All articles by Darren A Smith
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Comment & OpinionHow the World Prawn Forum taught me to be good at networking
Here’s what 20 years of networking in person and online have taught Making Business Matter’s Darren A Smith about how and why we must network
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Comment & OpinionDo better than saying ‘hope you’re well’ in emails with the push/pull method
‘Hope you’re well’ is the equivalent of the paper straw cover in McDonald’s, says Darren A Smith of Making Business Matter
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Comment & OpinionUse the Presentation Compass to keep your audience engaged
If you’re monotone, don’t move, and aren’t engaging, then it is likely that the audience won’t engage either
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Comment & OpinionDon’t be a butterfly, hit the big tasks with a 20-minute focus
We can definitely focus for 20 minutes. Proven research tells us this. The rest is up to you
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Comment & OpinionSuccession planning: make it easier with these two key questions
Why don’t we do succession planning? We’re busy, sure. But the problem is that there’s no reward
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Comment & OpinionFive PowerPoint tips to help end the cycle of boring presentations
Use these five tips to move from ‘instantly forgettable’ to ‘wonderfully memorable’
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Comment & OpinionMum’s the word: a simpler way to improve customer service
No online advice will ever surpass the training I witnessed many years ago
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Comment & OpinionWork wars: how to avoid escalations and keep conflict in check
Here’s how to reduce your conflicts by 20% and your escalations by 50%
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Comment & OpinionHow to present successfully when you’re the size of a postage stamp
For most people, presentations are now a fabulous opportunity to get some emails done
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Comment & OpinionWho inspires you when it comes to your ‘kryptonite’ moments?
Whenever he wanted to be better at something, my sales coach modelled himself on someone he thought was good at that thing
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Comment & OpinionHow a difficult meeting partner gave me a lesson in listening
Think: are we just waiting for the other person to stop so we can speak?
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Comment & OpinionNeed help from your LinkedIn community? Embrace them!
If you don’t need your network now, you soon will
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Comment & OpinionMake KPIs work by keeping focused and cutting out woolliness
While everyone has heard KPIs, people’s understanding is still vague, at best, says Darren A Smith, founder & CEO, Making Business Matter
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Comment & OpinionDo the top 100 companies really care about their people?
There is a disparity between the values companies extol in outward communication and the focus of their annual reports, says Darren A Smith, founder & CEO, Making Business Matter
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Comment & OpinionChasing someone for a response? Here are the dos and don’ts
A phrase often attributed to Einstein springs to mind: ‘The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’, says Darren A Smith, founder & CEO of Making Business Matter
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Comment & OpinionThe science behind procrastination – and how to defeat it
For anyone struggling with this modern-day nasty, there’s hope
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Comment & OpinionEven though my dad has passed away, he’s become my best coach
Since his passing, I have found myself asking a simple question: what would dad do?
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Comment & OpinionHow to free yourself from leaving work to the last minute
It was a Thursday and I’d been given a deadline of two weeks on Wednesday. When did I start? You guessed it
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Comment & OpinionWhat habits stop us winning friends and influencing people?
Let’s start with stage one: not doing things that reduce our influencing power
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Comment & OpinionWant to maximise your time? Learn to be less helpful
It might sound selfish, but it’s a vital time management hack