Though the construction industry lives in the physical world, paper plans and blueprints were a costly aspect to its old school ways. Ryan Sutton-Gee, COO and co-founder of PlanGrid, talks about the creation and development of PlanGrid as a benefit to the construction field. He explains to Tim Muma how PlanGrid took advantage of new technology to save companies time, money and frustration while helping a traditional discipl...

Can being disciplined make you happy? This is an interesting question that most people don’t think about. At least, they don’t think about it in the way that I’m going to talk about it here.Most people think that if they are disciplined with their exercise they will get in or stay in good physical shape. Most people trust that if they spend time studying for a test they will likely pass. Most people believe that if they are...

The first salary negotiation tip has to do with timing. When should you do it? To everything, there is a season. The aphorism applies to matters both great and small and there is a right time and a wrong time for even the most mundane act.If Ecclesiastes were written today, this nugget of wisdom might be expressed differently, but it is not too great a stretch to apply it to the stages of the job search, including negotiati...

Court reporters provide the official record for a wide range of legal proceedings, from high profile criminal cases to depositions. To understand the skills, duties and opportunities for court reporters, Glyn Poage joins Tim Muma to give his perspective. Glyn is an official court reporter in Texas and the vice president of the National Court Reporters Association, positions that have given him tremendous experience and pers...

Alec Sprague is not an IT guy. His background is in consumer advocacy, but in his position as database developer for Work for Progress, he has instituted a culture of citizen development at the fast-growing nonprofit organization.“Our organization is scrappy,” Sprague said. “We operate on shoestring budgets to maximize our benefit to society and our return-on-investment for our funders and donors.”At the beginning of his te...

Research indicates that over 80% of employers look for the cultural fit of an executive over skills. That’s huge! In data collected from 1,200 of the world’s leading companies, there are five top personality traits sought after by these employers.Professionalism (86%)Most people reach executive level through career achievements, leadership skills, and crafting a professional persona.Generally, executives are a step up on th...

When you look at today’s political and cultural chaos–dissension, name-calling, rigid opinions, and more–you might think it has become the new normal and is unavoidable. Unfortunately, that defeatist outlook plays right into the hands of those individuals and groups that profit from it in some way. (If nothing else, they seem to get a sense of power from it.)If you take a different look at it–from the standpoint of your wor...

QuickBase’s annual user conference, #EMPOWER2016, kicked off this morning in Nashville with a keynote from Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm and Zone to Win. In Geoffrey Moore’s words, disruptive innovation occurs when something that was previously scarce and expensive becomes cheap and can be implemented on a wider scale.Current examples of disruptive innovations in various stages of widespread adoption are clou...

You’ve felt it before. You’re at home on a Friday night with Shark Tank on the TV, a cold glass of Pinot Grigio in hand, feeling anxious and insecure instead of relaxed and self-assured, all because you glanced at your Instagram feed and saw the proof that all your friends, colleagues, and even your dorky younger cousin are living it up. So much for enjoying a rare night of rest and quiet, much-needed for mental restoration...

I’ve always been a huge fan of mentors. My own mentors have helped me shape my career. They’ve smoothed my path and taught me countless valuable lessons, large (how to structure my business) and small (the best shoes to wear as a professional speaker).But as I reflect on the mentors who’ve made a difference, I realized that some of the most important people in my career didn’t even know they were my mentors — they were peop...