Let’s talk numbers. Say a specialty drink at your favorite coffee shop costs $5. If you gave up two of those drinks per month, you would have enough money to pay for a standard $9.99 per month subscription to a music streaming service such as Spotify or Apple. I used that example recently in a talk at the New Music Seminar and have seen people make similar comparisons on social media. It is convenient and it also gets people’s attention. Both coffee and music are very familia

As a founding member of Race2Rebuild, a charity racing team raising money for disaster recovery projects, I’ve been lucky enough to help plan and attend ‘build days’. These are large events where hundreds of people from all walks of life come together to do good for a day by working to rebuild communities destroyed after natural disasters. Individuals and other charity organizations are part of the mix, but there are always teams of company employees that turn up for the day

- Elana Duffy Serve your customers well and they will serve you in return. That concept sounds so easy, right? Two run-ins lately have made we wonder whether some companies care at all about customers or what their customers think. Delayed packages. Rude employees. Double charges on credit cards that take 53 minutes to resolve on the phone. And of course, it is always our fault, not theirs, as if we should diligently plan for every possible way they can let us down. In 2015,

Elana Duffy Veteran’s Day, Armistice Day, whatever you call it in your country, the idea is the same in many countries that took part in the First World War: honor and remembrance to those who fought for freedoms, and those who laid down their lives to protect their countrymen. It is a day of peace and respect. Being a veteran, it seemed prudent to address the concept of expanding some timeless leadership techniques from the battlefield to management. Love or loathe the milit

- Paul Mooney When was the last time you saw a television commercial that really made you laugh or, even less likely, positively affected your feelings towards a product? If you can actually recall that happening, I imagine the experience was so extraordinary that the ad in question springs immediately to mind. Most of the time, we either ignore ads or spend the time on something more interesting and less annoying, such as using the restroom. Ads share the same themes and gim

A story is personal; you don’t want to tell it to a stranger. This post is to provide perspective and information, and ultimately to be a little less of a stranger. This is Lana: Founding Partner, Writer, Editor, Engineer The best stories are ones to which the receiver can connect. Be it that they are told with passion, that they create a vivid picture, and in such a way that the storyteller’s voice can be heard. I am going to tell you a bit about me, and hope that through th

The world is full of great ideas and great stories no one knows about. A few of them are probably in your head right now. Our mission at Present Tense LLC is to get those ideas and stories out of your head and into something your customers, fans, or friends will want to read. The goal is to get those ideas out now, not when you “find the time”, because that will never happen. We are a team of multi-taskers, and we know you are, too. Between managing your people, developing yo