I know it's the off-season, but did you ever watch the Olympics? From the trials and tribulations of the planning and set up to a virus beyond control of the organizers and the stories and triumphs of the competitors – it’s all there. There are tales of fantastic feats, incredible struggle, heartfelt spirit, and remarkable returns, all mixed with hard work, dedication, determination, persistence, drive, dreams and support. This world event showcases sport, but the people win

Those of you who regularly read the posts here on the Present Tense Blog (or at least those of you out there who know enough to trust Elana and Frank's acumen and check in from time to time) probably recognize that my expertise does not lie in business. I know marketing and creative stuff, but that nebulous-yet-profitable world of "business" is not my bag. So it would probably come as a surprise that I am the co-founder of a relatively new but already successful production co

This is the latest in a series of blogs on what we at Present Tense LLC call a “Master Story”. In this installment, Paul Mooney reminds us how the Master Story is not meant to be written alone, and that the greatest product comes from working with others to perfect your message. Read the first, second, and third parts of the series on our blog. If told properly, the Master Story of your business will undoubtedly share many parallels with the kinds of stories that make great w

A few months ago I grew impatient waiting in the lobby of the unemployment office. As is generally the best use of idle hands and minds, I began to eavesdrop and people-watch those around me. Working in sales, I like to euphemistically refer to this as “niche market research.” How are people getting their information these days? How are they networking for jobs, connecting about products, interacting with feedback? And really, are they interacting at all, and what are the sec

Like many people working towards their big break in television and/or film, I do multiple jobs. Among them, a decent amount of my work is as a production assistant, or PA for short. Anyone with a passing familiarity with that job title probably associates it with coffee runs and other such gofer activities, which are definitely a part of it. But it also encompasses a broad range of functions that help keep a film shoot in working order. You're on the bottom rung of the ladder

Every now and then since leaving the Army, and even sometimes while I was in the Army, I wonder if I didn’t slip into a wormhole and pop out in an alternate universe where everyone else is mentally somewhere between 12 and 16 years old. And if anyone else is thinking that would be a great idea for a movie, we had better make it a horror sci-fi because that is terrifying. What was the worst thing about middle and high school was not homework or the classes in subjects you didn

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

Every one of us will experience this in our careers: some teams fall apart when a roadblock or a crisis comes up, while other teams adapt and still reach the goals. But what explains the difference? What do the successful teams do differently? We can gain some answers by looking at what happens when the consequences of team failure aren’t financial or social, but life-threatening. This is what happens in the air. Flying is an activity where most people focus their attention o

Let me begin this article by saying that hiking is nothing new to me. I know, I know, as The Bard himself so eloquently put it: "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" (Queen Gertrude in Act III, Scene II of Hamlet, for the unaware). But it's true. I was somewhat forcibly enrolled into a program in high school that included two intense camping/bonding experiences per year that always involved serious treks. And then there are the four years I spent in the Marines that invo

Editor's Note: You may have noticed we haven't posted in a couple of weeks. This is in large part to our primary blog editor helping Paul with the event to which this article refers, something that we were honored to assist in doing. Please watch the trailer, follow the project, and feel free to contact us if you'd like more information on how you can help in moving this forward. Those of you who follow this blog, know this fine company I often work for, or who decided to cli

- Frank Luby Two of the most frightening business headlines over the last three weeks both involved the state of California and a couple of guys named Cook. Benjamin Cook, a NASA scientist, co-authored a new study which claims that the western part of the United States will face its worst drought in 1,000 years, worse than anyone has previously expected. Fellow NASA scientist Tom Painter warned that "Water demand has passed supply in some areas. Throwing 30 years of drought o

- Paul Mooney Creative writing is not something reserved only for those dreaming of selling their first literary masterpiece to the world at large. Storytelling is a key element of many things we do in business, from presentations to white papers (to stories at the water cooler, but we are trying to stay in the non-fiction realm here). I'll clear up any mystery right off the bat: the hard part is actually writing something. Not all that mysterious of a revelation, I grant you

- Stacey Ebert Companies have many similarities to schools, only now we are all grown up. Jobs replace assignments, bosses replace teachers, and paychecks replace grades on report cards. Just as students want to impress their teachers, today it’s adult employees feeling the same about their supervisors. Valuing employees benefits all parties and might just be the secret to maintaining the best talent. Regardless of age, we all like to feel valued. Whether it’s public or one-o

The response was perfect. Your cubicle buddy is going to laugh at your slightly snarky but still informed response to his recent push of the latest company memo. You threw in a pun, an inside joke, and a clever barb at middle management. You can formulate your real response after lunch. Wait. Oh. Oh no. You hit reply all instead of reply. And there is no recall option on most web-based email servers. Middle management is not going to have the same appreciation for your clever

- Frank Luby The Economist welcomed us to 2015 with a handful of intriguing articles on the future of work. In “Workers On Tap”, they framed up the growing free-lance economy as a battle in workers’ minds between job security and time flexibility. The article implied older workers (which include me) place greater value on the former while Millennials prefer the latter. Other recent articles confirm that Millennials want even more than flexibility, they want input and interest

- Paul Mooney Let me begin by directing you to the earlier post from Present Tense partner Elana Duffy highlighting the good business sense to be taken from Joseph Heller's classic novel Catch-22. It inspired me to write a similar article about my favorite novel, but since that's also Catch-22, that was a no-go. And since my second favorite novel is Frank Herbert's epic Dune, I figured I'd choose a different medium as I'm not quite sure how to tie a tale of space witches, sem

We’ve published our first “self-help” ebook on storytelling skills Present Tense LLC is launching a series of ebooks aimed at executives, managers, and others who would like straightforward, simple ways to improve their storytelling skills. The first one has finally hit the ebook shelves: 10/10: How to write business content that is memorable and effective. Now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes and other major platforms, this quick read will help you generate

- Stacey Ebert Professional development can be a trial. No one wants to sit through monotone presentations or worse, click-through online training that takes them away from the mounting pile of work sitting on their desk. That’s true no matter how strong our love for broadening horizons and expanding our knowledge. The irony is that professional development is critical to employee engagement, yet it often comes across as dull, mindless, and lacking energy. If those presentati

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

- Elana Duffy My favorite book is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Between the sardonic humor, sarcasm, and - however ridiculous the book may seem - truisms of military life, it has captured my attention time and again. It is different; it emulates none of the other stories of its time, and continues to challenge me as a reader to notice something new with each reading. Not to mention its accuracies that apply to other aspects of life, such as business. Having left the military and