We’ve been to the same furniture store four times and still haven’t bought a couch. Every visit we leave feeling overwhelmed with our choices. As the salesperson learns more about us, she presents more options—bedding, curtains and pillows to match! In her passion to present everything we might need, she’s driving us further and further
I learned to dance Salsa in a university class called Bailes Latinoamericanos. Having an analytical mind and a Lutheran heritage didn’t set me up as a natural success. But thankfully, I had a good instructor who helped me move my hips to the even beats with the characteristic pause on the fourth beat. While I
What risks and challenges will you face in the new year, and how will you respond? Like all of us, my colleague Pat Griffin has been broken several times in his life. The hardest might have been seven years ago when he moved his family from Iowa to Montana to start a consulting practice and
After going through six miscarriages, we’d agreed that we should choose our new baby’s name based on what it meant, not what it sounded like. So when we arrived at the hospital six months ago, we were in full agreement that if our baby was a girl, her name would be Matilda Mae (Matilda meaning
As I turned off my car engine, I panicked. I’d forgotten the name of one of the executives who would be in this meeting! Reassurance came quickly, though, when I realized I could just look it up on our CRM system on my phone. But as I headed into the building with my phone in
What role do your eyes play in building relationships? Quite a bit, according to a new study highlighted in the Wall Street Journal. It found that human beings are unique among animals in how we reveal and interpret our emotions through our eyes. The eyes really are the window to the soul, and since the
My nerves have been frayed. Not sleeping soundly. My breathing has been shallow and my body has felt unsettled. In moments of calm, I search my iPhone for an email, a text, a photo, a song, I don’t know what. Anx-i-e-ty: a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease, typically about an imminent event or something
The CEO of a consulting firm asked me how our company has landed among the “Best Places to Work” for the past five consecutive years. After considering a number of factors that drive employee engagement, I told him, “One-on-ones.” “Oh yes,” he said. “We do those, too.” So then I described what one-on-ones are like
Last week you had a difficult interaction with people you care about. Remember it? They were your clients or your colleagues or maybe they were your kids. There was tension in the room, and your behavior affected the situation. How did the story play out? According to a study by Northwestern University, you might actually
I have a confession: I’m fascinated with talk radio. (And apparently, I’m not the only one.) I’m particularly devoted to two shows: “The World Next Week,” by the Council on Foreign Relations, and “The John Williams Show” on our local CBS radio affiliate. They’re “appointment radio/podcasts” for me because they consistently inspire, energize and educate.
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE