As a negotiation skills speaker and negotiation skills consultant, I have noticed a troublesome trend in the modern-day hiring process. This trend should be reversed as a matter of priority especially in the current labor market which is anything but predictable. It goes to the matter of the hiring and interviewing process. What is your image? In my keynote talks on negotiation and the hiring process, I like to...
Your Change Management Motivational Speaker Mike Hourigan says the following. “The McKinsey consulting group reports data that 70% of all change management efforts fail. A 30% success rate is troubling, particularly when considering the associated costs in the form of loss of competitive position, confidence of the workforce in leadership, and quality improvements and anticipated costs reductions.” It is called change fatigue, it’s a real thing, and no one...
As a change management workplace speaker, I am often surprised by how easily organizations miss the obvious and run to the exotic. For example, while presenting at a recent seminar, I asked the group: what do you think is the hottest trend in change management? I received several great responses including the so called “digital-first” trend; the hottest of hottest buzzwords. Then there was the expected, “end to the...
As a risk management safety speaker, who has spent many years talking to risk management professionals, I am asking you to take a leap of faith. And, I suppose I ask this not as a safety speaker who speaks on risk management, but as a someone who began his work life in steel mills and manufacturing. In a real sense, my trip up the corporate ladder was sometimes on...
As a hybrid workplace motivational speaker, I would like to encourage you to read the latest Gallup Poll on employee disengagement. The top-line results are disturbing and offer a pessimistic view of the future of work. Speaking to audiences on the dual concepts of hybrid workplaces and blended workplaces, I have noted a serious trend for the past few years. Research has only verified what has been troubling me...
As a negotiation skills speaker with long-term experience in understanding hybrid workplaces, virtual and remote meetings, I must be keenly aware of what I call “the language of organizations.” Recently speaking in-person at a conference on the topic of negotiation skills for hybrid workplaces, an attendee asked me, “Whatever Happened to Bandwidth?” I laughed. In those ancient days of 2019, pre-COVID, supervisors and work teams often told one another...
Whatever Happened to Bandwidth? As a negotiation skills speaker with long-term experience in understanding hybrid workplaces, virtual and remote meetings, I must be keenly aware of what I call “the language of organizations.” Recently speaking in-person at a conference on the topic of negotiation skills for hybrid workplaces, an attendee asked me, “Whatever Happened to Bandwidth?” I laughed. In those ancient days of 2019, pre-COVID, supervisors and work teams...
As America’s hybrid workplace motivational speaker, I was recently delivering a keynote speech on the new hybrid way of working to an association when I said, “You know, the hybrid workplace is going to get more complicated.” A collective groan went up through the in-person and remote office. Then I added, “Unless you do this one thing.” They demanded to know the answer. “It’s simple,” I said. “Negotiate.” My...
Change Management Meets the Hybrid Workplace As a motivational speaker on change management and the hybrid workplace, I hate to say, “I-told-you-so,” but I predicted the hybrid workplace well before anyone had heard of COVID-19. In fact, as a hybrid workplace, change management speaker, I remember an HR director at least two years before the lockdown introducing me as America’s Hybrid Workplace Motivational Speaker. There was a lot of...
Why you want to hire a Safety Day Speaker for your company‘s Safety Day Event Hiring a Safety Day Speaker at your company's safety day is a great opportunity to educate employees on the importance of safety in the workplace. By having a Safety Day Speaker, you can guarantee that your employees are getting the most out of the event. When it comes to choosing a Safety Day Speaker,...
Learn about the hybrid workplace and how to best manage a sales team in this rapidly changing environment. What is the hybrid workplace? A hybrid workplace is a work environment that is a mix of both remote and in-office work. With the rise of technology, more and more companies are offering their employees the ability to work from home, at least some of the time. This can be a...
As America’s Hybrid Workplace Keynote Speaker, I understand that telling everyone in a pre-pandemic, in-person office that they must now go hybrid is filled with challenges. As I do so much research in this area, let me quickly recommend a Harvard Business Review piece from February 2022, that does a great job of touching on five of the challenges. In speaking on the “new” hybrid workplace as a motivational...
At no time in recent memory as a negotiation skills speaker, has the economy been more fragile than it is now. I make that statement based on my 30-years’ experience as a negotiation skills speaker, negotiation skills consultant and book author. If the hybrid workplace wasn’t confusing enough, we have inflation (with the looming possibility of recession), supply-chain issues, shortages of everything from computer chips to wheat, and most...
Speaking to groups across the country as a stress and safety speaker, I realize that among the many effects of the COVID pandemic, was the amount of stress ratcheted up on workers in construction, manufacturing and transportation. The problem with stress is that it diverts awareness. That fact may not mean much in an accounting office or insurance agency, but to a person driving a forklift in a busy...
As a negotiation skills speaker and negotiation skills consultant, a frequent question that comes up in the Q&A sessions on negotiation is if the act of negotiation is just to reach agreement on contracts or the dialog between a sales organization and client. The question was far more meaningful than we might imagine especially in the present day where it is difficult to hire and retain exceptional people. The...
As a negotiation skills keynote speaker, I often have audience members ask questions such as, “How do I resolve conflicts?” or “How do I cool down an emotional meeting?” In speaking to executives about sales and negotiation skills for more than 20 years, I stress the same negotiation skills used between manufacturer and supplier, are applicable to delivering bad news to a client or employees. The need to reach...
My specialty, as a negotiation skills speaker and negotiation skills consultant often involve asking groups the following question: “Do you think you’re the good guy or the bad guy?” The usual answer from audience members in my negotiation skills speeches is, “I try to be the good guy. I guess it depends.” Bad guys are not necessarily bad Many executives, business and tradespeople believe that negotiation needs to be...
As a negotiation skills keynote speaker and negotiation skills consultant, the question most frequently asked of me in breakout sessions is: why are negotiation skills in business important in 2022? Negotiation skills are not only important in our day-to-day interactions, but in helping sales, marketing and management teams to set policy, maintain a sense of direction and, I would argue, to establish a clear and consistent corporate vision. Truly,...
What about the Day after Safety Day? My greatest honor as a safety day motivational speaker, is when I hear that my safety day keynote speaking advice was remembered long after the event. In fact, I like to learn that my motivational safety day talk saved an injury or two weeks and months later. Don’t get me wrong, me a Safety Speaker like BBQ and free T-shirts as much...
(Part 4 of a 5 Part Series) When I as a hybrid workplace keynote speaker speak with organizations about the “new hybrid workplace,” there is more confusion over the topic than ever before. Often, I ask groups in my hybrid workplace talks what hybrid working means to them? I am met with several answers and a lot of shoulder shrugging. So, in this, the fourth part of a five-part...