Articles
The Attitude of Diversity
Three key elements in understanding how attitude affects your company are:
- Diversity is about things that you and your employees cannot leave at home: race, religion, sexual orientation, age, and looks. These traits affect the experiences people have in life.
- Differences between people can create barriers that affect a business’s bottom-line. When we are aware of the barriers and accepting others’ differences are encouraged in your company culture, people grow which means your company will gr…
Perception or Communication - Who Will Win?
The bell rings to start the fight! The crowd is roaring to cheer on the contender they want to win, Perception or Communication. They are evenly challenged though their strengths reside in different areas, this will be a good fight!Perception leads the way in affecting emotions, capitalizing on the senses and influencing word of mouth. Communication leads the way in providing information, exchanging ideas, involves all parts of the body, and is a part of every form of media.
Perception has the ab…
Are Legos Sexist?
I don’t know if you have noticed, but Lego has been taking a beating lately with claims of the company being sexist in their marketing and who they target their products to. It is no secret that generally speaking, boys are more interested in science and engineering. It is also no secret that the media and toy companies have decided that all girls must love dolls and pink.So what’s the problem?
The problem is we are creatures of conditioning. How we raise our children and what we expose them to s…
How to Effectively Communicate With Your Clients Easily
Communication is key to every relationship . . . open communication that is. As technologies change so do the ways, styles, and expectations of communication. This is particularly true with clients. As a business, you can make executive decisions about how your employees are to communicate with each other, but with clients . . . well that is a different story. In many cases, they tell you what works best for them, and communicating with them in their style of preference usually makes communicati…
The Right Words for Marketing
“A culture of trust that encourages empowerment and innovation, we provide people with the freedom, flexibility and opportunity to do great things for our company, employees and customers.”
This quote and others similar always accompany a business receiving an award for best work place. The other time you hear this or some version of it is when companies are going through or need to go through a major cultural change.One of the first construction conferences I presented at, I was having a drink …
How to Navigate FTC Regulations: The Secrets to Effective Testimonials and Endorsements
For some, testimonials are what sell their business. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is finally catching up to the constantly evolving digital world. For the better part of a decade, the agency lagged a full Internet generation behind advertisers who saw online communications evolving faster than laws governing their fair use. Now the FTC is codifying and enforcing what were once only unwritten rules. As a result, companies caught crossing the bounds of appropriate online behavior now face ha…
Discovering Prejudice
I gave this presentation to two different local community groups. The intent was to open the dialog about diversity--what did they think about, what did they know about, and how has it affected them.
Here is the feedback I received:
Here is the feedback I received:
- HOLY CRAP! That was stirring and masterful! You handled that with amazing skill and sensitivity. EXCELLENT!
- Very Engaging!
- Really good insight! I like that you are courageous and willing to speak about such topics.
- Great Job—inspiring and heartwarming. Everyon…
Steve Klein: Economic Update and Where His Company is Going
Steve Klein is a very good friend of mine and he is one of the three business owners that wrote the forward to my book, Contractors: Doing it Right Not Just Getting it Done. In our most recent check-in to touch base with each other he shared what is going on in his local economy and how it is affecting his business. Since it is such a great snapshot as to what is happening in the Victoria, Texas area I had asked if I could share it with you. So enjoy and if you are in Texas, say Hi to Steve for …
Has Diversity Gone Too Far?
Like it or not, diversity in the business arena is here to stay. It is an up and coming trend and it is defining businesses that will success or fail tomorrow.It’s interesting to see who is tackling this issue and who is afraid. What is also interesting is to see how people approach it. I have seen everything from “pity me, I’m a minority,” to “let’s just meet the numbers,” to “it’s just about the color of your skin,” to “this is an age old problem, so I am going to say it’s the result of divers…
Happy 3-Year Anniversary Seattle!
I was told when I moved to Seattle that once you have been here for six months, you are officially a local. The reason is because there are so many people moving here every day that after six months, well you are old news.
I’ve been here three years now and Seattle feels more and more like ‘home’ every day. Just when I think I couldn’t possibly love living here anymore, something happens and wow—Seattle is even more special to me than it was just a moment before.
Last year I had a hard time writin…
I’ve been here three years now and Seattle feels more and more like ‘home’ every day. Just when I think I couldn’t possibly love living here anymore, something happens and wow—Seattle is even more special to me than it was just a moment before.
Last year I had a hard time writin…