Rob Biesenbach 
A colleague the other day expressed hope that all the attention to TED talks would inspire people to become better presenters. I hope so, because I still see a lot of people making the same old mistakes in their presentations. They fail to take into account the needs and interests of their audience. They inundate … Read more
Five million people come to the Grand Canyon every year and a handful don’t make it back alive. This is the story of one of those deaths, and what it can teach us. Grand Canyon visitors get into trouble in all kinds of ways. They don’t carry enough water or food, they underestimate how strenuous … Read more
On Sunday night I got home from a short vacation and found our very old, very dear cat in a terrible state. After a rush to the animal ER and a diagnosis from our specialty vet, we made the difficult decision the next day to let her go. It had been a long time coming, … Read more
If you should ever fall out of love with writing, read a little F. Scott Fitzgerald. That will surely rekindle the flames. I’ve been reading The Great Gatsby in preparation for this week’s film premiere. There’s nothing like re-reading a book you loved in high school or college — a decade or two of real-world … Read more
There’s nothing worse than a bad apology. Like the non-apology apology (“I’m sorry if you were offended”), which skirts responsibility and essentially blames the victim for being too sensitive. Or the increasingly popular “I didn’t know I was being recorded” apology, which is another way of saying, “I was just saying what I was thinking … Read more
When co-workers offer comments about something you wrote, do you accept their feedback with grace and ease or do you bristle like a threatened porcupine? If it’s the latter, be careful. You could get tagged as “difficult” — the Sean Young of the workplace. Never heard of Sean Young? There’s a reason: she was difficult. … Read more
Roger Sterling: fictional ad man, chronic drinker and serial womanizer. An inspiration to wiseasses everywhere, he says the things we wish we could say in the workplace — only funnier. But his collected quips, lovingly catalogued here, represent more than a cautionary tale about the dangers of cynicism and debauchery. A few precious gems stand … Read more
For the longest time, I thought the subject of body language was a bunch of BS. Then I talked to an expert and realized that it’s not body language that’s BS, but most people’s ideas about body language. That is, the science is valid, but the interpretation of it is a mess, she explained. If … Read more
In the hours after the September 11 attacks, I was furious. I wanted revenge — and if the pursuit of that resulted in some measure of justice, so be it. But justice was not the first thing on my mind. We still don’t know who was responsible for the attacks in Boston, but it strikes … Read more
I love public speaking. I spoke to a couple of groups of college students this week and it was a lot of fun. (And if it’s not fun, why do it?) Here are some quick tips that came to mind. 1. Write your own introduction Sometimes the person who introduces you will put something together … Read more