There’s an old expression I’m sure you’ve all heard that goes, “It’s not what you say but how you say it.” No one likes receiving bad news, and sometimes there’s no alternative: You just have to give it to them straight. That said, there’s always room for nuance. I’m going to bring up a very […]

So it turns out that I can still be surprised. I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of things. In the industry vertical I’m in, the same things generally keep happening, so you see the signs and know what to expect, more or less. Mark Twain said that “history doesn’t repeat […]

Some solid advice I received long ago was that “you can’t chase every rabbit.” My dogs would disagree, and I see their point, but as business advice goes, it holds up. You need to cultivate long-term relationships with the people you can do business with, not just to look after their needs on a repeat […]

Everyone likes surprises. I know I do. At least, I like fun surprises. You know, like parties, or free marzipan. To be fair, not all surprises are fun, and most of us don’t like those ones. The series of natural disasters that have assailed British Columbia for a month (although it feels a lot longer) […]

It’s said that the hard lessons are the only ones we really learn. I had a coach a long time ago, a gruff old man from a former Soviet bloc country. One of his bits of old country wisdom was, “Pain is best teacher; perhaps only teacher.” Someone else once said to me, “The universe […]

DILBERT © Scott Adams. Used By permission of ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION. All rights reserved. The wild, wonderfully sarcastic and incisive mind of Scott Adams as represented in his legendary Dilbert comic strips perfectly illustrates the core point of this column. It seems, based on the less-than-stellar outcomes of project after project thrashed out on industry […]

What Does No Really Mean? I don’t know which specific issues you encounter when dealing with a client who knows only one answer to every suggestion or idea you present — NO — but I do know we all have them. There are so many reasons and possible scenarios that can and will generate a […]

In western society, some of the most frequently told jokes revolve around the three most common lies in circulation. They follow a number of patterns, many of which I will not go into in a column that winds up in general circulation. I have, however, defined the three biggest lies as told in AV. The […]

Happy New Year, readers! Last month’s column left our hero (yours truly, since I’m writing this) promising to explore the skill set required for the successful rental and staging technician. It’s quite a list, starting with a firm understanding of how things work in the physical world, and this month moving on to include interpersonal […]