In my experience, reference checking is one of the best ways to determine a good fit for a potential employee or vendor.   Unfortunately, when I have been asked to provide references as a potential employee or vendor, few have followed up to talk with the reference.    Of the references who were interviewed, the conversations tended to be short.   In some cases, the reference checker might have already made their decision and is just going through the motions.    In other cases, the reference checker might be inexperienced at asking great questions.

In February I received this email below from my friend John Gilroy.  I forwarded it to my team as an example of great email follow up.  Whether you are in sales, are applying for a job, or just want to keep up your business network John offers a great template for email follow up.

The 7 levels of why is a technique that I originally believed I developed based on my own experimentation.   In my experience, three levels of questions rarely get to the real cause of an issue.   While I thought I learned this technique of questioning based on experience, I am an avid reader, and I am confident I originally learned this concept from a book or possibly several.

Are you in a crowded market?  Think you can stand out?   Jonah Berger outlines his recipe to become contagious.   There are 6 S.T.E.P.P.S.  Jonah recommends being great at a few vs. being mediocre in all of them

There are many things in the work environment that are outside of our control.    Don’t let the things you can’t control affect the things you can control.   Sometimes the only thing you can control is your attitude.

Recently I had a chance to listen to an Ian Altman interview with Ebong Eka on his podcast.  I won't spoil the podcast and discussion of Ebong's new book, but I do want to expand on their discussion around pricing.  Both of them have spent time coaching clients to expand their thinking around pricing