In the brief moment of an introduction, both people have created (whether they know it or not) a construction of the other in their minds – made up of their gut instinct, past experiences and small bits of truth – all wrapped up into a stereotyped persona. For some, this first impression is the only…
Category: Meetings
Rule 21: A Pro isn’t afraid to tell other people what to do
The most frustrating repeated failure in meeting management is unclear accountability for actionable items. A simple – “Joe – you are going to take care of this by Tuesday, right?” is all it takes. A Pro gives every action item both a name and a date. Assuming you read the rules in order, you should…
Rule 20: The more people invited to a meeting, the less likely catastrophe is averted
There is a common misconception that inviting every person involved in a project’s success or failure makes it less likely to become a total fuck up. You will see this a lot with rookie project managers and team leads who think they can cover their ass by inviting everybody. Other times it isn’t so much…
Rule 11: If a Pro has to wonder “Should I say this?” the answer is obviously “No”
And now for the dumbest sentence I’ve typed yet: Conversations only have two actions – Listening and Speaking. Of the two, listening is 0% risky. Depending on the conversation topic, speaking can range from 1% to 100% risky. So if you have to err to one side or the other, always err to listening. Speaking…