Most of us have a love/hate relationship with meetings. We dread attending because there’s usually a thousand other things we’d rather do with the time. Part of the problem with meetings is that we don’t think enough about them, says Donna McGeorge, author of The 25 Minute Meeting: Half the Time, Double the Impact.

Your brain is a prediction machine, meaning that when things don't go as planned, there can be significant consequences. You’ll have experienced this many times. That tight feeling in your chest when receiving adverse news. That sinking feeling when a decision you made starts to look like a costly mistake. That anxiety when your schedule changes at the last minute. We're all human.

One of the most important characteristics of strong leaders is their confidence in themselves. If you find a leader who is not confident in their ability as a leader, you will find a team or organization that is less than fully engaged. We are positively influenced by confident people. Developing Your Confidence Day-by-Day

Are you tackling a new and difficult problem at work? Recently promoted and trying to both understand your new role and bring a fresh perspective? Or are you new to the workforce and seeking ways to meaningfully contribute alongside your more experienced colleagues? If so, critical thinking — the ability to analyze and effectively break down an issue in order to make a decision or find a solution — will be core to your success.

A critical aspect of effective leaders today is the ability to lead change. Indeed, many would argue that the most distinguishing difference between people we identify as good managers and those we deem to be great leaders is that leaders are adept at bringing about change.

Most organizations are struggling with potential disruptors, including digital transformation, increasing global competition, and changing customer expectations.

Paul Bloom is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and a professor emeritus at Yale. The author of six books, his writing has appeared in Nature, Science, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic.

Below, Paul shares five key insights from his new book, The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning.

Artificial intelligence has entered the sales arena. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The shift to remote and now hybrid workforces dramatically affected how sales managers train and coach their reps. Already facing time constraints, managers have reduced visibility into seller activity and struggle to personalize coaching.

Although sales training and sales coaching both aim to improve a sales team’s performance, each process follows a unique approach.

Sales training equips reps with the tools they need to get started, but sales coaching is what allows for an individual’s continued growth over time. To ensure success, it’s important to understand how these two pieces work together, and when each should be used in your organization.

Ask any salesperson about the biggest challenge they face along the customer journey, and they’ll probably say “sales objections.” Every seller has lost a prospect due to a concern expressed about pricing or a product’s ability to solve a specific problem.

The constant connectivity. The steadfast march of technology. The "know everything" environment. It's all changing the way you, me, and your customers perceive a company or brand. In some cases, our perception is influenced by word of mouth — recommendations from friends, online reviews, tweets, and Facebook rants. In other cases, it's our own experiences — both online and off — that shape the way we think about a brand.

CEOs often prefer to focus on the positive. After all, it’s a good place to start when it comes to learning lessons and finding takeaways from both successes and miscues. But CEOs also benefit from learning how to recognize when they’re exhibiting bad leadership qualities.

Public speaking isn’t an easy thing for every leader, but you have to conquer the fear factor if you’re planning to represent a business. By focusing on your passion for going into business, sharing authentically, and continuing to practice being in front of a room full of people every chance you get, you’ll be a pro at it in time.

A study by MIT Sloan Management Review shows that toxic corporate culture is the top predictor of employee turnover. In fact, it’s 10 times more important than compensation. Salary didn’t even make the top five predictors.

In February 2022, Netflix released an eye-opening documentary titled “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing”. The documentary is centered around the fall of Boeing after the two back-to-back crashes of their newest 737 Max model — causing the deaths of 346 people on board only minutes after takeoff.

Have you ever been caught in the trap of making tradeoffs between doing well and doing good? A short-term focus on revenue at the expense of all else can be not only stressful and exhausting, but in the long-run hurt profit and growth. There is a better way.

Imagine that you’re a prospect working with two salespeople from competing companies at the same time: one uses hard sell tactics and the other uses soft selling techniques.

The first sends you an obviously canned email asking for a five-minute call, followed up with a demo, the demo with a pitch — and before you know it, they're asking for the close.

A simple take on prices is that they are an obstacle toward the purchase of a desired product or service. Companies, therefore, see a legitimate need to reduce “friction” in the transaction, which they accomplish by reaching into a seemingly bottomless bag of tricks, ranging from the subtle to the egregious.

Showing gratitude isn’t just a nice thing to do – it also makes an impact.

According to a study by Harvard, “expressing gratitude helps people feel positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”

Being great at sales is, in part, being great at asking questions.

The reason – questions help you understand your buyer’s situation and, just as important, your buyer themselves. This helps you co-create a solution with them that provides value to both parties.

Do you feel like you’ve hit a wall in your success – either in your personal life or professional development? Like there’s nowhere else to go but down or sideways? Being stuck and not knowing what to do about it is one of worst feelings in life, no matter who you are and what you do. But the good news is there’s a way to get un-stuck, and it starts with you and your leadership ability!