This is a guest post from coach and consultant, Dean Middlebrook of Management Development & Marketing at Canon Europe Ltd. (Although the following blog post mentions therapists and clnicians, the guidelines are useful to anyone who is interested in using coaching for themselves, even if they aren’t interested in seeking professional levels of competence in …

There’s been a fair amount of interest lately in how to write your business plan quickly, say in a weekend. The most well-known is called Startup Weekend, which promises to turn strangers into teams with a completed business plan in an intensive 54-hour weekend marathon. Is this a good idea? There’s also a new book, …

As we approach the Valentine’s holiday it’s a good time to reflect on those things we love. Take some time in the next week to remember not only your loved ones, but all those things in your life that you love to do. Plan some activity to re-energize. Do something you love. Do What you …

I recently wrote a blog, rather unlike my usual blogs in that I told the true story of fellow worker; in this case he had no way out of his current negative job except unwanted retirement or quitting, or death. It was called simply, Finding the Way Out of a Coffin That is Nailed Shut, …

Tom in The Glass Menagerie wants to know how the magician or anyone can “find a way out of a coffin that is nailed shut without removing one nail,” or you could say how to find “a way up the slippery slope.” Work and work relationships can do more harm than good. This is one …

The Senior Development Person functions in four broad areas: •  Long- and Short-Term Planning        Working with Leadership •  Operational Planning and Analysis        Working with Leadership, Administration and Staff to identify        and select the (marketing, public relations and development)        programs that will best address established goals and        objectives. •  Coordinating Development Activities with those of the other depts. •  Program …

Manage a crisis AND run a business? Are you ready? When a major crisis hits, it can feel like the bottom just fell out of your whole organization. Energy is focused on response and recovery, communication and crisis management, and it can be easy to set daily duties aside. While obviously you have to assign …

When Does A Foundation Really Mean “No”? Unfortunately, the answer is most of the time. Let’s go through a couple of scenarios from my recent real-world encounters to see how this can play out. Scenario A: You’ve done your prospecting homework and have identified a foundation that’s a good fit with your organization. Unfortunately, you …

Going against convention boosts J&J’s brand reputation Apologies are supposed to be serious. If you’re joking, then you don’t really mean it, right? Johnson & Johnson, whose handling of the infamous 1982 Tylenol tampering murders and ensuing crisis management still stands as a “how-to” case study today, begs to differ, and did so in style …

Google Plus Pages, the online rival to Facebook, has created a guide that will walk you through how to set up your Business Page, get started, share, promote and measure.