Business communication

Surprised by a gender stereotype? React calmly, directly, and move on.

“A good sketch is better than a long speech…” — a quote often attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte The ability to visualize the implications of data is as old as humanity itself. Yet due to the vast quantities, sources, and sinks of data being pumped around our global economy at an ever increasing rate, the need […]

The position, not the person, often determines whether a manager has power.

I saw an interesting news item (in a traditional news source, the Financial Times) last week. The Project for Excellence in Journalism released a study...

I was moving as fast as I could and not getting anywhere, a feeling I’m well acquainted with. This time, though, it was deliberate: I was on a stationary Spin bicycle. When the towel draped over my handlebars fell to the ground, I tried to stop pedaling and get off. Tried being the operative word. […]

We are all familiar with and horrified by the stories that came out of Guyana about the Reverend Jim Jones and the mass suicide that occurred at Jonestown. After the dust had settled, everyone wanted to know how so many people could have believed in one person so completely that they would commit suicide to […]

It may come as news to some (young) people, but business and pleasure are not synonymous. With the Millenials’ exodus to social media platforms from good old-fashioned email accounts, the lines between our business and personal lives are increasingly blurred. We live on our smart phones or blackberries and technology has enabled us to multi-task […]

To teach swimming, coaches take novices through the component skills in progressive stages. The first lesson takes place out of the water, at the side of the pool, where the novice learns the arm stroke and the leg stroke separately. Then the novice gets into the shallow end of the pool and practices the arm […]

Leaders need to do more to encourage candor.

One of the world's most celebrated architects talks about inspiration, teamwork, and the importance of good workplace design.

During the worst of all possible weeks for Bear Stearns, CEO Alan Schwartz had the worst of all possible times. Because he presided over one of the most sudden and humiliating meltdowns in American corporate history, his personal performance under pressure came under special scrutiny. Above all there was the question of whether there was […]

Asking questions is a uniquely powerful tool for unlocking value in organizations: It spurs learning and the exchange of ideas, it fuels innovation and...

Fight back against their tendency to zone out or multitask.

Photo by Eugenio Mazzone If you need to make an argument about an issue about which you feel very strongly, don’t use rhetoric. Tell a story instead. For a recent example, think of how Representative Keith Ellison spoke to the press before hearings convened by Representative Peter King to investigate the radicalization of American Muslims […]

And follow the four C's of effective communication.

by Lauren Keller Johnson

A little prep can go a long way.

Tiny verbal clues can speak volumes about your personality. New research from the chair of psychology at the University of Texas reveals that someone's...

Congratulations—you’ve been asked to lead a change initiative! But there’s a catch—its success hinges on the cooperation of several people across your organization over whom you have no formal authority. If you’re like most managers, you’re facing this sort of challenge more often these days because of flatter management structures, outsourcing, and virtual teams. For […]

Many negotiations collapse over differences of opinion about how the future will unfold. Companies need to realize that it’s often better to bet on uncertain events than to argue about them.