Often, we must work with a person who takes up all the air in the room. With a larger than life personality this person can also be very fun to be with. If this individual is a group leader, sometimes, details and tasks never get addressed or completed.

Allow this person their moment and when there is a break in conversation, rejoin the discussion with the task in mind. Avoid trying to control this person but instead manage them. This happened at Thanksgiving with my larger than life youngest sister. Instead of trying to rein her in, I asked her to make the gravy and everything went back on track!

The moment one walks in the door, before any words are spoken, folks will have decided unconsciously to remember or not remember you. Working with executives, they want to know: Do you represent the professional, personal, and the organizational brand well? Can you be a face of the organization?

To burnish your brand, Here are some items to keep in mind:
• Projecting confidence is number one. This includes the walk, posture, facial expression (smile), and a sense of where you are going.
• Clothing choices will connect you the audience through a choice of familiarity or for a shock effect.
• Elegance is a critical component.

Also, assume the audience will know nothing about you.

In working with clients negotiating compensation, the question becomes what is more important, money, time, or title? The answer depends on where the client is in their life. For example, do they have family, are they self-supporting, and will the package provide staff support and travel flexibility?

Also, other than compensation, does this career move offer a long view of the career path? These answers are not easily answered but need to be addressed for a good work and life balance. Without that balance, the compensation will ultimately feel unsatisfactory.

Build confidence by doing it. Practice bolsters confidence even when there is failure. In the early stages of my work, whether speaking to a group of 20 or to one thousand, it took constant practice to fortify my confidence.

Go to different events to study the styles of those who are really the best. Watch Oprah or Zig Ziglar and note their speech patterns and talking points. Receiving feedback, good and bad, will always help you improve as it did for me.

Truth will always matter. Once, during a television makeover show twenty years ago, the host asked me what I would never do. I replied that I would never lie to a client or audience. Truth can be told in a way that is not hurtful. For example, instead of saying that the suit looks awful, one might say it does not do the person justice.

In the second season of the television series, “The Sinner”, a young boy decides not to run away. He chose to face the consequences because lies eat away at integrity. And a very good friend and outstanding psychologist said, once integrity is gone, there is nothing left. Being truthful is not always easy but it is the right thing to do.

Years ago, at a Fortune 100 company, I was asked to spend a day working with high potentials candidates for management. There was a woman in her mid-thirties, in accounting, who was constantly overlooked for the next level position. In my first meeting with her, she walked in with pink hair!

Naturally, the hair came up for discussion. I learned that she changed her hair color every week because her evening job required it. However, it appears to be hindering professional advancement in her day job because it comes up often in talks with management. The problem is that her hair has become more of a talking point than her professional qualities.

In today’s work and personal environments, to accomplish all that is needed, we can easily become overwhelmed. This sometimes lead to anxiety. Harnessing the anxiety to shift it into motivation, is the best way change the emotion needed to move toward accomplishment. Taking note of the anxiety triggers will help turn the it into motivation to achieve the goal.

It is easy to talk about problems. However, if we approach them in a solution driven manner, the problems turn into endless opportunities. Asking how questions needing open ended answers as opposed to questions requiring yes and no answers, create possibilities for solutions. Keeping an optimistic outlook and seeking different opinions will help create a solution driven mind.

Holding a grudge really hurts the wronged person not the person responsible for the problem. It is not easy to let go of a grudge. However, it is tough to take the high road and rise above the it, especially when you feel hurt.

If you can get past it, though, the rewards are tremendous! Besides the respect of peers and leaders, you will love yourself more. Being wronged will happen many more times in life. And remember, it has been medically proven that folks who let go of hurts live longer and happier lives.

Simon Sinek suggested that “Learning has greater value when we share what we learned”. Sharing learnings creates value for the person delivering and for the receiver (s). However, sometimes, people forget about the importance of the way and when the learnings are delivered.

When this information is given at a time a mistake has been made, it will look like a correction. The best time is to discuss in a sharing environment. The point I bring up to my clients and in workshops is to share what we have recently experienced that continues to help us learn.