I’ve never thought of myself as a natural speaker, but a few months ago, I had the opportunity to participate in an incredible coaching experiencing with some folks from Decker Communications in a class called Communicating to Influence. It really changed the way I see myself as a communicator now. After the class, I was fortunate enough to begin corresponding with Bert Decker. Bert was gracious enough to send me a copy of his newly updated book You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard. Based on my coaching experience, I couldn’t wait to read this book. I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, the book is in my Ten Best Books of 2008 list alongside other great authors like Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Garr Reynolds, Nancy Duarte, and Malcolm Gladwell. Bert Decker definitely has earned his spot amongst these other luminaries.  Read the rest of this post

Haruka Nishimatsu

There was an amazing interview on CNN recently with Haruka Nishimatsu, the CEO of JAL, Japan Airlines. The interview could have been a primer on how to be an ethical CEO who cares about his people and his company more than he cares about his own compensation. According to the report, when JAL slashed jobs and asked older employees to retire early, Nishimatsu cut every single one of his corporate perks, and then for three years running slashed his own pay. In 2007, he made about $90,000 U.S., less than what his pilots earn. In Japan, says Nishimatsu, there’s less of a pay gap between the top and the bottom. “We in Japan learned during the bubble economy that businesses who pursue money first fail. The business world has lost sight of this basic tenet of business ethics.”  Read the rest of this post

In the 1950′s, Solomon Asch, conducted a series of experiments designed to understand the phenomenon we know as conformity. In his experiments, a group of participants were seated around a table and asked to examine a series of vertical lines. They were then asked to tell the group which vertical line, A, B, or C, matched the test line. The vertical line series looked very similar to these:

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Today, World AIDS Day, MSN is celebrating the launch of (RED)WIRE, (RED)’s new digital music magazine designed to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. Some of the greatest artists on earth have contributed amazing songs to (RED)WIRE. To subscribe to (RED)WIRE or to get two issues free visit http://www.redwire.com/. And to join in the launch party and enjoy (RED)WIRE videos and music visit http://red.msn.com/. And remember, it takes just one person at a time to make a difference in this world. Make a difference today!

In addition to being a great cause, the (RED)WIRE site and the main (RED) site have some great design elements to check out.