain a level of interaction that permits us to enjoy ourselves and grow our skills.  Even in our casual relationships, like recreational activities […]

This week there was a lot buzz about Psychometrics and other job screening techniques.  questionsIt is probably a sign of the times, as employers are flooded with applications for all available jobs.  The idea of psychometric testing and correlating traits with aptitude and performance is becoming main stream.  So how do you prepare for psychometric […]

The July – August edition of Psychology Today (psychologytoday.com) has an article on six office top gripes and how to fix them. The six topics chosen are: Procrastination; Difficult Boss; Really Difficult Boss; Projects not going well; Feeling Negative; and Working too many hours. I am not sure how they came up with the list. […]

Perhaps the best definition of closing a deal is when a commitment is made.  The classic business definition is when money changes hands, but in our careers and life in general we make a lot of deals that do not involve money.  Deals are a social concept where one side gives some thing in exchange […]