LISA'S BLOG

Can a single conversation ruin your business?  Or end your marriage?

Author and leadership expert Susan Scott says, “While no single conversation is guaranteed to change the trajectory of a career, a company, a relationship or a life – any conversation can.”

Scott, the author of Fierce Conversations, writes, “Our lives succeed or fail gradually, then suddenly, one conversation at a time.”

Which is kind of a scary thought given that most of us don’t spend much time thinking about, or planning, our daily conversations.

Yet as Scott points out,  “What gets talked about in an organization – and what doesn’t get talked [...] Continue Reading…

What makes someone a great friend?

Is it being supportive and accepting you just the way you are?

Or is it someone who has the guts to kick you in the tail and demand that you do better?

I had an abysmal book signing several years ago that gave me a different perspective on what it really means to be a friend.

It was one of those awful, embarrassing no-show events that every author dreads. To make matters worse, it was one of the first public events for my very first book Forget Perfect [...] Continue Reading…

Which is harder, trying to get a job or trying to keep one?

With 14.8 million people unemployed, job competition has never been stiffer.

If you’ve already got a job, there are plenty of people out there who are quite eager to take your place. And if you’re looking for work, you already know how tough it is.

Companies close, departments shut down, organizations change and jobs we once complained about have become precious jewels.

Said another way, the days of just showing up are over.

So what’s the secret of getting or keeping a job? [...] Continue Reading…

Why do people of the opposite sex act so weird at work?

Anyone who works in an environment where their sex is in the minority knows that men and women are different.  Actually, anyone who’s ever gone to school, ridden a bus, dated, read a Facebook page, been married, raised kids or walked through a mall knows that we’re different.

In most cases, it’s a good thing.  Yet it can pose problems at work, especially if one gender has a set of unspoken rules that the other gender doesn’t even know exists.

Shaunti Feldhan, [...] Continue Reading…

Please join me for a free webinar series:Growing Your Business (without giving up your life)
Starting JUNE 24

We’ll cover:
Networking – How to generate leads,  when you don’t have time to get out into the community

Motivation- How to get your employees engaged, when you can’t afford raises

Organization – Streamlining your work and life, when you’re so busy you can’t see straight

June 24 session:  Is Networking a Waste of Time?  Or an Effective Marketing Strategy?
How to be a great networker without being a creeper

You’re overworked, understaffed and the [...] Continue Reading…

When we think about great parents, we tend to use words like loving, nurturing and kind.  Yet when describing high performing bosses, we’re more likely to talk about being decisive, tough and directive.

Parenting, especially mothering, is viewed as soft and sweet, while leadership is firm and aggressive. 

Yet in reality, great bosses and great parents are all those things.

We may like to think of home and work as separate animals, believing that one requires a soft approach (home) while the other (work) requires a tougher mindset.   But leadership is leadership, no [...] Continue Reading…

We all know them; you might even be one of them. They’re the bitter divorced people who five years later are still seething with anger at their ex-spouse.

The question is, what causes the anger? The marriage, or the way they divorced?

It’s ironic; people often divorce in the hopes of creating a better life. Yet many emerge from the process bitter, broken and broke. Instead of reducing drama and angst, they just create more. The only thing they wind up with less of is money.

I’m not going to speculate as to why people divorce. What bothers me is the way [...] Continue Reading…

What’s more important: knowledge, work habits or the way we interact with others?

Recently, one of my clients was creating a project team. Several people volunteered, yet when they found out that Ms. So and So was going to be part of it, they quickly retracted their offers. The project hadn’t even started, yet they were already jumping ship at the mere thought of having to work with Ms. So and So.

Here’s the weird part: The person nobody wanted to work with was highly regarded for her knowledge of the subject, and [...] Continue Reading…

Can you give a great presentation if you have a messy office?

Can you be a fabulous parent with laundry strewn all over the house?

On the one hand, it might seem like you’re too busy doing your “job” to worry about little details like filing or cleaning out the fridge. But after many years as a parent and a business owner, I’ve come to realize that when I don’t have my “back room” in order, it’s only a matter of time before my front-facing self starts to show the cracks.

You can certainly give [...] Continue Reading…

People are weird about love.

Everybody wants to be loved, but nobody wants to talk about it.

We’ll tell a stranger how much we love our iPod.  Yet we find it difficult to look into the eyes of our parent, spouse or child and proclaim the same thing.

One place we’re really weird about love is at work.

We want our customers to love our products, we want our employees to love their jobs, and we want the market to love our stock.   [...] Continue Reading…