Sizzle Reel
This video is a quick intro to each of my four most requested keynotes.
The Upside of Complacency
My grandmother died last month. It was not an unexpected thing – she was 95 years old, and her health had been failing very gradually for the past few years. By itself, the knowledge that a loved one has lived a long life and that “it’s their time” doesn’t do much to help us deal…
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Why You Should Know Your Weaknesses
I am generally of the opinion that the only good reason for running anywhere is to escape danger. I sincerely hope to die without ever having run a marathon. However, since my working day consists of sitting at my desk and/or in plane seats for hours at a time, I do occasionally go to the…
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Employee Engagement Essentials Video Series :: Blooper Reel!
We recently released our 9-part video series, Employee Engagement Essentials, to our members at JeffHavens.com. Of course we messed up a few times (or several… or a lot) and we thought you’d like to see it. Hope you get a laugh and make sure you check out our membership options or contact us to see…
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How To Overcome the Fears That Are Holding You Back
I probably haven’t met you, but I’m pretty confident that you’re scared of something. Plenty of somethings, more likely. That’s nothing to be ashamed of, since it’s true of all of us. For example, I am scared of being eaten by sharks (or even just one shark, really the number of sharks is not the…
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How To Recognize Which Fears Are Worth Holding Onto
“Wait, what? You’re going to tell me that it’s OK to be afraid of things? That’s not what any other business article I’ve ever read has advised me to do. They always talk about overcoming fear, not giving into it.” Well first off, I’ve never wanted to do things exactly like everyone else, and it’s…
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5 Ways to Crush Fear
Guest post by Platinum Speaker Maja Kazazic Learn who you are We are constantly bombarded by the vast amount of information. And I don’t mean the most obvious things like, tv, magazines, music, etc. But also things like people around us and subliminal messages we receive regularly from people and things around us. All of…
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How To Convince Other People To Listen To Your Ideas
You have the best idea ever! It came to you in a flash while you were swerving to avoid a deer in the road, or perhaps it came to you slowly while you waited for a tow truck to come because you failed to swerve in time. But how the idea came doesn’t matter –…
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How To Find the Time To Come Up With Great Ideas
You’re probably reading this while doing something else. You might be eating, or pretending to listen to a conference call you don’t care very much about – or maybe you’re driving, in which case LOOK OUT!!! Most of us spent a lot of time trying to do multiple things at once, if for no other…
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Unorthodox Ways To Improve Your Employee Engagement
Oh my gosh, another article about employee engagement! You must be so excited right now!!!! Or you’re not. After all, there are only 12 billion of these things floating around the Internet, so why bother reading this one? Don’t you know everything there is to know? The answer to that is probably yes. You know…
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How to Motivate Others When They Don’t Want To Work
Congratulations! If you’ve read my other article, then you are now as motivated as ever, ready to make the world into your oyster – which is a terrible thing to want to make the world into, by the way, since oysters are gross, but that’s the phrase. Anyway, you are locked and loaded and ready…
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How To Motivate Yourself When You Deeply, Deeply Don’t Want To Work
Allow me to begin by saying that I really don’t want to be writing this. It’s gorgeous outside today – and considering that I live in northern Michigan, which is gray for 13 months a year and a frigid snowy wasteland for the other 11 – I really should be taking advantage of every sunny…
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What does it take to be an emotionally intelligent financial service leader?
The following is a guest post by leadership expert Steve Gutzler — Great leaders inspire us. They ignite the best version of ourselves. Most importantly, they motivate us to accomplish our best work and they make us feel important. A leader who is capable of that inspiration and motivation has a high degree of Emotional…
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Delightful Ways to Destroy the Morale of Your Salespeople
You know, I like to think of myself as a creative person. I don’t want to brag or anything, but I made quite the impressive collection of pinch pots when I was in elementary school; one of them was so incredible, in fact, that I should really refer to it as a pinch jug. So…
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How To Become More Productive By Doing Less Work
You’d be forgiven for thinking I chose the title for this article specifically to trick you into reading. People do that all the time now, like “Lose Twenty Pounds With This 2-Minute Exercise Miracle!” or “Six Easy Steps To Make a Million Dollars!” Unfortunately, most of those articles don’t deliver what they’ve promised, although I…
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Why “Doing Nothing” Should Be A Part Of Your Workday
Warren Buffett. I’m beginning this way because starting this article off with his name will probably help me in web search rankings, and I’m a slave to Internet algorithms. I also did it because he’s crazy rich and yet somehow people don’t hate him for it, which is a pretty impressive feat. And I also…
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The 3 Most Unorthodox (and Most Effective) Ways to Motivate Your Employees
Listen more. Be positive. Celebrate success. Give people bacon. You’ve heard all the standard ways to motivate your employees before, and you’re tired of reading the same advice. Luckily for you, I’m tired of writing it, too. Don’t get me wrong. I still want to help you become a better manager. I still want you…
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3 Surefire Ways to Lose Your Next Negotiation
Recently a good friend of mine (which means I have at least two good friends, or else I would have said ‘recently the good friend I have’) chose not to run for a leadership position in an association she belongs to. She decided not to run because there were two other candidates interested in the…
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How to Talk To Someone Significantly Older or More Experienced Than You Are
So you’re stuck working with a bunch of old people. It was probably too much to hope for that they would hire you and then immediately retire en masse, but having that dream fail to materialize is nevertheless disappointing. It’s not that you have a problem with old people, far from it – you…
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Why Your Marketing Department Is More Important Than Ever
Marketing has always been important. Without it, we wouldn’t know what 15 minutes can save you, or (for my older readers, including myself) where the beef is. (Side note: they never really answered that question, did they? They just said, “Where’s the beef?” and apparently we were all supposed to find it on our own.)…
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What To Do If You Don’t Have A Marketing Department
So now you’ve read my companion article on the importance of marketing, and you found it revelatory. Or you thought it wasn’t complete garbage – I’m fine with either. The point is, you now appreciate the need to market your company/idea/self more aggressively than you have in the past, and you’re ready to get started.…
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