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Thanks to good ol’ Google Alerts, as soon as the words “approachable,” “approachability” and the like show up on the internet, I get to read about them. I started doing this for research purposes, as well as discover cool stuff to post on this blog. And the one thing I’ve noticed in the past few years is that whenever “approachable” comes up, at least one of the links is…

Special thanks to all my new friends at T-Mobile (namely, Dennis Smith) who invited me to speak at their monthly teleseminar yesterday. We had a great time talking about recruitment, an industry for which approachability is absolutely essential. During Q & A, Dennis posed an interesting question that I’d actually been wondering about myself recently. “Scott, have you ever tried to quantify the approximate number of people you’ve met…

Shhhh…Silent Dating is the hot new dating trend that started in London – and is now moving across the US. Liz Kelly, Dating Coach and Author, is now hosting Silent Dating Parties where there is only one rule – No Talking Please! This event coordinates with the release of her new book, Smart Man Hunting. Based on her dating and corporate communications expertise, Kelly explains, “Because 80% of communication…

At least once a week, I receive an email, link or even a package in the mail with some type of nametag related paraphernalia, for which I’m always grateful. I mean, after all, who else would care so much about stuff like this?! Recently, fellow speaker and friend Justin Driscoll sent me a very cool feature in the Pittsburgh City Paper called Game of the Name. I’ve included a…

I’m not sure where this post is coming from, but recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the whole “You are what you…” type of comment. I listened to Wayne Dyer’s new book on tape while driving to Columbus, and he said some pretty powerful stuff. So, here are all the examples I’ve heard before: You are what you do consistently. You are what you believe. You are who…

I just returned from a four day trip to Ohio, part of which included delivering the keynote speech at the Association for Career and Technical Education conference. The name of their annual program was called “Communicate the Dream.” The speech went quite well, considering it was the first time I’d worked since my lung collapsed three weeks ago. Good thing I made it through without an oxygen tank! Also,…

During a recent chapter meeting of the National Speakers Association, Sam Horn and Sam Silverstien riffed back and forth about branding, marketing, developing expertise, visibility and the like. During one particular rant, Sam #2 told the following story: “It was the night before a recent speaking engagement. I was checking in at the hotel when two women must have recognized me from the conference program. ‘Hey, aren’t you our…

Interesting article from Elliot Back about how people name their blogs. He quotes the Blogwise directory, which hosts a list of 33,810 blogs. According to Back, extracting the names of each blog from the directory itself took some work, but the results were quite fascinating. For example, the top word used in 9.986 percent of the blogs surveyed was “blog.” (Damn it. Guilty!) The next most popular at 2.619…

…approximately 5% of people’s comments will be negative. Like this one… I sat down in Starbucks with a pile of receipts and my laptop. Yay! Expense account day! Anyway, an older man in a grey suit grabbed a seat next to me. He was one of those people who “self-narrated” his actions. You know these types. When they’re in public places – usually lines or crowded waiting spaces –…

What do Quentin Tarentino, Bob Dylan and Seth Godin have in common? They’ve all become their own adjective. Think about it: When you hear any folk song recorded after 1970, there’s always that faint trace of Bob Dylan’s influence in between the notes. And you think, “Hmm…this song has a Dylan-esque sound.” When you watch a movie that has noticeably strange, slow dialogue and a non-linear plot structure, you…