Last week I had a huge aha moment. I realized (with the help of my coach) that I am constantly undermining myself by giving people an out when it comes to listening to my opinion or following my advice. I wasn’t standing behind my words. I was lacking personal emotional intelligence. What do I mean by that? I became aware…

Sometimes it’s the simplest tools that make the biggest difference. Forget confusing gantt charts (which give me an instant headache) or 10 page plans. While they have their place and are loved by analytical/detail oriented minds, I prefer the less is more approach – a facts sheet. When I was first introduced to a facts sheet, I remember thinking “wow…

About half of all Canadians and 25 per cent of Americans volunteer in some way each year. This includes coaching kids’ sports, visiting seniors, sitting on boards and a variety of other volunteering activities. We can all list a number of benefits organizations get from the work of volunteers. But how often do we think about the benefits to the…

I’ve been sitting back watching political events unfold post the NATO summit Europe – which is equal parts news and entertainment. Listening to the commentary on the latest meeting of foreign leaders, and the public’s reaction, it got me thinking a lot about integrity. Each of us is personally responsible for our own integrity and how we hold true to…

I’ve been struggling if I should write about the efforts to rescue 12 soccer players and their coach from deep inside a cave in Thailand. As a parent, I’m concerned about being seen as exploiting a crisis situation (especially one involving children) in any way. However, there are great lessons in crisis communications to be learned from this rescue operation….

A few weeks ago I had to sit through a particularly painful presentation. The presenter not only had a never ending Power Point slide deck, but also spent most of the presentation reading from notes. To keep myself from falling asleep, I made notes on how this person could have gone from boring to engaging with some key presentation skill…