Tough Talk for Hard Times

The Merger and Acquisition challenge: Talking it Through

Jeff — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:54:52 +0000

Donna Morea, president of CGI Group Inc.’s U.S., Europe and Asia business was kind enough to share her thoughts with me on how effective, personal communication by a CEO can make the difference between a successful merger and acquisition and a failed one. You’ll find Ms. Morea’s insights in the latest edition of my column [...]

WSJ Says: “Speaking can be a lucrative path to more business”

Jeff — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 20:56:20 +0000

I couldn’t have said it better myself. The August 16 Wall Street Journal has a terrific article “The Gift of Gab,” in its Small Business Section. (The online version may be locked for a while.) The author, Barbara Haislip, interviews a range of entrepreneurs and business experts. Her conclusion: “Give a speech. Win a client.” The article [...]

Patriotic Speeches…with a Difference

Jeff — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:59:03 +0000

For the Fourth of July, I wrote a post on the Washington Post’s On Leadership blog about how some leaders (Frederick Douglass and FDR) have been willing to challenge their audiences on a day usually reserved for feel-good rhetoric. l Here are a couple ‘graphs, and you’ll find the rest online. [G]iven the many challenges the [...]

Women Executives: Presentation Tips

Jeff — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:15:56 +0000

The latest edition of my column in the Washington Business Journal, Speaking to Rise, focuses on the special challenges facing women executives when they give speeches and presentations. Kathy Clark, CEO of Smarthinking Inc., along with communications strategists Susan Peterson and Denise Graveline offer observations. For example, Clark notes that “Sometimes women fear that because we’re women, [...]

Trust, but verify

Jeff — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:03:53 +0000

Almost every analyst agrees that a leader, in business or elsewhere, must inspire trust. But not too many folks go on to answer the next question: how can leaders create trustworthiness? Roderick Kramer, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford’s Business School, does just that in a recent post to the Harvard Business School’s leadership blog, reviewing [...]