Tact is one of the traits that many leaders lack, but all should possess. Tactful leaders can engage and communicate with their subordinates in a manner appropriate to the situation without crossing the line into toxic territory. Tactful leaders have the self-awareness to know when they are being too aggressive or pushy. They can assert themselves without being aggressive and can be firm without being a bully. Subordinates will respect a tactful leader but will fear or shy away from a toxic one.

What is Tact? Tact, according to the dictionary, is "the ability to speak or act in a socially acceptable way." Tactful people are able-minded and can communicate without offending. They know when it's appropriate to be assertive and just how far they can go before they step into aggressiveness.

Think of a time when you had an encounter with a leader who was very tactful in their communication. How did that make you feel? How did that experience shape your view of that leader? How can you...

Do you feel like you are struggling be a confident leader? Leadership is not for the faint of heart, and it can be difficult to know how to build confidence when you find yourself in a leadership role. If the phrase "fake it til you make it" comes to mind, you are not alone. Leading others is not something that comes naturally to everyone, but you will have a much easier time leading with the right tools in your belt. Read on to learn about some easy tricks for building your leadership confidence.

1. Get familiar with what it feels like when you ARE confident so that you can mimic those feelings at any time - to do this, pick something you are really good at, anything at all, and talk to a friend about it. That feeling you get as you tell your friend all about XYZ that you are skilled in, THAT is confidence. Now you know what it feels like, and you can start to mimic those feelings in other situations.
2. Focus on what you do well and build from there. Leadership is a journey, not...

Leadership is a tough role. One of the hardest parts of being a leader is understanding how to lead and how to communicate what you expect from those in your charge.

One of the most important skills you can have as a leader is how to set expectations. When you're not clear about what your leadership expectations are, it's difficult for those who work under you to do their best work.

This blog post will give you some tips on how to be an effective and successful leader by understanding and communicating your leadership expectations through three different lenses: the first-hand perspective of someone working under leadership, the second-hand perspective of someone observing leadership from afar, and finally with third-party stakeholders such as colleagues or shareholders.

As someone who has both led, and been led, I can think of more than one occasion where the one doing the leading, did not clearly communicate their expectations, so not only was the end result not what they...

“Daring leaders say the unsaid, unsurface what’s been pushed down, and bring to light the stuff that’s in the shadows and in the corners.” ~Brene Brown, Dare to Lead~

But how do they do it? By learning to communicate openly, honestly, and vulnerably. They ask the hard questions, have the hard conversations, and aren’t afraid to get uncomfortable, in order to help others succeed.

Anyone who has been in a leadership role can tell you that communication is one of the top skills of a good leader. I completely agree, however, too often, even the best leaders lack the skills necessary to communicate effectively.

When tasked with a leadership role, there are usually many responsibilities that are lined out for us. Communication isn’t always in the job description, but it should be. As a leader, you must be able and willing to have the necessary conversations to make your teams and, as a result, your organization stronger.

Being a leader is a monumental...

Remember in 2nd grade when we were so excited to do that experiment where you take two metal cans, attach some white string to them, and talk through them like a telephone? As a kid, it was super fun to catch bits and pieces of what the other person was saying as the sound waves moved through the string and into your ear via the can.

But, as a business owner and entrepreneur, it can be challenging when you feel like you are communicating clearly but not have your audience HEAR you. I know that the person on the other end of the string was saying something logical, but it didn’t always come through crystal clear.

What does a silly science experiment have to do with communicating on a professional level? EVERYTHING.

You, as the communicator, have the hard job of crafting what you say in a way that your target recipient(s) will understand with ease. Put yourself in their shoes: if you can’t make sense of the message, you will move on to a different product or service...

You have probably heard the old adage “practice makes perfect.” As a musician for almost three-quarters of my life, I can assure you that practice does not make perfect; rather, practice makes permanent.

If you do something over and over a certain way, you create pathways in your brain, as well as “muscle memory,” that cause you to always do that thing in that manner.

Communicating is no different.

Regardless of your method of communication, the more you do it, the better and more confident you become. This improvement and confidence come from repeatedly practicing and developing your skills.

It’s easy to say you just need to practice communicating and you will be better at it. While that is partially true, you need to practice consistently in order to build skills that will build your confidence. Just like in music, if you practice it incorrectly, you will learn incorrectly, and then when it is performance time, you will falter.

Now, that...

Expectations. One of the biggest frustrations I hear from my clients and other business owners is that they get feedback from a client that their (the client’s) experience wasn’t what they expected. Unfortunately, this is common in service-based industries. But why? Because the service provider has not taken control of the consumer’s expectations.

Let’s start by defining expectation:

My definition: a conscious or subconscious prediction of an outcome

Conscious = Active Subconscious = Passive

Example of active expectation: When I properly mix all the ingredients, I expect my cookies to taste delicious. This is an active expectation because I have taken the steps necessary to reach a specific outcome: delicious cookies!

Example of a passive expectation: When I go to sleep at night, I expect to wake up in the morning. This is a passive expectation because I haven’t put any thought into it..

How does this translate to business? Whose job is it to set your...

We’ve all been through a break-up or two in our lives (if you haven’t you are LUCKY)! Some break-ups are hard, some are necessary, and others are just awkward. As a business owner, sometimes we have to break-up with our clients, and while it might be necessary, it definitely does NOT have to be awkward.

This week I am going to tell you the story of how my hairdresser of over 12 years broke up with me, and how she could have done it differently to make it way less awkward for both of us.

Any woman knows it can be a real chore to find a hairstylist that you can trust to just KNOW what to do with your hair. When you find that stylist, you never let them go! I was lucky enough to find a young stylist who was a perfect fit for my whole family. We became friends, watched each other grow our families, and had a great working relationship. I never had to tell her what to do with my hair, I trusted her to just know what to do and I knew I would love it every time.

12 years into...

Last week I touched on the importance of knowing your audience. This is one of the main pillars of communication that I teach and it is such an important one for business owners to master.

Let’s dive in shall we?!

The first step to knowing your audience, is to know yourself. You have to discover your own communication style before you can effectively reach your audience.

It can be difficult to know where to begin when identifying your own style of communication. Here are the four types of communicators and some of the traits they possess:

• TIMID: often we associate the word timid with shy, weak, scared, or soft. I’m telling you to get rid of those connotations right now. Timid communicators may or may not be any of those things, but what they most definitely are, is present. Timid communicators often find themselves wanting to be more assertive in their communication, which leads them to prepare extensively, study, rehearse, and research so that they can feel as...

If this sounds like the beginning of a bad breakup, fear not! When I say “it’s not me, it’s you,” what I really mean is it’s ABOUT you.

In this post I will start to dive into one of my main pillars of communication: Knowing Your Audience. This is one thing I teach in great detail and something that prevents many of us from mastering our skills. Let’s dive in!

We’ve all heard “there’s no ‘I’ in team” and I’m here to tell you there’s no “me” in communicate…but there is YOU (well, a “u” but you get the point).

As a communicator, there are two ways to approach communicating with your audience: self-centered and client-centered (or audience-centered) communication. If you hold a position as a leader, business owner, or professional, YOUR COMMUNICATION SHOULD ALWAYS BE FOCUSED ON THE INDIVIDUAL(S) AT THE OTHER END OF YOUR MESSAGE.

But how do you know if your message is...