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Category: News

The 10 Worst Communication Mistakes For Your Career

How do you signal to the world you’re leadership material?

According to a new year-long study of over 4,000 college-educated professionals and 268 senior executives, you must be viewed as a leader in order to get promoted into top jobs. That takes executives presence, which is defined as having gravitas, excellent communication skills and a polished appearance.

These skills are required, but that doesn’t mean you rack up bonus points for having them. Instead, you get demerits for your mistakes, as superiors silently cross you off their good lists. So what are the pitfalls to avoid? The study uncovered the 10 worst communication mistakes that will instantly derail your promotion hopes.

Success comes in many forms in Business

Success means different things to different people whether we are talking about business or private life. In Business, the obvious assumption is that a successful entrepreneur is someone who is financially secure. What they earn, what they own, what they spend can give the impression of success. More, more, more is what we all ultimately strive for in terms of success – or is it?

Stop and reflect on your own life. Think about what success means to you. Don’t limit yourself by focusing on the big things. They are important but they also seem to demand way too much of our attention.

Take a moment to focus on all the little successes you have had – either in the past or today. These are the everyday things that make life worth living. To be able to make choices. To be able to motivate and inspire others. To share life (both the joys and the sorrows) with others. To feel and to show feeling. To love and to be loved. To make the most of every situation no matter the circumstances.

How to choose the perfect Christmas gifts for your clients

The holiday season is fast approaching! In the business world the holiday arrival often comes with an increased workload, more demands, and tighter deadlines. Even with all the tasks and stress taking up attention, it’s always worth taking a moment to show gratitude to those who support your business. Staying top of mind with your clients (in a positive way) is important.

One of the best ways to show your clientele that you appreciate them is by taking advantage of the Christmas season and sending gifts for clients as a heartfelt thank-you!

When should you start planning for a secure financial future?

For those who haven’t charted a course for a secure financial future, there’s good news and bad news.

The bad news? Without at least some solid financial planning, retirement may come with more sacrifices than security. The good news? It’s never too late to start and you have a lot of company.

Some 40 percent of people polled described themselves as “Informal,” having a general sense of their goals and how to meet them, but no specific plan in place.

When it comes to financial planning most people say life gets in the way. Some 69 percent feel the pace of society makes it harder for them to stick with long-term goals. Twenty-six percent say they either often or always feel too busy to think about long-term goals. Ironically, many people who plan their meals, plan their travel, or plan their wardrobe, won’t spend as much time planning for their future.

How do you recognise the next big thing?

Can you get better at spotting the most promising opportunities? How does anyone know it when they see it?

If you’re like most people, throughout your life a few great opportunities will land on your doorstep. And again, if you’re like most people, you’ll ignore these rare opportunities because you won’t recognise them as great chances for success.

Don’t feel bad; even people in the opportunity recognition business – including prominent venture capitalists – miss out on great opportunities. Everybody misses a few, no one gets them all.

The importance of speaking multiple languages in Business

The importance of speaking multiple languages in BusinessPeople say that business is all about relationships, but the truth is that business is really all about communication. Communication is key to virtually every aspect of business—from acquiring and retaining customers to improving employee engagement and performance. At the most fundamental level, business can’t happen without communication. This is even more true in the era of globalisation. As geographic borders become porous and the world flattens, effective communication with customers, employees, partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders across the globe becomes essential to successfully running a company.

Are bank holidays good for the economy?

The average bank holiday costs the economy £2.3 billion. Considering the fragile state of the economy, the argument that we should reduce the number of days we enjoy off work is understandable.

The average employee in the UK working full time works 1,647 hours a year. The average Korean works 2,191. That’s the equivalent of working nearly 4 more months a year at the British rate. Even the average US worker works more than we do at 1,695 hours a year. Only in the decadent European economy do people work shorter hours than in the UK.

Taking a break can improve your productivity

A recent survey indicated that the average American accrues 18 vacation days and uses only 16. The average French worker takes more than twice the vacation time. To some, this statistic encapsulates the difference between American and European workers. Americans are productive. Europeans are lazy.  In fact, it might say the opposite.

Europeans understand that breaks improve workplace efficiency. We mistakenly believe that more hours will always increase output, while ignoring the clear evidence: The secret to being an effective worker is not working too hard.

How to impress your boss

The ability to impress your boss is a major determining factor in your success, as well as your happiness and productivity at work. Whether you get along with your boss or not, you need to show them you’re capable of greatness.

We looked through the latest research to find science-based strategies to help you seem like a better and more cooperative employee and, in turn, make your boss happier.

Wear red to show you’re ‘focused, committed, and trustworthy’

According to a recent study, waitresses wearing red earned more money.

If you want to persuade or impress someone in the office, you could try wearing a powerful shade of red. The colour makes others view you as someone who’s “focused, committed, and trustworthy.”

8 Tips to Invest Without Too Much Risk

If you can’t stand the thought of losing money, you might be afraid to invest it. But you also know that keeping your money totally safe in a savings account or a CD that only earns 1% or 2% a year could be financial suicide.

When you get down to the heart of investing, there are two ways to make money: You can be an owner or a loaner. In other words, you can own assets that you expect to increase in value or you can loan money for a specified return.

How far will technology go?

Singularity is near. The natural progression of human evolution with a just little twist— technology. In other words, super intelligence will soon become a part of our daily lives and man will be merged with machine. Sure it sounds wild, but just think about what we have been able to achieve over the past 50 years alone.

Just look how addictive consumer behavior is for a new Apple product. Sure you can cop the latest iPhone or Mac, but the newer and improved version will always be released in the next couple of months. Similarly, all technology will keep replacing itself at a faster and faster rate until it all becomes a blur. Everything is becoming more efficient and compact and we can expect to see this trend continue until it isn’t even tangible.

Is working from home for you?

As more and more professionals seek a better work-life balance and more companies adopt flexible policies to accommodate shifting workplace priorities and realities the working from home option is becoming increasingly viable.

Employees see this as an ideal means to remain in the workforce and continue to be employed thereby maintaining all the tangible benefits of being part of an established company, while enjoying all the advantages of being based at home. The option has its potential pitfalls however and below we discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of working from home.