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Archive for January, 2011

Parties, Personal Branding, John Peters and Flying Free

Posted by Liz McKechnie

So it seems January hails a year of austerity.

The Christmas socks and diamante earrings are put away for another year as  the diet and the gym beckon.

How did the party season go for you?

For me there are two types of social gathering.

There are the ones that you go to that are easy and you know lots of people and you laugh and let your hair down.

And there’s the other type.

These are the ones where the conversation often revolves around what you do for a living. I guess its our quick way to suss each other out and categorise each other by association.

As you struggle for conversation when thrust together with strangers and abandoned by your plate spinning host, it’s a lot easier to ask, “What do you do?” than ask something that might give you a little more meaningful information about the person you are addressing.

But then I suppose, “Who are you?” or “What do you stand for?” might be considered odd…

It’s a shame. Read more

conflict management

Judging a book by its cover and conflict management

Posted by Bronia Szczygiel

Last night I watched Toy Story 3 with my teenage kids – just don’t tell any of their friends!

We all loved it.  Goodies, baddies, baddies that look like goodies and goodies that look like baddies. What’s not to love?

It’s a bit like that in life too. So how can you tell who are the goodies and who are the baddies? Of course it all depends on your perspective.  Someone I see as a saint, you might think of as a demon.

Though there are some things I think we can all agree on, for instance that looks alone aren’t going to do it.  Nor can we necessarily judge people by what they say.

Most of us would probably agree that behaviour is a better indicator. After all actions speak louder than words, don’t they?

Read more

The Secret of Willpower – Self-Motivation

Posted by Bronia Szczygiel

Did you make any New Year’s resolutions this year?

You know the ones I mean, to lose weight, give up alcohol, get fit…..

The list goes on and on.  And great resolutions they are too. If we stuck to them the world would no doubt be a much better, healthier and fitter place.

Usually it’s about now that willpower starts to fail and all those really great resolutions fall by the wayside.  That cold glass of Chardonnay seems to call to us and the gym just doesn’t seem to have the same power of attraction. In fact, with such cold weather around no-one is going to notice the extra layers of fat under the extra layers of jumpers so why bother?

Read more