When is the last time your manager took the time to express appreciation for something you did or said, or for what you bring to the table? Today? This week? This month? This year? Ever? If you are a manager, when is the last time you expressed your appreciation of something one of your direct reports did? How often do you express appreciation to each direct report? Do you communicate appreciation more often to some employees than others? A recent survey of employees showed that 44% of workers had not had their manager express appreciation for their work EVER. So what effect – if any — does appreciation have on employee productivity, creativity, efficiency and effectiveness?

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Forgiveness is not something that is typically addressed in workplaces. Yet, most people spend at least a third to a half of all their waking hours working. A large part of a working person’s daily interactions are with bosses, direct reports, colleagues, customers and vendors. And, where there are relationships, there are surely miscommunications, conflicts, faux pas, misunderstandings and offenses. The greater the pressures, deadlines and stakes of the job, the greater the chance for lapses, hurt feelings and wrongs. So how should workers and workplaces handle situations that call for pardons and reconciliation? Should forgiveness be part of workplace culture and training? Continue reading →

Everyone wants to be happy. And with Rosh Hashanah having just passed, it is a time when many give a lot of thought on how to achieve greater happiness in the year ahead. For many, a big part of happiness comes from having a sense of purpose about their work. So, if happiness and purpose are the goals, it helps to understand how to achieve those goals. Here are a few tips to boost your professional happiness and sense of purpose.

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Being a constructive contrarian means doing and thinking in unconventional ways and rejecting conformity as a way to feel safe and accepted. This person rejects being unreactive (or stoic) where the focus is only on oneself and not caring about the opinion of others. He rejects mental laziness. And he is not about being opposite or different, like a rebelling teenager. Being a constructive contrarians is about being unreactive in light of a question or idea and having the guts to find new ways forward… new or alternative viewpoints… without jumping to conclusions or going with conventional wisdom. There are times and ways to be a constructive contrarian where it adds value.

Here are five. Continue reading →

No one likes a contrarian… someone who argues the opposing point of every argument. Society pushes us to conform. Even if we don’t always agree, we are called to get along with others and sometimes that means going along to get along. Especially in the workplace, it is important to be agreeable and foster a positive, friendly work environment. And contrarians can be a source of irritation. But being a constructive contrarian is different. A constructive contrarian can be a very good thing for business. Here are 10 situations where being constructively contrarian is a positive.

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LinkedIn is the dominant social media platform for business professionals. With over 756 million users worldwide, LinkedIn has grown tenfold in the last decade and is the place for both employers and employees to recruit and job hunt, and the place for business execs in most industries to find their next deal. No company or exec can afford to ignore the incredible power and information that LinkedIn delivers for sales, business development, recruiting and job hunting. So, on a practical level, how well do you know how to use LinkedIn?

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Books and podcasts about leadership talk about it as if the term requires a capital L. As if Leaders wear a big letter L sewn into their clothing like Superman’s S. So much has been written about “L”eadership that it has become aggrandized and mythologized. By that standard, a “Leader” is thought to be someone with a plethora of traits, skills and talents, and practically no flaws. The label or title has been elevated to the point where no one measures up. But what if that’s all wrong? What if real leadership has a lower case “l”? What if everyone has the power and potential to be a leader every day, even if they have no title, money, power or influence? What would that look like?

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There are companies – small, mid-sized and big — that are beloved. They have learned how to connect with customers in a way that is so meaningful and heartfelt that their customers wouldn’t think about buying from the competition. That doesn’t mean the brand can relax and stop trying. It just means the brand is doing everything right. So what does “doing everything right” look like? Here are five things beloved brands do to woo, win and firmly wedge customers to them.

Here’s how brands get love. Continue reading →

Business and love are two words that we usually don’t associate with one another. Business is about profit, margins, and the bottom line. As the saying goes, “It’s not personal… it’s business.” Love, on the other hand, is generally 100% personal. Love is an emotion bestowed when there is deep connection, closeness, protectiveness, attraction, affection, trust and genuine caring. And yet there are big, profitable, successful companies that are loved – not just liked, needed, or appreciated – but actually loved by their customers. How is that possible? And how can companies gain customer love? Is it nurtured? Is it earned?

Here’s how. Continue reading →

Businesses are slowly coming to better understand the concept of ‘brand’. It’s much more than a company’s logo, slogan, or other recognizable mark used to help promote goods and services. Brand is every aspect people identify with a company, product, or service. And, it is one of a company’s most important assets. First, leaders sought to establish defined brands. Then, companies sought to drive, deliver and measure customer engagement with their brands. But, now, business leaders are realizing the end goal should actually be brand entanglement. So what is entanglement and how does a company drive, deliver and measure it? Let’s talk Brand Love.

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