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In today's global economy, companies have to provide value to stakeholders around the mantra of ‘faster, cheaper, better’. As organizations strive to achieve this, they often lose sight of the smaller picture, i.e., communicating with and keeping their employee base informed. However, effective communication is a vital business tool for speeding up change and improving the quality and performance of any organization. Handled correctly, it is a critical way of aligning, motivating, and engaging employees. For a service organization, the entire world is now a potential market, and never has effective communication been more crucial. We need to be able to use the many communication...

In every sphere of life, whether it is at work, at home with one’s family, or in one’s social circle, communication is emphasized as being critical. Whether it’s a business publication giving advice on how to make a success of one’s organization, or a lifestyle magazine advising us how to improve a marriage; the common thread is always that of good and effective communication. Humans being social animals, communication is essential in every aspect of our lives. Animals communicate for certain specific reasons: to warn others of danger, to show that they are ready to mate, to warn competitors away from their territory, and so on. The wolf’s howl may be communica...

Suppose we were able to expand the time that we have, so that instead of thinking that we have, say, 14 hours in which to do something, we are now able to figure out how to stretch those hours to equate 18 hours. We would then never get that feeling about not having enough time—instead, we would be on a roll, accomplishing much more than we ever thought we could. According to Einstein’s time dilation factor theory, the faster one goes the slower time gets, because time is elastic and relative, not constant. This means that time affects people differently according to the speed at which they are traveling. This theory was tested by various people, one example being that of two ph...

In recent posts, I have been discussing the common trends that I noticed among sportspersons and that I think can be applied to our everyday lives to help us make a difference in our respective fields. Dedication, discipline, passion for what we do, tapping our own leadership qualities—all these are areas and qualities that everyone can draw on to their advantage. Two professions where a lot of regular practice and discipline is required are those of professional sportspersons and musicians. One often hears musicians say that they put in 5-6 hours of practice every day. How do they manage to find the time? People are always talking about not having enough time and wishing they had mor...

A short while ago, I had written a post titled ‘Is Talent Enough?’. A reader wrote the following query in response: By talent, I assume you mean ability, which clearly matters. And, as you suggest, motivation also matters. Abilities can be fairly easily measured (e.g., NFL scouting combine), but can motivation be measured prior to employment? I would like to utilize this post to reply to this query. To answer the question asked, I consulted one of Kenexa's research psychologists, Dr. Richard Harding, and here's what he had to say: Kenexa’s specific hiring solutions aim at finding the best person for a specific job. Our recruitment process combines personality, experience...

Success in life is heavily dependent on discipline. I have discussed this notion with respect to preparation in an earlier post. One of my favorite stories about discipline is one someone recounted about Bill Toomey, the outstanding athlete. In 1964, he stood fourth during the Olympic tryouts, which devastated him because it meant that he did not qualify to be part of the Olympic team. The very next morning, however, he was on the track jogging as usual. When a colleague asked him what he was doing given that he was no longer going to be in the Olympics, his response was a short, "preparing for 1968". Bill went on to win the gold medal in the decathlon in the 1968 Ol...