Here’s what we’re dealing with. Fear and low confidence are incredibly good at disguising themselves as truth. I need more experience.I’m not ready.Someone else could do it better. The problem is, we don’t think they’re excuses because they sound like legitimate reasons not to act. And so we don’t. We turn down opportunities before anyone…
The other day, I asked a woman what she had done before she retired. Presumably, a simple question. One that might take two or three minutes, max, to answer. What ensued was a 36-minute monologue: Barely a breath taken.No pauses.No questions.No awareness that her audience had mentally checked out by minute five. Now, this is…
More than 20 years ago, I wrote a book called BRAG! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about those last three words: Without blowing it. Without monopolizing the conversation. Without exaggerating, embellishing, or lying. Without making everything about you. But braggadocio infiltrated our culture. Bigger and…
When my book, BRAG! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It, came out in 2003, social networking was just beginning. In 2005, only 5% of American adults used social media. Today, there are approximately 5.8 billion social-media users worldwide—roughly seven out of every ten people on Earth. And that number grew by…
I don’t hate the word authentic. I hate that it’s so overused, oversimplified, and reduced to the kind of cliché you’d find needlepointed on a throw pillow: Always be you. Live your truth. Do YOU! These aphorisms may be comforting but they’re also incomplete. They assume that each of us has one fixed personality—one “authentic self”—that we should bring…
“Being authentic doesn’t mean showing up exactly the same way in every situation.” ~Peggy Klaus Every day, you move through a variety of situations—naturally, you adjust how you communicate, lead, and connect because the situation calls for it. Sometimes the moment calls for you to be forceful and decisive. Other times, it calls for patience,…
I recently wrote about the leadership mess at CBS News—a failure at the top marked by poor communication, a lack of transparency, and a breakdown of trust. But the leadership failure is only half the story. Equally important is how people respond when they are angry. When emotions run high and the stakes feel personal,…
According to multiple reports, tensions reached a boiling point during a June 1 meeting between CBS News leadership and the 60 Minutes staff when veteran correspondent Scott Pelley reportedly told newly appointed Executive Producer Nick Bilton, “You’ll never be welcome here.” He also accused management of “murdering 60 Minutes.” Pelley may have had every reason…
Multiple reports, veteran correspondents, and producers at CBS’s 60 Minutes described the arrival of CBS’s new leadership as abrupt, dismissive, and, at times, tone-deaf. Explanations surrounding key personnel decisions—including the firing of two highly respected journalists and their executive producer—were either limited or nonexistent. Longtime employees who had spent decades building one of the most…
I’ve been following the controversy surrounding the firings and restructuring at CBS News and its flagship news program, 60 Minutes, and found the missteps to be universal. This isn’t really a story about television news. It’s a story about leadership, communication, trust, and what happens when all three begin to unravel. Because the breakdown appears…