Proposals
A proposal is a summation of prior conceptual agreement about a professional relationship, it is not a negotiation or an exploration. Therefore, you should have in excess of an 80% success rate.
We Have Found the Enemy….
If you find patterns in your dealings with clients—requests for a "deal," chronic lateness, insistence on extra work to be done, etc.—the common element is you, not them. You're giving off "deal vibes" or allowing bad habits which are then
Do You Choose to Market?
There is a canard that you "can't market" at certain times of the year (vacation periods, holidays, times of turmoil). That's a nice excuse for people who don't realize that this is the marketing business, no matter what their expertise.
It IS Easy Being Green
A drenching rain and everything is beautifully green outside. Sometimes we need a drenching in new ideas and development to grow better ourselves. Are you taking in nutrients or just producing fertilizer?
Geography
As you work with your clients going forward, consider this: While remote work has proved both feasible and productive, it will never be as productive as people who work together physically, interact, support each other, and feel committed instead of
What Day Is It?
I ask people as politely as I can not to write me with questions or issues on a weekend or holiday unless it's an emergency. (I think a consulting "emergency" is about as likely as a dermatological emergency, which is
A Little Light Goes A Long Way
Have you noticed that as we get better at our responses—create direction out of ambiguity—people are calmer and find their own ways to better cope? That's really the essence of leadership: Provide the direction within which people can make intelligent, autonomous
Alan Weiss, RI (Rhode Island)
If you're putting "MA" after your name, not to denote Massachusetts as your home, but to indicate "master of arts," you're trying too hard. It hurts more than i helps.
Have I Told You Lately How Good You Look?
If you want to get someone's attention, compliment them! When I tell a reporter in any major publication that I enjoyed the article and wanted to suggest something, I'll get a response 90% of the time. When I tell a
Claiming Control
I find when people feel helpless they have usually lost control or perceive they have lost control. (That's why people do dumb things like hoard toilet tissue, it's an expression of some small control.) Even in crisis times we have