Monday Mornings with Madison
January 18, 2016

Be a Better Writer in 2016 – Part 3

Issue #410

Avoid the top 40 Most Misused or Mixed-up Words

If you think bad writing is only a problem for recent immigrants (for whom English is a second language) and grade school children, think again.  A parking lot sign read:  “Customer Parking Only.  All Others Will Be Toad.”  (It should read Towed.)  Another neon sign at a car dealership read:  “We Bye Used Cars.”  (Well, if business is good, perhaps do they say ‘bye’ to a lot of cars.  But the sign probably should read:  “Buy”.)   And a Days Inn roadside sign advertised “Free Wife Available”.  It should say “Wifi”.   (Hopefully, they aren’t giving away free wives.)   While amusing, consider that companies paid money to have these signs professionally printed.  No one at the company or at the sign printer caught the mistakes.   Many people surely read these signs and yet the signs weren’t removed or corrected, which suggests that perhaps no one caught these mistakes.  These signs point to the trouble many people have writing well.  Social media, newspapers, signage, advertisements, email solicitations and other written and published works are littered with examples of bad writing. Continue reading →

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January 11, 2016

Be a Better Writer in 2016 – Part 2

Issue #409

For most people, writing is not easy.  Converting one’s thoughts to writing is hard, in part, because we don’t speak the way we are supposed to write and we’re not always entirely clear about what we want to say or the best way to say it.   That is true in any language.

Writing the English language has even more challenges.    For every rule there are always exceptions.  Words often have multiple meanings, spellings and sounds.   Nevertheless, writing is a skill used daily by most people in their personal and professional lives.  While no one expects the average person to be a master writer, it’s important to at least be a proficient one. Continue reading →

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January 4, 2016

Be a Better Writer in 2016 – Part 1

Issue #408

Despite the recurring diatribes about the decline of the written word, in truth, people write more now than ever.  While few pen long letters on scented stationary anymore, people were pouring emails into the digital abyss at an estimated eye-popping rate of about 200 Billion per day in 2015.  We also send text messages, tweets, and instant messages and write blog posts and comments, and otherwise fire off words at one another in a near-constant flow of communication. Written communication is a required skill for most any job or profession today.  Whether it is composing a memo, preparing a letter, drafting a report, taking notes in a meeting, crafting a business plan, or just pounding out a quick text message, written communication is part and parcel of practically every occupation on a regular basis.  People write PowerPoint presentations, business requirement documents, speeches, mission statements, position papers, standard operating procedures, manuals, brochures, package copy, press releases, and dozens of other specialized types of documents.  Even salespeople and accountants – occupations often thought to be sans writing — must write reports and sales agreements. Continue reading →

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December 28, 2015

Boosting Creativity in 2016

Issue #407

Many people focus on make resolutions of things we want to do more, do less, do better or stop doing altogether.  Obviously, the goal of resolutions is to use the commitment as an impetus to become a better person or live a better life.  But, in truth, most people can just recycle resolutions year after year with little or no changes at all.  Typically, those resolutions are broken or forgotten within the first hours, days or weeks of inception.   Ideas for how to keep those resolutions fail.  Perhaps what is actually needed are new ways to tackle old problems?  What is really needed is creativity. Continue reading →

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December 21, 2015

Retargeting: Digital Ads that Hit the Bulls-Eye

Issue #406

Have you ever done a search for a product or service and then seen ads for companies that deliver that product or service later on websites that have nothing to do with that product or service?  For example, you might have done a search for lenders that handle commercial property loans and mezzanine financing.  You clicked on the websites of a few of those lenders.  Then later — hours, days or even weeks later — you did a totally unrelated search for hotels in Dallas for an upcoming conference and you saw an ad for a lender you perused earlier offering mezzanine financing on the hotel aggregator’s website.  At first, you thought “coincidence.”  Then you saw a similar ad for another lender when you searched for an upscale restaurant to dine at with your spouse and clicked on the Opentable.com site to make a reservation.  You thought, “Strange.”  Then you saw yet another ad for a commercial real estate lender when you checked accuweather.com for the weather forecast for your golf outing on Sunday.  At that point, you felt like “Big Brother was watching.”  How could such diverse and unrelated websites know you were looking for a commercial real estate lender? How could those lenders know to advertise on sites that you frequent? The answer is retargeting. Continue reading →

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December 14, 2015

The Art, Skill and Gift of Speaking

Issue #405

The ability to communicate verbally is an essential skill for most any occupation.  And yet there are a lot of idioms and expressions about wasting time talking, saying the wrong things and talking too much.  Talking up a storm.  Talking out of both sides of one’s mouth.  Shooting the breeze.  Speaking the same language.  Running off at the mouth.  Spilling the beans.  Big talk.  Talking a blue streak.  Talking one’s ear off.   There are even nicknames for people who talk too much or speak when they shouldn’t.  Chatty Cathy.  Chatterbox.  Windbag.  Blabbermouth.  Perhaps it makes sense that society has so many ways to criticize talk because of the increased amount of babbling that bombards us from all directions including radio, cell phones, television, robocalls, videos, etc.?  Perhaps. Continue reading →

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December 7, 2015

How Business Sense and Scents Add Up to Dollars and Cents

Issue #404

Most would agree that vision and hearing play a big role in one’s career and professional success.  Any person without the ability to either see or hear surely has a harder time dealing with phone calls, reading and responding to emails, interacting with clients, driving to meetings, visiting job sites, reviewing product quality, etc.  Vision and hearing are fundamental sense for most jobs. Continue reading →

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November 30, 2015

Vision in Business

Issue #403

Every business owner, leader and manager wants to have ‘vision’ or be considered a visionary.  But what does mean exactly?  According to an April 2013 article by Dave Lavinsky in Forbes, “Vision in business requires that you clearly see where you choose to be in the future and formulate the necessary steps to get your organization there. Creating and sustaining a vision for an organization calls for discipline and creativity.  A business leader must have the passion, strength of will, and necessary knowledge to achieve long-term goals. A focused individual who can inspire his team to reach organizational goals is a visionary business leader.” Lavinsky cites passion, discipline, creativity, strength of will, knowledge and focus as the skills needed to be a visionary in business.  Others believe the qualities of visionary leaders include openness, imagination, persistence, and conviction.  Harvard Business Review says a visionary leader is opportunistic, diplomatic, an expert, an achiever, individualistic, strategic, and an alchemist.  Arguably, these are all necessary traits.  But Lavinsky stated first that a business visionary must clearly see where he/she wants to be in the future.  So the starting point of being a visionary is to see with clarity. Continue reading →

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November 23, 2015

The Blessing of Hearing and Power of Sound

Issue #402

In listening to the news, one might get the impression that the world is a terrible place.  Global warming.  Rampant pollution.  Persistent wars.  Growing income inequality.  Epidemic diseases.  Gun violence.  Discrimination.  Religious intolerance.  We hear constantly about so many problems in the world.  The thought of all these problems might make some wonder – especially at this is the time of year when most people stop to reflect and give thanks – just what is there to be thankful for? Continue reading →

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November 16, 2015

When Companies Dare to Radically Change Employee Compensation or Benefits

Issue #401

There has been a lot of discussion lately about employee compensation and benefits in the U.S.  Candidates running for President are spending a lot of time (in debates, interviews and during campaign stops) discussing topics such as income inequality, paid family leave and other bread-and-butter issues that are part and parcel of the business world.  To a small extent, these issues are regulated by legislation, such as federal and state minimum wage laws which dictate the least an employee can be paid hourly.  However, the vast majority of these HR issues are really under the purview of business leaders and owners.  For the most part, individual companies the U.S. decide how they want to compensate their employees.  Because of that, the usual array of wage and benefit packages – albeit a fairly wide range – has developed for employees at every level, from entry level to C-Suite positions. Continue reading →

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