In just 18 years since inception, LinkedIn has amassed over 706 Million users worldwide in over 200 countries and 24 languages.  There are 346 million male users and 360 million female users.  Of those, over 260 million are monthly active users.  Geographically, the breakdown of the top five countries with the most users on LinkedIn is:

• U.S. – 171 million+ LinkedIn users
• India – 69 million+ LinkedIn users
• China – 51 million+ LinkedIn users
• Brazil – 45 million+ LinkedIn users
• Great Britain – 29 million+ LinkedIn users

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While Facebook may be the largest social networking site in the world today, LinkedIn has been supporting its users for a longer time.  It is the professional social networking site for those looking to make new business connections, nurture existing professional contacts, and focus on personal development and growth.  According to the site, there are over 760 Million users worldwide in over 200 countries and in 24 languages.  That is a lot of potential reach for any business, which explains why so many business people are actively engaging on the site.  In fact, there are over 260 million monthly active users. Continue reading →

Imagine this scenario.  The company’s CTO has been tasked with identifying and customizing a new CRM software system for an organization that will help the Business Development team to identify, capture and track all leads and aggregate data about them, provide a process for measuring their likelihood to convert from prospect to sale, facilitate points of contact to spur conversion and track all communication on an ongoing basis.  It is a major undertaking.  There are a multitude of software programs that do these tasks, but the system must be integrated with the company’s manufacturing and operations software as well as its accounting program and its marketing system.  And it must be customized for industry-specific needs.  An entire team of programmers will need to work on this projects with many moving parts.  And many departments will use the system for information about prospects/ and customers’ past purchasing behavior in order to guide future marketing effort and predict sales results.  After a great deal of due diligence and development of a detailed plan for the software architecture, a software is chosen and the process of customization and integration begins.  After a year of diligent effort and extensive Beta testing, the software is now ready to be rolled out.  But as the date approaches to roll out, there is one delay after another.  There is deep reluctance by the team to release the software to a limited team for use just yet.  Month after month, the team hesitates to let the cat out of the bag and allow even a few sales staff to start using it.  Why? Continue reading →

Ready to begin a new assignment at work?  What are you waiting for?  You need to get on it, but have taken no steps to start.  Why?  Perhaps it is because the task is unwieldy?  Or maybe it is because the task is boring or tedious.  Sometimes it is because the work is outside your strengths.  Sometimes it is because you’re just tired and unmotivated.  Whatever the reason, getting started on an assignment or chore might feel daunting.   Just getting started on that work is likely to prove the hardest part of the entire job.  Why is that?   There can be a myriad of reasons for why people have a hard time starting new endeavors. Continue reading →

Picture this.  Mike’s adorable toddler interrupts his Zoom meeting. David’s doorbell rings twice during a single team call.  Sara’s spouse is having a loud conversation in the background since they both work from home and the sound carries.  Daniel is working bizarre hours, sending emails at 3am.  Ruth’s Internet outages are affecting her ability to work from home and hit deadlines.  And Rachel is taking three 15-minute breaks a day to walk her dog. Meanwhile, the legal department has issued restrictions on what can be said or done in dealing with customers when working from home.  And the compliance department has added an extra layer of directives to ensure the company obeys all of the laws and regulations of the industry. Meanwhile, IT is unable to keep up with the demands for support.  Sounds chaotic?  It is.  Now imagine having to manage such a posse and answer for the team or department’s productivity. Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, Microsoft informed its employees that it will allow more staff to work from home permanently.  Although the vast majority of Microsoft employees are currently working from home due to the pandemic, the company’s new “hybrid workplace” guidance said it would allow far greater workplace flexibility even after their offices reopen.  Microsoft employees will be able to work from home freely for less than 50 percent of their working week.  Or managers can approve permanent remote work. Employees who opt for permanent remote work will give up their assigned office space, but can use Microsoft’s touchdown offices.  Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft’s chief people officer, said “The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged all of us to think, live, and work in new ways.  We will offer as much flexibility as possible to support individual workstyles, while balancing business needs and ensuring we live our culture.” Continue reading →

What Gratitude Does for Your Body and Life

“Thank you” is something that people say casually to the store clerk when they finish bagging groceries, or to the teller who processes a deposit at the bank, or to the barber after a haircut.  It’s an adequate expression of appreciation for a valued but smallish task.  But “Thanks” or “Thank you” might seem inadequate to express gratitude to an employer who hires you after losing your job and benefits during a pandemic, or to a firefighter who saves a child from a burning building, or to a surgeon who performs a life-saving operation.  And the words “thank you” definitely fall short when it comes to expressing gratitude to a parent for a lifetime of love and sacrifice, or a caregiver who tends to an elderly grandparent for years ‘til they pass, or to someone who donates a kidney that saves your child’s life. Continue reading →

What Gratitude Does to Your Brain

Is it possible to get through a single day right now without hearing about at least a dozen calamities, crises and catastrophes?  Having tried it, it seems an impossibility.  The news is disheartening.  Weather disasters abound with fires raging in one place while hurricanes flood others.  An epic public health emergency is unfolding in real time.   The fallout from the pandemic is inflicting serious economic pain on so many.  Businesses are suffering or closing.  Uncertainty abounds in schools.  Lockdowns are imposed and lifted and imposed again.  It can be downright depressing. Continue reading →

When we think of courage, we usually think of political, military, or religious leaders.  People who risked and dared to do what was right in the face of great challenges or personal or professional peril.  For example, we might think of Abraham Lincoln, who led the U.S. through a Civil War and dared to sign the Emancipation Proclamation.  But we don’t usually think of business leaders as being particularly brave or courageous.  And yet they must take risks and make calculated decisions every day with the aim of bringing out the very best in both people and processes.  It takes a certain intrepid, plucky spirit to guide a business, whether it is a scrappy startup or a multi-national conglomerate. Continue reading →

Courage is the skill that separates and elevates great leaders from a pack of good managers.  And when it comes to leadership in fields such as education, health care, government and especially the military, courage is considered important, but it is seldom at the top of the list of essential skills and is actually thought of more as a personality attribute or quality than a skill.   However, in the world of industry and commerce, few even think of courage as a top business skill.  In fact, most lists of top 10 leadership skills never list courage at all.  In fact, Forbes Coaches Council’s list of top skills cited the following essential business leadership skills: Continue reading →