Business communication

Five tips to set yourself apart.

The key is mutual learning, understanding, and teaching.

They cost something, mean something, and have permanence.

As Facebook has grown to more than 600 million users, many companies have been struggling to figure out how to leverage it to help their businesses. Most have limited themselves to advertising or establishing company pages on the platform only to discover that while these methods allow them to engage their Facebook fans in a […]

Is listening important? “Yes, of course,” you say. But then why would anyone pay thousands of dollars to hear someone speak, and then not listen? I recently attended the PopTech conference in Camden, Maine, a mind-bending affair attended by several hundred idea junkies, each of whom paid several thousand dollars to (ostensibly) hear what really […]

Comments for this Make Your Case installment are now closed. Thanks to all who participated. This week’s guest commentator, Marshall Goldsmith, has posted his response to your comments and shared some thoughts of his own below. The opening to your cube is darkened by the familiar figure of a longtime colleague. Though you’re his immediate […]

Barack Obama is back from a semi-world tour that took him from Afghanistan and Iraq to the capitals of Europe, with stops in Israel and Palestine in between. By most accounts, he pulled it off with few gaffes, but some political reporters and pundits are wondering if Obama looked, in the words of NBC’s Andrea […]

Most experienced negotiators are comfortable working out the terms of an economic contract--they bargain for the best price, haggle over equity splits,...

Everyone was being so agreeable. The CEO nodded, the VPs agreed, the Directors were polished in their reviews. All the content was "good," the timelines...

It was an experiment. I was returning an item to the store from which I had bought it. The item was well within the return period, but there would be a 20% restocking fee. Could I evade that fee? What would I have to do or say to persuade them not to charge it to […]

Admitting your weaknesses actually bolsters others’ faith in you.

Surprised by a gender stereotype? React calmly, directly, and move on.

Get everyone moving in the same direction.

This article defines and explains the four essential elements of persuasion. Business today is largely run by teams and populated by authority-averse...

There are still open questions, but the research can provide some answers about what works.

Four steps to help you think things through.

Is your company unintentionally keeping your most senior people from getting the feedback they most need? It can easily happen as an unintended consequence of success. Consider these situations: Senior executives at car companies drive only the newest models: For decades, the top executives at America’s leading automobile manufacturers always drove models fresh from the […]

Senior leaders need to talk to each other.

Four steps cut down on complexity.

Today at Fort Hood, President Obama addressed the mourners at the memorial service for those who died in last week’s shooting. The President’s comments demonstrate both the opportunities and the pitfalls of this sort of leadership speech. We expect leaders to speak on tragic occasions like this one. Their comments should comfort us and let […]