I have two colleagues, both of whom I’ve known for about the same amount of time. With one, I’m somewhat guarded, not willing to be completely transparent. But with the other, I’m surprised at how vulnerable and candid I can be. The question is, why the difference? I know them equally well. Neither has any
A consultant was meeting with an executive recently when the executive opened up about his stress and anxiety. The consultant was in a dilemma. He had an agenda and goals for the meeting, but this executive clearly had a need to be heard. Maybe you’ve been in a similar situation—on either side of that conversation.
Of the 50 or so graduating seniors that heard me speak last week, two of them sent me an email asking for advice and help with getting a job. There’s something a little awkward about boldly taking that step, but they did it. What inside them made them do it? I thought about this after
I generally hear enough of what people say to know how to respond. Just like continuing to “read” even when my mind is wandering, it works for me to take quick mental breaks and still stay on track with what the person is saying. I was in a meeting this week, for example, when someone
“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.” –Karl A. Menniger I was sitting across the lunch table from a client as he let me inside his most
Longtime readers of my blog know there’s one element that’s central to every post I write: being human at work. It seems obvious, but sometimes we forget that core common denominator in everything that’s important. And that’s why my blog is about “leading as a human being rather than a human doing.” Recently, I’ve had
One of my favorite books of 2014 was Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden. It chronicles the life of Shin Dong-Hyuk, the first person born in a North Korean political prison to get out and tell his story. The turning point in
As I turned off my car engine, I panicked. I’d forgotten the name of one of the executives who would be in this meeting! Reassurance came quickly, though, when I realized I could just look it up on our CRM system on my phone. But as I headed into the building with my phone in
What role do your eyes play in building relationships? Quite a bit, according to a new study highlighted in the Wall Street Journal. It found that human beings are unique among animals in how we reveal and interpret our emotions through our eyes. The eyes really are the window to the soul, and since the
Last week you had a difficult interaction with people you care about. Remember it? They were your clients or your colleagues or maybe they were your kids. There was tension in the room, and your behavior affected the situation. How did the story play out? According to a study by Northwestern University, you might actually
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE