As a workplace professional, you know that making excuses doesn’t cut it, so you strive to avoid acting the victim if your work actions don’t make the grade. But is there ever a time when an explanation is warranted to help clarify your actions? After all, because you’re a professional and you always aim to do your best,…
Professionalism
Are You an Opinion Leader?
Imagine for a moment that top management at your workplace surveyed all members of leadership asking, “Who are the most respected and influential individuals regardless of job title in our organization?” Would your name appear at least 10 times in the survey results? If so, then you might be an opinion leader, as defined by authors…
What Bugs Us At Work
I heard a great review on NPR the other day of a book called Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us. The book covers the science of why things like loud cell phone conversations and fingernails on a chalkboard are universally annoying to us. As I listened, I realized that a big part of my…
Great Speakers Form Authentic Relationships
A Book Review of Speak Up! by Heather Stubbs Most books on public speaking emphasize external attributes— projecting one’s voice confidently, maintaining eye contact and telling spellbinding stories. These are all important factors says author Heather Stubbs, but to be a truly powerful speaker, you need to first get your internal house in order. That’s…
Safe at Home – Watch Your Words
Dwane Lay who blogs at Lean HR is hosting a unique HR Carnival this week. He’s asked all carnival contributors to write a post with the same title: “Safe at Home.” We’re to write about what that title means to us personally and publish it today. The carnival featuring all submissions with this title will…