Be Careful with Sloppy Writing People judge you by your writing. They decide how smart, creative, and trustworthy you are — all from what you’ve written. So be sure your writing makes a good impression on the reader. Here are some common mistakes that can damage your reputation: Using lots of pairs or sets of… Continue reading Be Careful with Sloppy Writing

Get the Full Benefits of Walking Meetings Walking meetings are a growing trend, replacing a traditional sitting meeting in a coffee shop or boardroom with a little exercise. The benefits are plentiful:  Research has found that walking leads to increases in creative thinking, and anecdotal evidence suggests that walking meetings spur more productive, honest conversations.… Continue reading Get the Full Benefits of Walking Meetings

Learn How to Say No to New Assignments Most of us say yes to requests and assignments without filtering them by what’s urgent,  let alone what’s possible. We like saying yes to our superiors, but agreeing to do too many things leaves us overstressed and overworked. A better approach is to remember that saying no… Continue reading Learn How to Say No to New Assignments

It’s OK to Ban  Devices from Your Meetings We love to hate meetings. But since they aren’t going away any time soon, we should think of ways to make them more effective. One answer is to ban devices. The reason is simple: devices distract us. Many people think they can finish an email or read… Continue reading It’s OK to Ban Devices from Your Meetings

Know When to Speak Up About an Ethical Issue Sometimes you sense that something isn’t right at work. Maybe you suspect that a finance colleague is fudging numbers or that a coworker often sneaks out early. How do you know if it’s worth speaking up? Here are some tips for these tricky situations: Consider what’s… Continue reading Know When to Speak Up About an Ethical Issue

Don’t Make These Common Writing Mistakes People judge you by your writing, so getting a word wrong can make you look bad. Be sure to avoid these common writing errors in your next email: Affect/Effect: Affect is a verb; effect is a noun. It affected him. The effect was startling. All Right/Alright: Although alright is… Continue reading Don’t Make These Common Writing Mistakes

Know How to Work with Prickly Personalities People with low emotional intelligence, also known as  EQ, are generally harder to work with — they can be grumpier, more negative, and more erratic than average. But a few tactics can help you collaborate with a low-EQ person: Be gentle.  Just because someone is unpleasant  doesn’t mean… Continue reading Know How to Work with Prickly Personalities

Recognize When You’re Being Too Stubborn Being stubborn isn’t always a bad thing. But if you’re standing your ground for the wrong reasons (like if you hate to be wrong), you’ll do more damage than good. Since it’s hard to recognize stubbornness in yourself, look out for these signs that you’re being inflexible: You keep… Continue reading Recognize When You’re Being a Jack Ass

Are You Acting Like a Pushover? You have to get along with others to get things done, right? Yes… to a degree. You want to be cooperative, but you don’t want to be seen as a pushover. Watch out for these signs that you’ve taken being the good guy or gal too far –  chances… Continue reading Don’ Act Like a Pushover