Debra Benton 
Good employees look out for their company and their boss, even if it means standing up to the boss. Good bosses don’t want “yes” people to lazily agree with all of their decisions. Sure, everyone likes to feel validated and hear that their ideas are wonderful, excellent, and stupendous, but a good boss knows to … Read more
The days when you stayed in one company for your entire career are long gone. According to a 2019 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey of baby boomers, the average number of jobs held in a lifetime was around twelve (12!). Whether by choice or not, most of us will find ourselves transitioning from one … Read more
You don’t have to change who you are to be successful in your career. You may have to change some habits and add a little “window dressing” to your appearance and comportment, but part of what makes you unique and help you stand out from the competition is that you are, well, YOU. So be … Read more
You’re going to make mistakes. In fact, if you’re going to go anywhere in your career, you should be making mistakes at work. Mistakes mean you’re taking risks and learning, not failing. But we’re often scared of making mistakes. A survey by Accountemps found that 28% of employees were scared of making mistakes. Sometimes, in … Read more
You can do everything right, and things can still go splat in your career. As much as we’d like to think that our careers are entirely in our hands, there are many factors over which we have no control. Keeping your current job may be one of them. Even if you work hard, keep learning … Read more
With all the communication tools available to us, there is still massive mutual mystification when it comes to clearly understanding each other. Many factors contribute to that, including the languages people speak in our diverse workforce. A US Census report on findings from 2009-2013 found that sixty million Americans speak languages other than English at … Read more
Every day, all day long, each one of us “acts” for whatever role we are playing at the time: spouse, friend, parent, boss, subordinate, and so forth. It’s not that you’re faking it, rather you are learning, adapting, and taking responsibility for your effect on others. You are choosing who you want to be each … Read more
As workplaces begin to open up again, now seems like a good time to remember that, unfair though it may be, people often form impressions based solely on what they see. It’s to your benefit to avoid having a sloppy appearance at work. The following excerpt from my newest book Executive Presence For The Modern … Read more
People like to say business isn’t personal, but it is personal. All of life is people personally interacting with other people. Work is people interacting with people but with money and title attached to it. (Personal, in this post, doesn’t mean inappropriately intimate; you needn’t border on sexting.) Every interaction in business has the potential … Read more
What is your face telling the people around you? Whether it’s fair or not, people are making assumptions about you based on your facial expressions, especially if you have resting b*tch face or resting fart face. Having a resting b*tch face (RBF) certainly doesn’t mean you’re a b*tch, but that won’t stop people from assuming … Read more