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My Grandfather, Frank Ginsberg, tells the greatest stories and jokes you’ve ever heard. His favorite story to tell goes back to the Great Depression; a time when suffering families used old newspapers as insulation for their ever-deteriorating homes. As the tale goes, one day, my then-young Grandpa Frank stumbled upon a profound clipping crunched behind the walls of his house. He asked his father (my great-grandfather) to read it…

You can always count on my buddy Seth Godin to share ideas on increasing blog traffic. If you can do any (or all!) of these 56 things, people will be stepping onto your blog’s front porch in no time! Check it out: 1) Use lists. 2) Be topical… write posts that need to be read right now. 3) Learn enough to become the expert in your field. 4) Break…

I’ve read a number of articles and surveys claiming that blondes are more approachable. (Usually referring to women.) One particular article called Blondes: a dying breed caught my eye. This is really cool… “According to a study by the World Health Organisation (WHO), natural blonds are likely to be extinct within 200 years, because there are too few people carrying the blond gene. The WHO study claims that the…

I know this is my third DC-related post in the past week, but I just couldn’t pass up this absolutely fascinating article (thanks to Christin Berry from ASAE): Washingtonians love their game of tag… WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The dark suit is impeccable, the hair conservatively cut, the shoes a refined statement of solidity. But the outfit isn’t complete for a Washington insider without an identity tag or two —…

When I was speaking in DC a few weeks ago, I spent a few hours cruising around Georgetown. This particular store caught my eye. At first I walked right past it. But when my nose twitched from the sweet aroma of bath products, I stopped, started laughing and thought, wait a minute…what did that sign say?” Upon closer inspection, here’s what I saw: Ok. That’s just cool. So cool…

First time in DC this week. Very cool town! Spoke for 3000 people at ASAE’s SpringTime Expo. The feedback from the audience was tremendous. One woman even said, “I’ve been coming here for 10 years and ALWAYS wanted to hear a speaker who talked about approachability!” Sweet. That’s me! I’ve got lots of other great tidbits to share with ya: Random Cool Quotation Someone At ASAE Told Me “What…

In all my years of wearing nametags, I’m still amazed how many people mistake me for an employee. And everytime it happens – i.e., “Scott, what aisle has the work shirts? – I think to myself, “How could these people really think I work here?! It’s just a nametag! Well, apparently a nametag is enough of a disguise to fool someone into being sexually assaulted… In Duncanville, Texas, NBC…

Q & A is quite possibly the best part about giving a speech. It’s fun, improvisational and allows audience members to get answers to important questions that weren’t addressed during the program. This clip is from a recent BNI speech, which, as you know, was cancelled the first time due to a fire! Fortunately, “take 2” was a lot cooler. (rim shot) Oh, and the flash player doesn’t seem…

Don’t you love learning new words? Or better yet, using them in conversation and on paper? OK, maybe it’s just me. I’m sort of a vocab freak. (Hey, I’m a writer. What can I say?) Still, I think each person’s communication style is partly defined by the words he or she uses. In fact, I think everyone has a few words that they always use; so much so that…

My Grandma Mimi is smart. I was showing her the new crib this weekend when she made a comment about my decorating. “Scotty, where did you learn how to coordinate colors so well? This place looks great!” “Yeah, looks like all those days of selling furniture finally paid off,” I replied. “Well, just remember: in life, everything is a plus.” That stuck with me all weekend. Everything is a…