Author: Matt Fletcher

Great Consultants Provide Great Options: Active Problem Solving in Three Steps

Problems in life are often fuzzy; thus, finding solutions is also fuzzy. One response is to turn to a peer and say, “Tell me what to do”—a passive approach.

But great consultants understand the problem, turn to their clients and say, “Here are some options and a recommendation”—an active approach. Read more on Great Consultants Provide Great Options: Active Problem Solving in Three Steps…

Three Reasons to Say No

We’ve all been there–a coworker, a friend, or an organization approaches you and asks if you can do something: “Can you host the XYZ meetup tonight?” You want to say, “Yes! of course!” because who doesn’t want to be helpful? But I know what you’re thinking… “Ugh, really, another thing? Fine, I’ll cancel going to my child’s performance tonight… I guess…”

Oftentimes, the best thing for everyone is to say “no.”

Image credit : Karen Gunton

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Emotional Intelligence, Part 4 – Improving Your Self-Awareness

This is the fourth and last post in a series on the excellent book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Drs. Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves. The book segments emotional intelligence into four areas: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

The authors identify four areas of emotional intelligence. Image credit : Dillan.

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Emotional Intelligence, Part 3 – Improving Your Relationship Management

This is the third in a series on the excellent book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Drs. Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves. The book segments emotional intelligence into four areas: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

Read more on Emotional Intelligence, Part 3 – Improving Your Relationship Management…

Emotional Intelligence, Part 2 – Improving Your Social Awareness

This is the second in a series on the excellent book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Drs. Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves. The book segments emotional intelligence into four areas: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

Read more on Emotional Intelligence, Part 2 – Improving Your Social Awareness…

Emotional Intelligence, Part 1 – Improving Your Self-Management

This is the first in a series on the excellent book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Drs. Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves. What’s emotional intelligence? To summarize: We’re all humans, we all have emotions, and despite what we might tell ourselves, our emotions dictate our gut-level decisions and responses. Emotional intelligence skills kick in when it’s time to wrangle an emotional response into a productive and positive outcome. Read more on Emotional Intelligence, Part 1 – Improving Your Self-Management…

Tips for Making Persuasive Arguments

We can all agree that making persuasive arguments is both exceedingly critical to collaboration and exceedingly difficult. Thus, I’ve been delighted to work through a book on persuasion–The 7 Triggers to Yes. It’s a new favorite of mine, and in this post, I’ll share the seven triggers, discuss one in more detail, and describe some of the other great content in the book. Read more on Tips for Making Persuasive Arguments…