BLArticle®
The personal touch of a blog; the informative touch of an article.
Five Percent Moves
I purchased a new thermos the other day. I was looking for something else, and I found it quite by accident. It turned up on one of those pages on Amazon that says this: “If you liked that other thing you purchased, you might like this.” At first, I dismissed the...
A Path To Wisdom
When I was a kid, I remember begging my parents to buy me a journal. I really wanted that journal; I had dreams of capturing all sorts of private thoughts, and I wanted to be able to to lock it! I was relentless, deploying every trick in the book to convince my...
The Power Of Failure
The other day, I delivered a program that just wasn’t my best. It wasn’t due to a lack of preparation or a lack of effort, but I was faced with obstacles with every move I made. I won’t bore you with the details, but my favorite obstacle was leaving a breakout room,...
Making Your Mind Smile
In 1991, Steven Spielberg, Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts, and plenty more came together and put out a movie called Hook. It was a sequel to the movie, Peter Pan, and the critics didn’t seem to like it much, only giving it a lowly 29% on Rotten...
When Feedback Is Anything But
There’s no doubt about it; one of the best ways to get better at something is to simply ask for feedback. How do we get better without feedback from others? Feedback provides invaluable information we can’t see for ourselves. Feedback helps us evolve. Feedback...
Want To Fix The Sales World?
…Look in the Mirror Full disclosure: I have a rather biased view of salespeople, but hear me out. Yes, there are problems within the selling profession, and I fully realize there are some bad salespeople in this world. There are also some bad doctors, bad...
Don’t Forget The Big Picture
In any type of presentation, there is an overall goal involving what is being taught. For the sake of this BLArticle®, let’s refer to this as “the big picture.” In one sentence, this is a clear explanation of what it is you’ll be talking about and what you really want...
Finding Success Without Your “A” Game
Athletes will often talk about performing at a high level, but on certain occasions, they will comment that performing at that high level was effortless. When golfers are putting, they will say things like, “the cup looked as big as a bucket,” or they sum up an...
The Magic of Rituals
There’s nothing like a good ritual or two to help us stay emotionally and physically in balance. For those who are not quite sure what I mean when I say, “ritual,” please allow me to define it for you. A ritual is “a sequence of activities involving gestures, words,...
And Now, The Rest Of The Story
Born in Oklahoma, and the son of a policeman, Paul Aurandt started making radios while attending high school. His teacher was very impressed with his voice, and helped him get a job at a local radio station. It wasn’t long before he was reading...
The Artist In All Of Us
I come from the business world, and I happen to be married to an artist. Opposites do attract, but you would be surprised at the number of things we share. There are quite a number of unexpected similarities that exist between the two of us. One such similarity is...
Pressure Me… Please!
If you’ve read my BLArticles® or books, you know I’ve never liked the word “nervous.” It’s a useless word to me because I’ve never known anyone who performed better when nervous. I’m actually a fan of the word, “anxious.” Now, there’s a word I can get behind. When...
Mental Movement
As we continue to find our way through the world of virtual delivery, one thing remains consistent: Adults do not like sitting for long periods of time… period! Exactly how long adults can sit for in a training situation is constantly being debated, but it’s safe to...
It’s Not The Typo; It’s The Formatting
For those who read my BLArticles® you probably know that I have a passion for helping those in career transition. I try to help them find work. It can be one of the most lifechanging gifts you can offer another human being. Being on the frontline of providing this...
Be Strong… But Not Too Strong!
A few years ago, I was working on some branding ideas and training materials for a client when something caught my eye. Although I’m usually focused and dialed in during meetings, I couldn’t get past the odd distraction that kept pulling me away from our...
Being There… Virtually
As we adjust to the new reality of virtual communication, online meetings have kicked into a whole new gear. We want to be there for our clients, but for now, that’s going to have to be accomplished virtually. There is a big difference between inter-office virtual...
Uncertainty? It’s Shelf Building Time!
And so, here we are; smack dab in a sea of uncertainty! It’s not just uncertainty; it’s a sea of many synonyms: unpredictability, unreliability, precariousness, reservation, doubt… well, you get the point. Uncertainty is like dental pain. The fear of the pain that...
The Times They Are A-Changin’
I’m a talker. No news there. I’m from a family of talkers. Bump into anyone who came from the Jolles clan and you won’t question that statement either. I love teaching, motivating, and inspiring people, and I have been doing it for almost 40 years now. I have no...
Don’t Just Tell A Story: Land It!
One of the hottest topics in selling, or professional speaking, is story telling. After all, when you tell a good story, you can make your key point more memorable. As a matter of fact, it’s over twenty times more memorable than just presenting facts!...
Righting A Wrong
I’ve preached the following words for years: When you’re having a conversation with someone, the more the other person speaks, the more trust they’ll have in you. This is also true of an audience, and the best way to accomplish this task is to ask questions of your...
“Rob is an expert not only in the art of influence,
but also in human nature.”
~Ken Blanchard,
coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and Trust Works!