Sheila owns a tech company. She has an MBA and a CPA designation, plus she designs excellent systems and writes exceptional code. She’s a hands-on can-do sort of person. For example, she rebuilt an old MGB, and designed and drew…
Author: Common Outlook Consulting Inc.
Compromise – A Matter of Perspective
For some of us, compromise is a less than savoury word that implies a forfeiting of values and core beliefs… a word that brings to mind appeasing and even grovelling behaviours. For others, it means a willingness to see things…
A Personal Power Challenge to You
Do you remember Victor, the successful 34-year-old technology VP we profiled in our May/June article about reclaiming Personal Power? The man who as a child was shunned and became a loner and outsider because a long-ago teacher encouraged his classmates…
A Sharp Turn Into Personal Power
Personal Power. What exactly is it? And how do you enact it? We’ve been exploring this recently, asking three colleagues of ours to experiment with being more powerful. What follows is the recent interview with the second of those three…
Help! I have to speak in public.
It is said that people are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death. If you’re one of those ‘give me death but not a podium’ people, imagine for a moment never again having to be afraid of…
Throwing Down the Power Gauntlet
There are perhaps, few more difficult negotiations in business than a salary review, particularly if you are not the person conducting it but the one hoping/asking for an increase1. Even the best of us find it intimidating because past actions,…
A Mean, Tough Negotiator
If it was your first time at the table with JS, his hard handshake, clenched jaw, and piercing cold eyes would have sent the message that the coming talks were likely going to be a challenge. And if you’d sat…
Real Personal Power
Real personal power is an intangible thing; it can’t be bought or sold; it can’t be quantified or measured, and yet throughout the world, it is highly valued and is given great weight. It’s not magnetism… that rare and innate…
Helping Others Face Adversity
I don’t very often talk about specific people in my articles, but this time it seemed appropriate as a colleague of mine, who we’re calling J.D. (Jane Doe), told me the following story about her close friend and neighbour. For…
Adversity: Dark Foe/Bright Friend
Adversity will blindside you; jump you from behind; take you by surprise, but it isn’t a bully. It isn’t something you can punch once to make it back down… to make it go away. Instead, it’s a tough and wily…