Two days before New Year’s day, I walked into a Kroger grocery about five miles from my home to pick up a few items. I should have known better. The…
Blog
Pssst! Wanna Get Ahead? Polish Your Presentation Skills
https://contentedcows.com/blog/item/99-how-to-improve-your-presentations Most of us are occasionally called upon to make a business presentation… Presentations to seek authorization or funding for a project, to report on performance, to pitch a product…
Five Things You Can Do To Hire Smart
People the world over are watching intently as a new U.S. presidential administration goes through its staffing up process, taking notes and names as to who’s in, who’s out, who’s…
Being "Damn Right" Doesn't Earn you Extra Points
Thirty-five years ago this week, when I was a young middle manager at a nascent FedEx, my boss flew to New York for exactly two reasons: 1) To go Christmas…
It's the Holiday Season, So Celebrate...Productively
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Know how I can tell? Because no one in the corporate world wants to talk about, think about, or do much of…
A Few Words on Workplace Feedback for Millennials
Over the last few years I’ve had the pleasure of providing professional coaching for a diverse group of a dozen or so Millennial professionals, managers, and executives in the workspace.…
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Popular vote totals suggest that less than half of us got what we wanted by way of the 2016 presidential election in the U.S. Indeed, many had been, as Tom…
Why No One Wants to "Join" Your Organization
A venerable old institution in my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida has just announced that after 48 years, it’s shutting its doors for good. The University Club, a traditional (and I…
Workforce Issues & Opportunities in the Hotel Industry - 2017
As a road warrior for my entire professional life, I’ve logged some serious time in hotels. I sent the folks at Marriott a friendly tweet recently… “@Marriott – We hit…
Carrots, Sticks, and Unintended Consequences
Having seen example after example of the “power of the carrot” I have long maintained that organizations large and small should be careful, very careful what they incentivize people to do, because…