Would you love to be 20% better at persuasion? Or improve your chances of landing the job of your dreams? Or become more well-liked socially? There is a very simple conversational tactic you can use, which will help you accomplish these goals. You know what it is. But chances are, you are not using it enough. [Continue »]

“What’s the most important mindset for success in business?” A video podcaster named Nina asked me earlier today. For a second, I doubted I would be able to identify just one key mindset for success.I find questions about “what one thing?” sort of over-simplifying. As trusted advisors to CEOs and investors of large companies, our consultants at ghSMART typically emphasize the importance of context. There is no “perfect candidate” to hire for a job, for example. Success depends mostly on a leader fitting a given context, which has many variables—the customer landscape, strategic challenges, operating challenges, financial or legal factors, culture, etc. [Continue »]

By the time you become CEO, you will be awesome at running meetings. As a humble bystander, and CEO myself for a couple of decades, I have grown to appreciate the fine art of how to run a meeting well. I have seen billionaire tech CEOs run meetings where people cried their eyes out they were so inspired, and I’ve seen front-line supervisors at an aluminum can manufacturing company run meetings so poorly that people were falling asleep–heads clunking down on the table. [Continue »]