"Communication" Blog Posts

In 1996, I entered the exciting new world of high school… and I also immersed myself in the equally thrilling sphere of the Internet. I discovered sites and services such as Hotmail® (or HoTMail, as it was known then), AOL®, Altavista®, GeoCities®, Yahoo!®, and Ask Jeeves®, and faced long-forgotten battles with dial-up tones, pop-ups and […]

All Posts, Communication

Imagine the scene. I arrived at college full of excitement and a new-found sense of freedom. I was studying the subject of my dreams and socializing in a vibrant and cultured city. The first year was a breeze: the shock came in year two. Suddenly I was nowhere near the top of the class, in […]

All Posts, Career Skills, Change Management, Learning Skills, Stress, Team Management

I hate negotiating. The problem is, I love a bargain! One of my favorite pastimes is pottering around antiques fairs, car boot sales and junk stores, trying to find things to restore or upcycle. But I’m hopeless when it comes to haggling and, more often than not, I’ll pay the full price without even bothering […]

All Posts, Career Skills, Communication, Problem Solving, Strategy

I thought this "game" was going to be a waste of time. I already knew my colleagues well, and didn't see the point when we could be getting down to business! But I was wrong.

All Posts, Communication, Team Management

"Email, instant messaging, and cell phones give us fabulous communication ability, but because we live and work in our own little worlds, that communication is totally disorganized." - Marilyn vos Savant. When it comes to communicating at work, everyone has their own preferences, habits and methods, and "pet hates." However, without a concerted effort to […]

All Posts, Communication

Since leaving my job as a news reporter for Thomson Reuters and going freelance some years ago, I've had to come to terms with failure like never before. Pitching articles to magazines and newspapers can be tough. Sometimes I get a great response but, other times, my emails are met with radio silence or a […]

All Posts, Creativity, Strategy, Team Management

I was looking after my eight-year-old nephew last weekend, and I’d love to say it was a pleasure but it wasn't! His parents had gone out for the night on their own, trusting me and my partner to look after him for the evening. As non-parents, this was a big deal for us and we’d […]

All Posts, Career Skills, Communication, Team Management

I run my own small business and, several years ago, I joined a business group to network with other entrepreneurs in my community. I was nervous about going to the first event, a socializing dinner, but I'd invested in the membership and was bound and determined to make use of it. To say I crashed […]

All Posts, Career Skills, Communication, Strategy

I've never been a leader of an organization and I've always shied away from management roles in my journalism career, preferring to stay "at the coal face." Nor have I ever been overly interested in management theory or the structure of organizations. But I am really interested in concepts like purpose and meaning, in the […]

All Posts, Career Skills, Leadership, Team Management, Time Management

Warning: You won't want to hear what I'm about to tell you. But hang with me, please. I'll make you feel much better about it and you'll be far more successful in your work. Ready? After publishing his book, "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us," Daniel Pink was curious and asked 7,000 workers […]

All Posts, Communication, Leadership, Problem Solving, Team Management