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Building Trust Virtually: How to Get it Done

Building Trust Virtually: How to Get it Done

We can’t rely on traditional approaches Research into the science behind human communication tells us that up to 90 percent of what we tell one another is nonverbal. In other words, the majority of our communication isn’t with words. It’s the innumerable...
Prevention Costs: Fail Early and Cheap

Prevention Costs: Fail Early and Cheap

The high price of fixing an error late. One of the fundamental concepts I learned as an engineer was the cost of repairing an error; prevention costs. The key lesson was that it’s always cheaper to fix an error early on. What’s interesting is that you can...
Productive Argument: Get Something Out of It

Productive Argument: Get Something Out of It

You need to show your work All of us have found ourselves in a disagreement with someone else. Maybe it was in the business world or in your personal life. That might be particularly true given our recent election or might even be something you’re concerned...
Customer Loyalty: Try Screwing Up

Customer Loyalty: Try Screwing Up

Don’t waste opportunities to create customers for life. As leaders, we tend to think in terms of perfection. Our goal is typically to design systems that help us avoid errors and mistakes. That’s especially true in engineering and science-based disciplines...
Effective Apology: How to Say You’re Sorry

Effective Apology: How to Say You’re Sorry

It’s the first step towards repairing the damage of a mistake We’re all going to screw up in one way or another at home and at work–whether we meant to or not. Stuff happens. The civilized response and solution to when we err is simple: just say...