It can happen to anyone who sells a service: We speak to someone who is thinking about hiring us. She calls again with a question and leaves a message to call her back. We’re enthusiastic about the prospect of working with her—but when we return her call, she’s suddenly unavailable—forever. This is the “Approach-Avoidance Tango”,
A few years ago, I asked one of my clients, Carrie, if she had started thinking about saving for college for her one-year-old daughter, Megan. “It’s funny that you’re asking me this now,” Carrie replied, “Because I just recently sat down with a specialist in college planning.” When Carrie told me the name of the
My friend Rich works for a large regional bank and sometimes does seminars for his fellow bank employees. Rich was kind enough to share his notes with me from a seminar he presented, entitled “Rules for Working with Attorneys”. It was clear to me that with a little editing, these rules could apply to work
In 2005, Steve Jobs—CEO of Apple and of Pixar Animation—gave the commencement address to the Stanford graduating class of approximately 5,000 students. “I never graduated college,” he began, and then he told three stories. The first story was about “connecting the dots”. Jobs told how he dropped out of college, but continued to attend classes
Nick is a successful financial advisor who is working with me on doubling his income this year. He agreed to call me on the Monday following his vacation to talk about the impact his time off had on him, but he didn’t—not on Monday, not on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Nick finally phoned to apologize for
Jenny actually needs your services. You know she does and, more importantly, she knows she does. But when you suggest that you get your work started, she says “let me think about it.” You graciously give her time, but she doesn’t call you again. Then, when you finally do call her, you find out that
