The Clothes Make the Man …Or Do They? I took my two daughters to Oregon Ballet Theater’s performance of The Nutcracker earlier this month. We dressed up in fancy clothes, had brunch at an upscale restaurant, then headed to the auditorium for their first ever...
Don’t Let Mismatched Nonverbals Make a Bad Situation Worse You know the feeling. You’re about to be the bearer of bad news. It could be at work—maybe you have to deliver a negative performance review, let your team know about budget cuts, or tell a client their...
Rewrite Your Script My 7-year-old* daughter, Juliana, is almost exactly like I was as a kid: She loves to read and to write stories. She rarely plays with toys unless her sister begs her, but will spend hours outside riding her bike, climbing trees, exploring,...
Claiming vs. Violating Space One key ingredient for personal presence, as well as excellent public speaking skills, is the ability to claim space. When you claim space, you expand your awareness beyond your own personal space bubble, fill the area around you with your...
Why Nice Guys (and Gals) Finish Last Over the years, I’ve written and spoken numerous times on how being nice can backfire. When you’re dealing with someone who is focused on the issue or hasn’t yet chosen a relationship with you, being “nice” can actually...
Be Silent. Be Still. Do you want or need to get people’s attention? You can get it with volume and movement: yelling and screaming and waving your arms. It’s hard to resist looking, when you hear a sudden squawk from a baby or voices raised in an argument,...
