When your job hits crisis points, it’s easy to panic
Faith Wood knows how to resolve conflict. Her years in front-line law enforcement taught her how to effectively de-escalate any situation to a successful conclusion. Faith will use her knowledge of conflict management to guide you through the often stressful experiences you may encounter in your personal or professional life. Her Conflict Coach column appears…
But will the federal government step up to the plate?
The sweeping structural unemployment across Canada requires our collective attention. It’s time to take a deep dive into the changes happening in the workplace and ensure our young people are empowered for success in the new global economy. Canada’s economy isn’t immune to structural change. The advent of industrialization, manufacturing and, more recently, the information…
To grab someone's attention, move from making speeches and announcements to creating an experience in which people learn for themselves
In San Francisco, on the corner of Powell and Market, I once watched street performers entertain tourists waiting for the cable car to arrive and depart. My favourite "act" was two fully-dressed men who spray-painted themselves gold and silver. Posing like statues, they would kneel on the sidewalk facing each other with their elbows resting…
Embody the change you want in the world
I was still in high school when my father was fired from the San Francisco Examiner. Dad loved the newspaper business and he especially enjoyed his job, working with the newsboys who (then) sold papers on street corners. I knew he'd be devastated by the loss. To add to the problem, he had been employed…
A study of Olympic athletes offered insight into the body language of pride and shame.
For insight into the body language of pride and shame, scientists studied the behaviours of judo matches at the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The competitors represented 30 countries, including Algeria, Taiwan, Ukraine and the United States. The research report in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences stated that body language of blind…
There is good stress and there is bad stress. Can you recognize the difference?
There is good stress and there is bad stress. Pleasant events can be stressful in a positive way. And bad events can be stressful in a negative way. They can even make you physically ill. The trick is recognizing the early symptoms of negative stress so you can do something about it. The more competitive…
Placing content on social networking sites could spell doom for your career
Most job candidates don't consider the power of the social networking Web sites and the impact they have on hiring decisions. If they did, they'd think twice about the information they place on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Companies are more savvy about getting the lowdown on candidates today than they were in the past.…
If your goal is just to stay employed, you risk being replaced by someone more enthusiastic and passionate about the job
If your goal is just to stay employed, you risk being replaced by someone more enthusiastic and passionate about the job. So says Vaughan Evans, a London-based economist, business strategist and author of Backing U! A Business-Oriented Guide to Backing Your Passion and Achieving Career Success. While the book was written in 2009, its premise…
We reveal a lot about our attitudes, emotions and motives by the way we hold our bodies
I often address leadership groups about the importance of nonverbal communication in business. Senior managers actively participate in the sessions, asking questions and volunteering for various demonstrations. Everyone seems genuinely interested in the topic. Everyone, that is, except this one time when one woman sat for the entire time with her shoulders rounded, chin tucked…
Countless innovators in all fields have cited intuition or gut feeling as the motivator for achieving greatness
Countless innovators in all fields have cited intuition or gut feeling as the motivator for achieving greatness. Whether it's a life-enhancing invention, a technology that saves lives or turns out products or machines faster and cheaper, this mysterious feeling called intuition fired the creative spark. But intuition also triggers hunches that warn us of danger…
Some people are extraordinary salespeople. But it's not because they have an innate knack
How many times have you heard someone say, "He's a born salesman"? Or, "She has a gift for sales"? Unquestionably, some people are extraordinary salespeople. But it's not because they have an innate knack, or because there is a genetic component behind the skill. It's simply because they worked hard at honing their skill. At…
Stop making excuses and go for it!
“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof,” says author Barbara Kingsolver. Have you ever stopped to wonder what you want…
Leaders must understand how nonverbal skills can help them develop positive business relationships
Many executives in my audiences are initially skeptical about hearing a speaker on "body language" because they suspect that the topic might be interesting, but not very practical. By the end of my program, they know better. Here's what they learn ... 1) Science has validated the impact of body language Body language is the…
Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions That Will Get You the Job! by Tony Beshara offers interview tips that can lead to job offers
New books about landing job interviews are published every year. But a chapter in one 13-year-old book, Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions That Will Get You the Job! by Tony Beshara, is worth re-reading. It lists essential interview tips that can lead to job offers. Here are 14 of them:…
Now a professor of music psychology, Susan Rogers will also discuss music and psychology in two virtual presentations for the U of A’s music department
Susan Rogers needed just one more lucrative gig to go back to school. It wasn’t that she didn’t already have a hugely successful career. She cut her teeth as a studio technician with David Crosby and Graham Nash after dropping out of high school, and was hired by Prince as staff technician in the early…