We've all learned something from our years on this planet. Even small day-to-day struggles of overcoming obstacles and having success often have hidden treasure in them that can be of value to others -- and that corporations and organizations will pay to hear. Continue reading

Today's guest blog post is by Kelly Swanson. Kelly is an award-winning storyteller, comedian, motivational speaker, author of Who Hijacked My Fairy Tale? and creator of Prides Hollow and the wacky cast of southern characters who help you see beyond your obstacles, coach you through stress and change, and help... Continue reading

Today's guest post is by Brian Walter, founder of Extreme Meetings. He provides customized infotainment to make meetings memorable. Last month Brian stopped into our office and our team agreed his humor made his visit one of our most memorable meetings this year! Viral is now a good thing. And... Continue reading

Today's blog post is a guest piece by Keynote's Marketing Assistant, Nicole Newton, who worked at a movie theater from 2007-2011 and, as a result, has seen almost every movie to hit theaters during her "career in the industry." A movie rendition of Louis Zamperini's incredible life has been on... Continue reading

Today's guest post is by Nicole Newton, Keynote's Marketing Assistant and newest TED-Head. TED has transformed into a staple for spreading revolutionary ideas. TED2013 was a dramatic shift in the history of TED, implementing a different approach with its speaker selection to give a powerful voice to "The Young. The... Continue reading

Today's Valentine's Day guest post is by Lior Arussy, President of Strativity, a customer experience strategy company that just released a study on corporations and their relationship with customers. When Lior visited Keynote's offices this week, all of us were instantly taken by the fun and creative analogies his company... Continue reading

Which comes first, success or happiness? Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard and perform well, we’ll be more successful. And if we are successful, then we’ll be happy. But according to Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage: The 7 Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work, that thinking is exactly backward. In other words, happiness comes first. A happy brain performs better and breeds success. Not the other way around. Continue reading

A consciously developed customer-centered culture is a business advantage that will serve you for years—and inoculate you against competitive inroads. This is why someone leading a business today – preparing your organization for a bright future for itself and perhaps for the world – needs to focus not just on nuts and bolts, techniques and standards, but on culture. Continue reading

The devastating storm last week brought back memories for a lot of people. Hurricane Katrina is the one I hear most often, but there are plenty more. For me, it reminds me of one of my most difficult moments in my tenure at Keynote: 9/11. I had almost finished writing... Continue reading

Actually, "book" is more accurate, for my purposes today. I could come up with a list of bad choices (like the woman sitting across the aisle from me last week, avidly reading one of those "50 Shades" books. Ma'am, you realize people can read over your shoulder if they want... Continue reading

So...did we stop working? Of course not. Was it still a vacation? Of course it was. Did we feel like we shortchanged ourselves, checking in with our offices? Nope. Did people back at Keynote make fun of me for working? Of course they did. Continue reading

What’s replaced the career escalator? There’s no single metaphor that universally describes the 21st century career journey. For those who lack globally competitive skills (and yet who are simultaneously overqualified for low-skill labor), the current environment feels like slogging through a tar pit. Continue reading

If you see your work as a career, you have larger goals of advancement, promotion, and prestige. If you see your work as a calling, however, you find your work intrinsically fulfilling; you are not doing it to achieve something else. You see your work as contributing to the greater good or as playing a role in some larger enterprise. Continue reading

The world today is moving faster than ever. Technology has changed the way we communicate and get information and entertainment, and also the way we read, learn and how, when, where and from whom we buy products. And these changes will keep coming faster and more dramatically, causing most of us to be rushing and racing just to keep up. Continue reading

Who wouldn’t want to learn from a leader who transformed idea and knowledge management at the World Bank? Who has written books for leaders on the importance of storytelling in transforming an organization’s knowledge culture? Who is one the most influential bloggers around? Continue reading

This week I figured out two important things: why exactly I'm so bad at updating my blog (when I actually love to write), and an important clue about what my real job is. First, the blog. I've been mentally beating myself up for a long time, telling myself that I... Continue reading

My last post included a copy of an email I sent to one of Keynote's regular vendors, giving him some, uh, "constructive criticism". We've had great experiences with this company before, so I was pretty sure I'd get a positive response again. And I did. Here is an edited version... Continue reading

I just found myself writing another unusual note, this time to one of Keynote's office vendors. Here it is: Hello (Keynote Vendor). Thank you for calling me back so quickly this morning about the (item we ordered). I do want to give you a bit of feedback. I am disappointed... Continue reading

I have the honor, and pleasure, and duty, of serving on the Board of Governors for the trade association for my industry category. Yes, Virginia, there is an association for everything. So among my duties as a Governor (how often will I get to be called Governor, in my life?... Continue reading

This past week saw the sudden and unexpected loss of author, speaker, and journalist Jeffrey Zaslow. I never met Jeffrey in person, but I would have had the opportunity in April 2012. I had just gotten mutual agreement to book him for an event which I personally would be attending,... Continue reading

Some folks need a time-delay installed on their "send" button. It would give them time to remember that sarcasm and humor do NOT translate well in an email. And that rudeness is always uncalled for, even when delivered electronically. It's unwelcome in our personal lives, of course, but especially unwelcome in the business world; these two worlds have increasingly overlapped in our society anyway. Continue reading

Wow, it's been a while since I had a second to post something! We are on fire over here at Keynote, and are currently interviewing for at least three open positions. Yay, I love opportunities for new ideas, fresh faces, and a chance to grow in a positive direction! Between... Continue reading

Why do I work here? And how do I succeed? Important questions indeed. For me, as it turns out, the answers are simple. Hard to execute, but simple to understand. The reason for today's particular rant is the result of the latest newletter "Perspectives", from the Northern California Chapter of... Continue reading

Couple of quick updates for you today, regarding some speakers with a lot going on right now. Please forgive the random sizing of the book cover images; I was having trouble making the images all the same size. I'll get better at it next time, I promise. So here we... Continue reading

I have a new person on my "favorite speakers" list: Louis Zamperini. Wow. I think Louis qualifies as both the luckiest, and the unluckiest, person on the planet. His life is an amazing combination of incredibly lucky saves, amazing personal strength, and remarkable occurances and coincidences, both good and bad.... Continue reading