The Secrets of Building Community

10 Ways to Bond People Together

Hands raised at a concert with two people making the heart symbol with their hands

Leadership literature tends to focus on the leader themselves, the qualities that they need to have, as well the tips, tricks, tactics, and techniques they need to be successful. However, one of the most critical and underrepresented leadership skills is that of building community and how to do it effectively. Over the years, I have […]

Why The Words We Use Are So Important

25 Words That Will Transform Your Mood Right Now

The Word LOVE Written in Hands

Have you ever thought about how powerful the words we use are? Our words have great power. They are like “spells” we cast on our world. They shape how we see ourselves, our relationships, how high and how far we go in our career, they determine our success or failure. How do you feel when […]

What the fear of losing our job makes us do and what you can do differently

10 Ways to Save Yourself from Job Catastrophe

Frustrated Baker

In an economic environment where corporations can easily outsource work to other countries for less, where salaries are not increasing but are actually decreasing, where layoffs are a reality even in the most robust economic areas, and all so that companies can meet Wall Street expectations – fear of losing one’s job is not only […]

How to Have That Hard Talk … Elegantly

7 Strategies to Make Sure Tough Talks Go Well

Two people having a difficult talk

Hard talks are an inevitable part of the human experience. All of us encounter difficult and awkward situations at work and in our personal lives, and at the heart of those situations are (you guessed it) difficult and awkward people that are usually the source of the problem. No one (except psycho- and socio- paths) […]

The Missing Ingredient in Networking

The 3 Critical Qualities of Every Successful Business Relationship

Man Fixing His Tie

There is a saying in business, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. I don’t agree with this statement. It almost implies that connections are more important than the content of your character or your knowledge or expertise. However, while there may some truth in it, I would modify the statement to say […]

Treat others the way you want to be treated, and you’ll never go wrong.

Mark Botros

Texting Etiquette 101 and Common Texting Acronyms

Person Texting in Staircase

In my post, Email Common Sense 101 I talk about what good email etiquette looks like. Since texting is the other major form of non-in-person communication, I would feel remiss if I didn’t provide some equivalent etiquette around texting. Texting has dominated text-based communication for many reasons: Mass Adoption! Mobile devices are everywhere (there are […]

There is nothing noble about persisting in foolishness.

Mark Botros

How to Get Your Ideas Heard

6 Strategies to Get Critical Ideas Noticed

Woman holding a light over her head

In January 2016 The world economic forum put out a report saying that “critical thinking” was among the top needed skills both in 2015, and it will continue to be a top skill in the year 2020. Organizations have a bit of a cognitive dissonance or conflict when it comes to critical thinking and critical […]