Your Go-To-Negotiation Expert
“That will never work,” the senior partner told me during my first job out of law school. I had asked if we should call the opposing counsel. “Why?” I countered. “Phone calls won’t work,” he replied. “We only write letters. You won’t get anywhere. You’re wasting your time.” Sound familiar?
If you’ve been to Geno’s in Philadelphia, then you’ve seen people who know how to get things done. Once, while attending the National Speakers Association (NSA) Convention, a group of us (pictured above) took the Philly Cheesesteak Challenge. We compared Geno’s to Pat’s (competing restaurants across the street from each
Please find guest post by my friend Randy Pennington. His new book Make Change Work: Staying Nimble, Relevant and Engaged in a World of Constant Change was just released! Please enjoy this excerpt: “When will things get back to normal?” That question has been asked countless times since the economic meltdown of
I’ve been thrown under the bus a few times in my career but a while ago I couldn’t escape one. After speaking at a convention, the bus transporting conference attendees from the convention center to the hotel had a “minor malfunction.” When it was time to unload, the door made a sound like it
Most people know I went to law school but not everyone knows I first graduated with a Broadcast Journalism degree. During that time, I was a DJ at Texas Tech’s radio station and a news intern at KAMC-TV, the ABC affiliate in Lubbock. If you promise not to laugh at
Oh no…she was back…and she was bringing more complaints. Unfortunately, I didn’t have 30 minutes to hear “Diane” vent and describe every slight she suffered that week. My exploding at her, “Sorry, I just don’t have time to fix YOUR problems today,” certainly did not improve our work relationship. Ever have people
BAD NEWS- My credit card and I were parted for a number of days-not of my doing. The thieves didn’t buy much. Luckily, they didn’t have my PIN number and I reported the card as stolen once I discovered it missing. SURPRISINGLY GOOD NEWS- There are good Samaritans out there. Meet Aysha
Wow. I had a bad customer service experience over the holidays. While visiting one of my favorite stores, I encountered a Scrooge who did not like working. To be fair, it was busy and the dressing rooms were a disaster. (Don’t you wonder about people who won’t hang up the
I was thrilled to be to invited to speak at the Professional Convention Management Association’s Convening Leaders Conference last week in sunny San Diego. The local CW television channel found out I was going to be in town and asked me to appear on their morning show to discuss my favorite
I’m embarrassed to say that heading over to the launch for my book Stop Complainers and Energy Drainers, I wasn’t pleasant. In fact, I was a big whiner – but I had “good” reasons. First, there was the late start because I forgot to load boxes into my car. Then, there
Some things you never forget. Quite a few years ago I was in the San Francisco airport after attending a three-day jam-packed National Speakers Association conference. Overwhelmed by all I had learned, I was now at a tipping point in my career and not sure which direction to take. An industry
Contrast this to the programs where I help technical leaders improve their ability to negotiate and influence. These engineers usually don’t enjoy public speaking at all. What do professional speakers and technical leaders have in common? More than you think. We all want to communicate in a way that others