Now is a great time to set clear personal and professional intentions for the year. I’m not talking about new year’s resolutions to exercise more or eat less chocolate (who wants to do that?). Rather, it’s about focusing on what you do want vs worrying about what you don’t want.  With all the noise in our lives (social media, fake…

When you meet a friend for a walk or go out for dinner, I bet you do a lot of storytelling. There’s always that friend who tells hilarious stories that make you laugh. Or that friend who tends to be upset about something, ranting away. Storytelling is an integral part of how we communicate and is what makes us human. …

Having worked as both a consultant leading a project and a manager hiring consultants, I have success and horror stories to share. What they have in common is the level of integration the consultant has with the project team. The more integrated, the more successful the end outcome.  A lot of time organizations hire consultants because either staff are too…

A friend recently called me to get advice on a project that had gone sideways. Although she felt she had done what was asked of her, the submitted project was not received well. The client lambasted her for missing the mark. In dissecting what went wrong, it came down to miscommunications.  I expect miscommunications is at the root of many…

When I worked for a corporation, we had a corporate training department that offered a long list of in-person and web-based courses and trainings for employees. About once a month I’d scroll through the training calendar looking to further develop my skills (and resume). While there was lots of health and safety, Microsoft office, and IT training, soft skills training…

Those of us who have worked in public relations for a long time assume (and often pull out our hair) that people know the difference between public relations and marketing. These two terms are often intermingled and used incorrectly. So what is the difference between public relations and marketing? Well it’s simple (and complicated). Public relations is often focused on…