There are so many “experts” in the world today—people from every angle and media source. They are friends, clients, vendors, family, talking heads on TV, bleeps on Twitter, posts on Facebook and on and on…

Every once in a while it’s good to dial the noise back and ask the question: “Which voices should I let through and listen to…?” Here are my answers to that question, at least for the moment. I guess I should add that some of these voices are as much guilty pleasures as they are credible sources… (more…)

I write you at the behest of my marketing agency, who pretty much has a gun to my head on this one. Evidently our little blog has been added to the Executive Coaching category over at Alltop, which is marketing guru Guy Kawasaki‘s online “magazine rack.” I’m told this is a very good thing and because I like very good things, I thought I’d pass along the news.

I went over and took a look at Alltop.com and I must say that I’ve never felt so marketing or media-savvy as I do now. Alas, marketing and sales have come together in perfect harmony. Who would have thought it? Anyway, this is what it is: You’ve got a bunch of categories–from A to Z–and within those categories there are feeds from trusted websites and blogs. But why would anyone need a site like that when there’s google? Well, these sites are pre-screened for good content. So if you don’t necessarily have a specific question to type into google but want to find out more about a general topic, you can head over to Alltop to find really good sources on the subject at hand.

So there you have it. I’m really honored and hope to live up to my new status as a “prominent blogger.” Help?!?

Guest post by Tim Searcy

When I grew up, social networking was code for cocktails at 5:30 PM. Now I find out that it’s code for just about anything and everything digital that brings disparate individuals and groups together: blog postings, topic-based forums and many other platforms I’m just now getting my head wrapped around.

My friend and colleague Azlin Happley sent the old timers in the office some clear rules of engagement for Social Networking, and I thought it would be nice to let you weigh in as well. She is classified into whatever the sociologists call the most recent generation, and I trust her knowledge of the technology that makes me go “WOW!”

Social networking is often about reading a lot of postings, and carefully selecting the person that you want to engage in conversation. However, instead of the blast nature of some other forms of marketing, you have to be very one-on-one when the promise is a one-to-one relationship. This means you will have to e-mail the person you want to connect with, and this is where it can get hairy…

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*A small town in southern Indiana. What did you think I meant?

The power of words…

Grab attention, communicate an idea, provoke, engage, energize… If you hunt large sales, you know that the turn of a phrase or the capturing of a concept hinge on powerful words. I just read Frank Luntz’ article “Words That Pack Power” in the November 3rd issue of BusinessWeek. He picks out five words from the executive lexicon that should be used regularly in the current business world…

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If you spend much time with sales people there is always the scene-referencing-line-quoting-bad-impersonating portion of the conversation. Every conversation. Certain company cultures are rampant with it.  So, let’s embrace that part of our shared consciousness.

Your challenge:   what are the best sales movies ever?  (more…)

I just read Businessweek’s September 15th article, “The Best Places to Launch a Career.” It listed accounting firms and the government as two of the top three. Did we just step into upside-down-world? Bureaucrats and bean-counters made the top spots? Really? Both of these groups are like coroners: they can’t tell you much about how to stay healthy, but they are great at telling you what killed the body and who’s to blame.

If accounting and government are the launching pads, what are the space shuttle destinations?

Here are my picks for “Best Places to Launch a Career”… (more…)