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10 Tips for a Happier Life

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During a long early morning walk behind curious dogs I started thinking about my body of work from consulting, coaching, speaking, and teaching. Since it’s hard to be in a bad mood on a perfect late winter day, and today is one, my general thoughts turned specific: I started thinking about happiness. Having heard this […]

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Why Good Talent Leaves

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Talented people choose to leave organizations for a simple reason: Talent has options. The further you slide back along the excellence curve, the fewer options those lesser performers will have. Because of that, mediocrity tends to stay. But top performers live with a different realism. They will be courted by other companies, recruited by headhunters, […]

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Selling vs. Marketing: How to Find the Help You Really Need

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“How do you explain the difference between sales and marketing?” For the past few weeks I have been reading a LinkedIn subgroup’s responses to this simple, straightforward question. A global collection of electronic connections have been flinging guesses back and forth like aerial salmon lobbed around Seattle’s famed Pike Place Flying Fish. As of this […]

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Difficult Conversations: 10 Tips

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As more people withdraw to keyboards interactions instead of talking over the telephone or in-person, interactive effectiveness when confronted with a difficult conversation is diminished for two reasons: lack of comfort and lack of experience. Tortuous to the uninitiated, experience makes them easier. Conflict resolution is sometimes a choice, sometimes a necessity. When faced with […]

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How United Airlines Lost a Million-Mile Flier

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My two longest loyal business alliances have been Hertz rental cars and United Airlines. Today the list dwindles to one, Hertz the lone survivor. Hertz treats me just as special now as my first rental three decades ago. Yesterday, for the umpteenth time, United was less than zero help when I sought human help planning […]

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Why Millennials Are the Most Stressed Out Generation

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A recent survey commissioned by the American Psychological Association measured the relative stress levels of four generations: Matures (Post-WWII workers, aged 67+) Boomers (48-to-66) Gen Xers (34-to-47) Millennials (Gen Y, ages 18-to-33) For clarity’s sake, we’ll define anxiety and stress this way: “The unpleasant emotional state consisting of psychological and physiological responses to anticipation of […]

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How to Repair A Relationship

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Whether at work or home, relationships erode because of four things: 1.     Criticism 2.     Contempt 3.     Being too defensive 4.     Stonewalling. Criticism Criticism is marked by attacks and negativity, the usual tricks of a bully. These stinging attacks hit especially hard on those whose personalities are meek or submissive, or who do not possess a […]

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