When Your “Help” Leads to Harm In your professional life, your interactions with others directly affect the success of your business and your own personal wellbeing. In every exchange, you have choices: You can perpetuate bad habits or you can foster growth. Do...
One Tool for Handling Anger “I don’t know what to have for breakfast,” my daughter stated one morning, as if it was an accusation. Of felony. I gave several breakfast suggestions. She rejected them all. She wanted a certain thing we lacked ingredients for, and...
Don’t Be “Nice” I used to think of myself as a nice person. I don’t anymore. In fact, if people refer to me as nice, I cringe. It was a passage in Gavin de Becker’s book, The Gift of Fear, that first changed my opinion of this word: We must learn and then teach our...
How to Stop Giving & Getting Excuses Do you know the difference between an excuse and an explanation? When you’re on the receiving end, you can tell between the two by how you feel. One makes you want to roll your eyes or yell in frustration. The other,...
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...
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...
