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The power of questions—your questions—can either make or break your career. Questions have the power to create teams in a collaborative way… or crumble them. They are, in part, a good reason why you may be able to recover from a hostage situation. Questions can even help you win over a sticky situation at home. Why are some of us not skilled in the art of asking questions, much less asking the right questions? Do you remember when you …

Most times when a project comes your way, you don’t have a choice on whether or not to take it. But for those rare chances you can, you have the golden opportunity to to gauge whether you can really deliver with it. To help make this process easier, there are some very clear signs that you shouldn’t accept a project from the beginning. In his article for Project Times, Brad Egeland gives some reasons why …

Decades and even centuries of sound business methods are currently being undermined by emerging digital methodologies and competencies. In order for old, mature players to keep ahead of scrappy digital startups, they need to flex their powers of scale to produce innovation that the little guys cannot. In an article for InformationWeek, Neil Kinson explains what enterprise CIOs need to do to adapt to the changing times. Inventive Innovation Enterprises and their startup competitors have …

Back 15 years ago, voice-activated technology only existed in science fiction. But with Siri, Cortana, and Alexa becoming an increasingly integral part of consumers’ day-to-day lives, we now have this technology as a reality. But how can you make these new technologies work for you? In an article for ZDNet, Mark Samuels explores some of the ways technology will affect business moving forward, as well as how to analyze the future potential of these technologies. …

I had sharp cheddar cheese and butter in the fridge, but no bread. So, I opened Amazon Prime Now (also known as “assisted living for Millennials” in San Francisco) and ordered a loaf of dark rye, Greek yogurt with blueberries, a huge bag of Fritos, and a few other groceries to breach the $25 minimum. Then I got back into the Word document I’d been struggling with. Got an email confirming the order, and another …

Cloud computing strategy now means incorporating several different cloud services to work together for your company. IDC predicts that more than 85 percent of enterprises will go down this multicloud route in the future, with 50 percent subscribing to more than five different services by 2018. In an article for CIO.com, Clint Boulton explains five of the fundamentals of good cloud management: Cost transparency and optimization Capacity and resource planning Security and identity Governance and …

There’s an old saying that goes, “It’s about the journey, not the destination.” Marketing is working on that principle with “experiential” marketing. Experiential marketing relies on an immersive experience that is exciting and memorable to the consumer–and it may involve holograms. In an article for Computerworld, Mike Elgan explains why experiential marketing will be the way of the future. Experience It for Your Selfie Experiential marketing was once the realm of the far-fetched. Elgan uses …

From a moral standpoint, diversity should be a given in any workplace. Business leaders, however, are driven by the bottom line and the ability for the company to outperform the others. Luckily, McKinsey has found that gender-diverse companies are 15 percent more likely to outperform and ethnically diverse companies are 35 percent more likely to outperform. In an article for the Enterprisers Project, Coco Brown gives some important questions to ask when trying to create …

Digital transformation is the mandate for all companies. But going digital requires good threat protection, proper growth, and overall tools to ensure the transformation works for the company. In a post for SITS, Steve Daly gives some advice on how your service desk can help in this department. Transforming Your Business for the Better In a report from the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation, they say four of the top 10 incumbents in each …

Everyone is either buying or selling something in business. Both buyers and sellers involved should be able to reap the rewards of their interactions with each other, but sometimes not everyone is on the same page. In a post at The Project Risk Coach, Harry Hall gives some recommendations from his experience as both a buyer and a seller for establishing good relationships: Define the buyer/seller relationship. Do what you said you would do. Evaluate …

Far from a senior leaders-only topic, strategic alignment and delivery affects project managers as well. Being aware of the company’s corporate strategy is integral for a project manager because it allows them to situate their project in the greater context of the company. In a post for the PM Perspectives Blog, Elizabeth Harrin gives four reasons why project managers need to care about business strategy: Because outcomes matter Because it helps secure support Because it …

Everyone falls under one of two categories when it comes to their approach to conflict: They’re either conflict pursuers or conflict avoiders. Neither of these is the “right” approach, and we actually switch between them at times. However, different approaches to conflict must be considered according to whether people avoid or seek it. In an article for Harvard Business Review, Amy Gallo gives a rundown of the two conflict styles and different matches that may …