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…

I’m an entrepreneur, mom of two kids, wife, volunteer and juggler of schedules. At any point in time I have a lot of balls in the air. And a couple that are rolling away from me faster than I can catch them.  Up until lately, I thought it was my job to juggle all these balls.  Advocating for my child…

When I first started working as a consultant, I said yes to everything that came my way. I was hungry (literally and figuratively), building my business and didn’t think I could afford to say no to work, speaking or volunteer opportunities. And then I learned there is more power (and respect) in saying no than in saying yes. In my…

If you’re like me, the word audit has you rolling your eyes and sighing. Don’t worry, it’s a common reaction, especially amongst communicators. Okay forget about the word audit for a second. Think about a communications audit as taking a screenshot of your organization’s current communications systems and processes. This is all about hitting the pause button. It’s looking around…

I was having lunch with a friend the other day and she was complaining about the endless stream of people wanting her to write press releases, create brochures or post something on the website. In addition to the volume of requests, she was frustrated by the fact most people had no idea the focus of the story or information they…