5 Easy Strategies to Manage the Company Rumor Mill

Some call it the grapevine; others call it hearsay.

No matter what you call it, it can be problematic and distracting yet often a source of valuable information. If you aren’t talking proactively about issues that are important to your employees, chances are that someone else is.

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3 Techniques to Help You Master Even the Toughest Q&A

We all get 'em. Difficult questions.

Being prepared, and practicing three tried-and-true techniques can help you field with ease that challenging employee question (or reporter who's looking for a compelling angle).

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The 7 Skills of Highly Effective Millennial Leaders

Guest Post by David Grossman

The American workforce today is increasingly dominated by the millennial generation. According to a recent Pew Research Center analysis, more than one in three American workers are millennials. In 2015, the group became the largest share of the American workforce.

Your Employees Don’t Get Your Strategy

Recent research from a myriad of sources paints a dismal picture of how leaders are doing at helping their employees understand company strategy and how they fit in.

You’ve probably heard the story about two bricklayers. You ask one bricklayer what he’s doing and he says, “I’m building a wall.” You ask another and he says, “I’m building a castle.”

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Super Powers: Smart and Fast Steps for Improving Your Executive Communication in 2016

As a kid, I loved superheroes. Being the good guy and making a difference were always important to me. And I desperately wanted to have my own superpower. As I grew up, the realization settled in — painful as it was — that a superhero’s life was not in the cards.

13 Ways to Become a Better Leader

I buried my mother at the end of 2012. I knew that the day would come, yet it was way too soon. At 82, she was battling leukemia — and the worst kind.

GG, as we called her, had two goals, and was uncharacteristically direct with her doctor the day she was diagnosed: “I have a grandchild coming [my second daughter] and a wedding to attend [her grandson’s], and you’re going to help me get there,” she said, leaning her head close to the doctor’s and pointing at him. My mom abhorred pointing.

In This World, You Can’t NOT Communicate!

This is a guest post by David Grossman, author of You Can’t NOT Communicate. Grossman says that there are very few things in this world that are neutral. Everything you do, and everything you say, communicates something. And, importantly, everything you don’t do, and everything you don’t say, communicates, too.

Going on the Email Offensive

Help bad e-mail communicators see the errors of their ways. Use humor to drive self-reflection and improved behaviors.

E-mail is one of the most pervasive forms of communications in the workplace today. Pingdom.com estimates 107 trillion e-mails were sent in 2010, with an average of 294 billion sent a day. From our work with Fortune 100 companies and employees, we’re hearing more and more that employees are overloaded by e-mail, and it’s causing them stress.

Avoiding the Mistakes All Leaders Make

In my experience, every large organization has at least one thing in common...

There isn’t a single senior management team that doesn’t spend days, weeks working tirelessly on their organization’s strategic plan. At the end of the process, everyone leaves excited about the plan and the path forward.

Case Study: Using Internal Communication to Move the Needle

The power of employee communication is especially evident during strategic planning “season” inside organizations. It’s a time when communication goes far beyond “feel good” and gets to the core: driving performance.

The 5 Mistakes That CEOs Make, and How You Can Help

Most senior management teams spend weeks working tirelessly on their organization’s strategic plan. They review the data, envision the future, and shape goals into a cohesive identity. Once that challenging task is complete, key leaders review the strategic framework. Then they share the information with employees.

10 must-dos to communicate effectively

Savvy business leaders have seen firsthand the power of good communication with employees, and how it can drive business success from the inside out.

“Strategic Messaging: Clues You Need a Common Approach”

Want to elevate communications at your organization? Think about how implementing standard operating procedures can benefit your organization. That’s one of the commonalities we see with our clients who are taking a lead globally in the communications arena....

The Top Three Communication Myths That Impede Leader Effectiveness

We all fall into traps of perception. We often don't know we hold certain assumptions or believe certain assumptions are true because we've never had a chance to disprove them. Sometimes as leaders, we also seek out the answers we want to find and we feel confirmed in our beliefs when we find them. All traps. Knowing about possible traps we might face is the first step to addressing them, working through them, and subsequently avoiding them in the future.

Is social media making you anti-social?

Social media is turning me into a curmudgeon. Don't get me wrong: I love blogging and I love Twitter, but the bad behavior and all around lack of sociability that abound in social media are starting to turn me into the anti-social media guy. Truthfully, the real issue here isn't the medium; it's the people using the medium. For all the emphasis people are putting on their social interactions, they're too often losing sight of the core values of true relationships.

Communicating Effectively

Getting the best from your staff starts with making the right connections with employees. Here are 10 tips for effective leadership communication.

“A Leap We All Can Make, But Not in a Single Bound”

I grew up watching my share of “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters,” “H.R. Pufnstuf,” and “Super Friends” with its famous Justice League of America comprised of all my favorite superheroes. I remember being mesmerized by their super powers, hoping some day that I, too, would discover mine. Little did I know that I would later find super powers we all can develop — courage and compassion — as a communications leader...

“Leading in Tough Time: Three Ways Executives Can Survive and Thrive” (The Public Relations Strategist) Winter 2010

“Good Leadership: Engaging with “Wounded” Employees”

“Peanut Butter's Business Lesson:
Managing Sticky Situations”

“Connecting the Dots from Global to Local”

“The Dawn of the Leader Communicator”

“A BIZ Q & A with Author/Leadership Expert David Grossman”

Interview with David Grossman

“Ask the Expert”