Disagreements amongst your staff can be essential to your company’s success. However, disobedience can undermine your team, and ultimately lead to failure. Know the difference between people who disagree, and those who disobey. What I am writing about today is obvious to most of us on a personal level, but somehow within the complexity of […]
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Lessons in Adulthood: You Don’t have to Put Up with Jargon
I have always hated jargon. Why do we use made-up words and silly phrases? What are we trying to prove? What’s wrong with speaking clearly? Everyone should hate these made-up words as much as me. Before I teach you how to get gangster with jargon, first lets identify 4 different kinds of jargon: Jargon that […]
Summer 2019: Fun Changes to the Website and the Blog 🎉
We recently launched Version 3 of smithhousedesign.com, and we want to tell you about what we changed and why.
Be Brave: Ask the Hard Questions
I am afraid that in most meetings, even in high-level meetings, people spend too much time posturing themselves to look cool. It’s different than “looking cool” that we all practiced in high school, but the motivation is the same. We want people to like us and think we matter.
Rule Number 1: No Mind Reading
We all know that “mind reading” doesn’t work. Life is hard enough as it is, so it’s silly to take on the additional burden of having to decipher one another’s emotions and actions to pick up clues on an unspoken tension.
4 Signs of a Dysfunctional Workplace
I am really embarrassed when I stumble into the dysfunctional parts of adulthood. Particularly, dysfunctional teams at companies. I wish there were a better word than “embarrassed,” but it’s the best word I have. It’s a blend of surprise, shame, and disappointment. I mean, we are all adults here, yet somehow we are messing this […]