No one wants to endure the discomfort of having difficult discussions; yet it’s a part of every job. Doing it well is what separates a leader from simply a manager.  

Here are three difficult business conversations you may encounter and a few tips on how to not only make them easier, but more effective. Please note this is NOT legal advice and you should make sure you are following all state and federal laws as well as your HR department guidelines.

When you are building your career, no matter what field it is in, self-promotion is important. There are some conflicting views on whether or not it is beneficial or detrimental, but in the end, the more others know about how you can contribute to their success, the more sought after your services will be.

The key is to find the balance between self-promotion and arrogance.

Many times in life, in business, or at work, you may find yourself overwhelmed with a long to-do list and not enough time. All of these action items may appear to be high-priority tasks and the weight of it all can be crushing. If you’re like most of us, then you want to become more efficient at work, and you want life to feel easier.

In this article, we’ll look at how you can increase productivity by making new, informed choices related to your to-do list. Instead of diving straight into your tasks haphazardly, you can prioritize your to-do list by finding the “lead domino.”

Congratulations – after much hard work creating a resume, networking and applying for jobs, you’ve made it past the résumé review and have been selected for an in-person interview! We recently covered how managers or business owners should be preparing to give the best possible interview for optimal results… and now we’ll dive into what, as the interviewee, you should be doing prior to and leading up to the meeting.

It’s been one of those days filled with a million deadlines and hundreds of small crises, that you almost forgot about the interviews you’ve scheduled for an open position. While you may think you’ve got the upper hand here, you still want to be prepared.

Sure, the candidates are interested in the position, but it’s your job to sell them on it and ensure you are following the best steps to help you choose the right person for the job. Remember, during the interview process, candidates are deciding whether they want to work for you as much as you’re deciding whether to hire them. Great candidates don’t want to work for a manager that seems unorganized and uninterested in their time, or a company that doesn’t match their personal needs.

In business, the ability to communicate effectively is perhaps the most important skill. From intense negotiations to office small talk, understanding the nuances of how and when to email can make or break one’s reputation. In this post, we’ll be going over some email best practices that can help you communicate more effectively.

Speaking opportunities are a great way to grow your career, but a bad presentation could be damaging to your reputation. Here are five presentation tips to help you develop a strong PowerPoint or Keynote presentation for your next speaking opportunity.

It can be very easy to get “busy” at work. Every day, we’re inundated with emails, phone calls, messages, meetings—it’s very easy for the day to get away from us. However, being busy doesn’t always equate to being efficient or effective at our jobs. Indeed, sometimes the things that keep us “busiest” are the very things that prevent us from reaching our potential as productive employees. And it’s burning us out.

Some people just seem to be able to get along with anyone and can find common ground easily. But you don’t have to be naturally charming or charismatic to build great rapport. It’s actually possible to develop a positive personal connection in 60 seconds in any type of setting.