(Part 1 of 3) I have been in Africa for the past month. I am still in re-entry. About once every 12-18 months my partner and I take teams of people into developing nations to work in villages to build clinics, schools, or other projects to assist the local community as a whole. We have …

In 1999 I facilitated scenario building for eleven cross-functional pharmaceutical teams (R&D, clinical development, global marketing, regional operations, manufacturing, and regulatory). The future was 2020 and we were imagining the marketplace, what consumers would expect, how diseases would be treated, and the features and benefits of the gold standard therapies of the day. Imagining the …

To the point, this is a post on what most people call “teamwork.” Bored already? Believe me, I understand. Traditional talk on teamwork is overdone and underused. But the fact remains that most market evolutions rely on a team—somewhere, somehow, some way. And that’s why what happens inside teams, from a Presidential White House Cabinet …

You will recall from my last post that the Eight Fold Path is a Buddhist approach to living and working to create greater peace, wisdom and compassion. The Eight Fold Path includes Right Livelihood, Right Action, Speech, Intentions, etc. Many caring people don’t ever stop to question if what they are doing is the right …

We all want to approach conflict situations with clear, honest communication that leads to a productive solution everyone can feel good about. But old habits and norms sometimes block direct, open communication. Use these suggestions as a checklist to see if you are communicating in the best possible way at your organization. If you aren’t, …

My last article about Was the Guy Who Won the Client’s Audition Better than You? may have really seemed off-topic to some, and my apologies to those who didn’t find my sentiment to their liking, but I think it was a valid point. Maybe I can re-address it here in different and more positive terms …

Unique Selling Proposition: Setting Yourself Apart (Guest post from Michael Zipursky.) Lack of focus. That’s one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a consultant. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, whether you’re a marketing, management, or public relations consultant (or any other type of consultant for that matter). The client of today …

This post fits loosely in the training and development category, I admit, but I think within this tale runs a thread that affects how we should look at the people we are training. In this case, we are talking creative types, voice-over actors. Granted, voice-over actors need training and coaching for an audition as much …

How can you be extra special to your spirit this week? How can you show love to your soul? The work that we do in our lives whether on the job, at our home, or on the stage, we need to be extra special to ourselves. If we don’t replenish, renew and refresh our spirits, …

Every year, government agencies around the country provide over $200 billion in grants … for specific services to local communities. Today, there are approximately 2,000 federal grant programs and over 40,000 state grant programs. But before you get all excited about all that government money, you must really understand what government grants are and who …