Set an Email Quota and Stick to It

If you've tried all of the basic ways to manage your email, but are still feeling overwhelmed, try setting quotas. The idea …

Know When It's Time to Quit Your Job

Quitting a job can have negative consequences on both your career and your bank account. But staying in a bad situation can …

Don't Listen to Customers — Observe Them

Every business wants to know what influences their customers. So, they should just ask them, right? Not so fast. There's a …

Improve Your Ability to Anticipate Crisis'

Most leaders, even highly skilled ones, aren't great at detecting ambiguous threats on the periphery of their business. But …

Set the Right Tone for Your Talk

When you present, your audience usually sizes you up before you even utter a word — so it's critical to make a positive first …

Prepare Stories for Your Job Interview

Don't show up for a job interview without a stockpile of good stories. These narratives should be parables with a moral at …

2 Strategic Choices You Have to Make

Every business leader should be able to create a good strategy. Think of it as the intersection of two critical dimensions: …

Use Your Online Network to Test Ideas

Most managers today understand the importance of reaching out to colleagues through LinkedIn, following and being followed …

Avoid Visual Clichés When Presenting

If you want to communicate that your project's goals are "right on target," it's tempting to present your colleagues with …

Give Up Email Altogether

If you spend hours every day trying to keep on top of a huge inbox, try an extreme solution: Give it up. Yes, that's right, …

Walk at Your Next Meeting

Americans sit for an average of 9.3 hours a day. And a slew of studies have shown just how unhealthy that is, linking it to …

Keep Innovation Jams Small and Focused

Bringing together people from different backgrounds to creatively brainstorm a problem — otherwise known as "jamming" – has …

3 Elements of Great Communication

To make it in any job, you need to be able to convey ideas clearly and effectively. There are three things the best communicators …

Don't Bore Your Audience with Your Writing

No one wants their writing to put readers to sleep. And yet, many managers write boring and repetitive e-mails, reports, and …

Before Your Next Salary Negotiation, Do Your Homework

It's important to have realistic expectations before negotiating a salary offer. Employers base salaries on what they currently …

How to Connect With a Remote Colleague

It's challenging to work with someone you don't chat with every day at the coffee station. But you can still build strong …

Act with Care When Someone Cries at Work

It's natural to feel helpless or uncomfortable when someone cries in front of you in the office. But remember that tears are …

Make Customers Happier by Helping Them Accept Their Decisions

Research participants who covered a tray with a transparent lid after choosing a single chocolate from a large selection on …

Aim for Smart Failure

If you want to encourage people to take healthy risks, you need to make sure they're not afraid to fail. The first step in …

Allocate Your Time and Your Effort

To succeed in today's busy world, you need to decide what to excel at and what to do just adequately enough. Break down activities …

Use Personal Rituals to Make Changes Stick

How many times have you promised to exercise more, or start meditating, or spend less time at the office? To make changes …

Quickly Quiet Your Mind

A clear head produces the best insights. But it's a challenge to take time off in the midst of a busy day to rest your brain. …

Choose the Right Chart for Your Slide

When displaying data in a presentation, clarity matters above all else. Your audience has to get meaning from your numbers …

Perfect Your Personal Elevator Pitch

If you're in the market for a job, you need to be able to communicate your value as a potential employee in 15 seconds or …

Make Yourself an Expert

The most valuable people in any organization have deep smarts — business-critical expertise built up through years of experience …

Evaluate Remote Workers Fairly

We tend to trust what we can see, which makes it difficult to evaluate employees who don't spend time in the office. Here …

Reframe a Tough Interview Question

You've probably been asked this perennial, annoying question: "Where do you see yourself in five years?" Your interviewer …

Strike the Right Tone in Your Writing

Getting tone right takes work — but it's critical to the success of your business documents. If you sound likable and professional, …

Keep Your Company's Secrets in the Digital Age

Through social sharing technologies like Facebook and Twitter, your employees may be unwittingly exposing company secrets. …

Startups with Female Directors Have Better Chance of Survival

Newly incorporated companies with one female director have a 27% lower risk of becoming insolvent than comparable firms with …

Get the Most Out of Your Q&A

As a presenter, a question-and-answer session is a powerful way to address your audience's concerns and drive your point home. …

When You Become the Boss, Build Your Credibility

Managing people who used to be your peers is tough. You need to establish your authority without acting like the promotion's …

Make Your Mission Meaningful

When work has personal meaning, people feel a sense of ownership in their jobs. But few employers do what it takes to make …

Expand Your Company's Innovation Network

Organizations get it wrong when they rely on only a few people to come up with all the new ideas. Instead, they should connect …

Try Out a Career by Volunteering

It's impossible to know if you'll really like a career direction until you try it. To avoid costly mistakes — and wasting …

Eliminate Jargon from Your Next Presentation

Buzzwords, insider concepts, and industry lingo have no place in your presentation. Each field has its own lexicon that's …

3 Ways to Use Persuasion to Get What You Need

In today's organizations, persuasion trumps formal power. To get things done, you need to be able to sway the undecided and …

Companies: Don't Treat Executives' Time as an Infinite Resource

Just 52% of executives surveyed worldwide by McKinsey say the way they spend their time fits well with their organizations' …

Survive Networking Events by Being Generous

You're not the only one who walks into a networking mixer full of dread. Before you make a run for the door, try a different …

Change Small Things, Not Your Entire Culture

When people don't achieve company goals, senior managers often declare that it's time to change the culture. But sweeping, …

Don't Make a Career Move You'll Regret

No matter what industry you work in, what role you fill, or how successful you are, chances are you've made a bad career decision. …

Build a Better Online Network

Most managers today understand how to use online tools to build and expand their networks. It's easy to reach out to industry …

Make the Most of Your Downtime

It's hard to carve out time to relax in a 24/7 world. But just as it's healthy to focus at work — ignoring Facebook and personal …

Make Your Writing Chronological

Stories are inherently sequential. One thing happens, then another, then another. That structure works well not only in books …

© Nick Kalikajaros 2019