Scott Monty

The Kinds of Interactions That Grow Your Business

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3pzZyRWza7E/Xjh1-GuZWZI/AAAAAAABLaI/ocqg7IgzkDo3pXGCSmyFX50tTZzVs1EWACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Doris%2BLee%2B-%2BGeneral_store_and_post_office.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="1024" height="336" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3pzZyRWza7E/Xjh1-GuZWZI/AAAAAAABLaI/ocqg7IgzkDo3pXGCSmyFX50tTZzVs1EWACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Doris%2BLee%2B-%2BGeneral_store_and_post_office.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photograph of mural <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:General_store_and_post_office_24943v.jpg" target="_blank">General store and post office</a> by Doris Lee at the Ariel Rios Federal Building, Washington, D.C. (Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons)</span></i></td></tr>
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You need a pickle barrel.<br />
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Not because you need more fermented vegetables in your life. But because you need more intimate and personal conversations.<br />
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I grew up in a small town in Connecticut — the kind with a town green and a white steepled church, population 10,000. And I remember going with my mom or dad to the bank and the post office, and the teller or clerk behind the counter would know them by name. They might even ask how I was doing in school or on my baseball team.<br />
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It seems like a data-driven fantasy now, but those were the days when you didn't need three forms of ID to pick up your mail or make a withdrawal. It was simply the way business was done.<br />
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Going back a few generations, the general store was a center of small town life, where citizens would go for supplies. But more than being simply a retail shop, it was a place to see fellow residents, swap stories and even hear some gossip over the pickle barrel — a large, wooden barrel where pickles floated in brine and you picked one out. Typically, there was someone seated nearby, just watching, or maybe playing checkers.<br />
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They knew you; you knew them. Maybe they'd strike up a conversation with you. Or make a remark to the clerk behind the counter. But it felt like an extension of family. When you walked away from the general store, you felt like a person and not a number.<br />
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Outside of interacting with a small business, when is the last time you had a brand experience like that? These days, we're left to felt like we're a statistic or a cog in a system. Two forms of ID, login, and an encrypted password later, we're left feeling dehumanized.<br />
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We were told that the great promise of social media was that it had the potential to bring back the humanity in business. In its earliest days, we heralded the opportunity to have conversations with customers, to get feedback from them directly, and to create 1:1 (or at least 1:few) interactions.<br />
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And yet…  Where do we stand with that progress?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bRHo_Kev63M/XFKOz9Ha3CI/AAAAAAABCug/P7wMTAAFcBgItpK3dVwYKnNkPUZIxHYdgCLcBGAs/s1600/15534152421_b09d075c3b_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Generally speaking" border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="640" height="428" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bRHo_Kev63M/XFKOz9Ha3CI/AAAAAAABCug/P7wMTAAFcBgItpK3dVwYKnNkPUZIxHYdgCLcBGAs/s640/15534152421_b09d075c3b_z.jpg" title="General Store" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Redcrest Grocery & General Store by Kirt Edblom (<a href="https://flic.kr/p/pEGAja" target="_blank">Flickr</a>)</td></tr>
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Every time a new social platform opens up, it falls prey to marketers. Now, I don't begrudge a company from making money, and there are few options for social networks that don’t include some sort of advertising, but it somehow feels like Groundhog Day. The Internet has been around for two decades, and yet we're seeing the same kinds of advertising that were prevalent when television was introduced. There has to be a better way.<br />
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Back when upstart <a href="https://ello.co/" target="_blank">Ello</a> cast themselves as a Facebook alternative, they proudly declared their distinct lack of advertising:<br />
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"Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads. You are the product that’s bought and sold.<br />
We believe there is a better way. We believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce, and manipulate — but a place to connect, create, and celebrate life."</blockquote>
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While it didn't result in a huge influx of users from Facebook, it did create a industry-wide conversation about the relevance of advertising on social platforms.<br />
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Aside from platforms, advertisers themselves are under pressure with a huge increase in the use of ad blocking technology. The interruptive and annoying user experience is angering consumers, and they're increasingly making the decision to install software to prevent advertising from taking over their browsing experience. This is especially true on mobile, where there's even less real estate and there are concerns with data usage by ad units.<br />
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The point of all of this is that while advertising is still a necessary part of the content ecosystem online, we marketers need to find a better way to meet the expectations of consumers. The decades-old, twice-broken model of advertising is outdated — the interruptive model didn't work for television, and it made its way to the Internet, and eventually to social media.<br />
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We need to wake up to the need for human interaction and stories. Simply advertising to them is lazy. Perhaps it means a more hands-on style with a focus on community rather than on advertising. There's value in creating connections and leveraging relationships, especially when we have products and services that people genuinely care about or want to tell others about.<br />
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With the incredible amount of data that we have on consumers, we stand at a threshold of personalized content that can be better than it's ever been before. But we need to take the time and effort to create it. If we want to create an emotional connection with consumers and leave a lasting impact, mass marketing is no longer the way forward. We need to show the humanity behind the brand and demonstrate an interest in connecting with consumers the way they want to engage.<br />
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Then maybe we'll be able to reclaim the pickle barrel conversations.<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/567281886&color=%230c69a5&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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The Kinds of Interactions That Grow Your Business

Photograph of mural General store and post office by Doris Lee at the Ariel Rios Federal Building, Washington, D.C. (Carol M. Highsmith ...

Trust Me

Trust Me

Cardsharps by Caravaggio (Michaelangelo Merisi), 1595 (Google Art Project - public domain) Trust is a strange thing. We work so hard...

Resoluteness in the Face of Adversity

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xfcAlgg-blo/Xjh5PhnGJuI/AAAAAAABLaU/dhwPwe7gZmwVzl2uVVxxjn0Z2Kq5wl7WQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Situation%2Bof%2Bthe%2BHMS%2BResolute%2Bin%2BBaffin%2BBay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1013" data-original-width="1600" height="404" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xfcAlgg-blo/Xjh5PhnGJuI/AAAAAAABLaU/dhwPwe7gZmwVzl2uVVxxjn0Z2Kq5wl7WQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Situation%2Bof%2Bthe%2BHMS%2BResolute%2Bin%2BBaffin%2BBay.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/librarycollections/2017/05/29/frozen-voices-from-the-past-captain-horatio-austins-log-of-the-hms-resolute-and-the-first-traces-of-the-lost-arctic-expedition-of-sir-john-franklin/" target="_blank">Situation of the HMS Resolute in Baffin Bay</a></i><span style="text-align: start;"> by James Franklin (University of Melbourne)</span></span></td></tr>
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With the Arctic cold bearing down on much of the Midwest and Northeast this weekend, it seems appropriate to remember the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott.<br />
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In 1910, Scott famously set out to be the first to reach the South Pole. He had previously undertaken an expedition to Antarctica in 1901. Only 50 years before did Arctic exploration command the attention of the world's explorers:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Imagined yet unseen, the Arctic functioned for the nineteenth century much as the moon and outer space did for the twentieth: a place where, against a backdrop of nameless coastlines and unfamiliar seas, the human drama was enacted in its most condensed and absolute form." </blockquote>
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– Russell Potter (<i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Spectacles-Frozen-Culture-1818-1875/dp/0295986794" target="_blank">Arctic spectacles: the frozen north in visual culture, 1818-1875</a></i>) </div>
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And the human drama played out in full with Captain Scott. His team of five, after enduring harsh conditions, reached the South Pole on January 17, 1912 — only to discover that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his party reached it just five weeks prior.<br />
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The 800-mile march back was monotonous and depressing for the group. They were without vehicles, horses, or dogs, and had to make much of the journey on foot. They battled frostbite, fatigue, and ultimately, a blizzard.<br />
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The blizzard stopped them just 11 miles short of their destination. But throughout, Scott kept a diary. He made notes on their progress, charted their distance, and pondered the meaning of their efforts.<br />
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"Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale."</blockquote>
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"we shall stick it out to the end but we are getting weaker of course and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity but I do not think I can write more. —"<br />
<br />
"Last Entry<br />
For God's sake look after our people"</blockquote>
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It's easy to focus on victories, isn't it? The sweet taste of success lingers, and we make it part of our regular storytelling.<br />
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But how we react when things don't go our way is more instructive. If we want to learn, that is.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">– Winston Churchill</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> [<a href="https://ctt.ac/4pld7" target="_blank">tweet this</a>]</span></div>
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That sense of resolution — and remember I talked about <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2019/01/if-youre-committed-to-transformation.html" target="_blank">truly committing to your resolutions recently</a> — is exactly what helped Scott keep his promise as an expedition leader right up until his dying day.<br />
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It got me to thinking about the root word, "resolute," which in turn reminded me of the <i>HMS Resolute</i>, the a mid-19th-century ship in the British Royal Navy, specially outfitted for Arctic exploration.<br />
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The <i>Resolute </i>became trapped in the ice and was abandoned in 1854. Recovered by an American whaler, the ship was returned to Queen Victoria in 1856. Timbers from the ship were later used to construct a desk which was presented to the President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880.<br />
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You may have heard of the Resolute desk — the desk made famous by little "John John" Kennedy crawling out from under it — it has been used by many presidents in the Oval Office, and undoubtedly represents the connection with Great Britain, America's sense of exploration, and the <b>determination </b>of our leadership.<br />
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If Captain Scott can keep writing in his diary with frostbite in his extremities and death looming, we can recover from a social gaffe, a campaign failure, or a bad job situation.<br />
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To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;<br />
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;<br />
   To defy Power, which seems omnipotent;<br />
   Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;<br />
This… is to be<br />
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;<br />
This is alone life, joy, empire, and victory.</blockquote>
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– Percy Bysshe Shelley, <i>Prometheus Unbound</i></div>
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Resoluteness in the Face of Adversity

Situation of the HMS Resolute in Baffin Bay by James Franklin (University of Melbourne) With the Arctic cold bearing down on much ...

Do You Want to Be Out in the Cold?

Do You Want to Be Out in the Cold?

An Arctic Scene by William Bradford, 1881 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons) The temperatures have dropped in many parts of the Uni...

Go Play Outside

Go Play Outside

The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Kate Greenaway, 1888 (Wikimedia Commons) How many times as children did we hear from our parents, or as p...

Emotionally Intelligent Leaders Do This One Thing

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We think we know Abraham Lincoln pretty well. The 16th president of the United States stands as one of the greatest leaders of all time -- one who guided us through the U.S. Civil War with wisdom and patience, while riddled with self-doubt.<br />
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He is on the penny and the five dollar bill. The Lincoln Memorial stands in a prominent place in Washington, DC. John Wilkes Booth made him a martyr; the Gettysburg address made his words immortal.<br />
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But before he was President he served a single term in Congress. After having sthis term, Lincoln returned to Illinois and considered himself a failure. <br />
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He had hoped that his service to the cause would have resulted in a presidential appointment in an important office, but was disappointed when it didn't happen.<br />
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During the next five years, he withdrew from public life and lost interest in politics.<br />
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But far from being an unproductive time, Lincoln threw himself into his legal practice and more importantly, into a prolonged period of intense "personal, intellectual, moral, and professional growth," as recounted by Doris Kearns Goodwin in <i><a href="https://amzn.to/2oxCGj6" target="_blank"><b>Leadership in Turbulent Times</b></a></i>. How did he do it?<br />
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Through tireless and honest self-examination. He knew that if he wanted to make an impact on the world, this effort had to be relentless and sustained: he needed "a willingness to confront weakness and imperfection, reflect upon failure, and examine the kind of leader he wanted to be."<br />
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The Abraham Lincoln we think we know is held to ideals of great wisdom, insight, and success. But becoming that Lincoln required a great deal of work.<br />
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The ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius said:<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"Learning without reflection is a waste. Reflection without learning is dangerous."</span></i></b></div>
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And he was right. What we contemplate helps us to determine a path forward. We all make mistakes -- in personal relationships, with co-workers, on projects -- it's part of being human. But if we fail to learn from those mistakes, we'll find ourselves making them over and over.<br />
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You've probably come across senior leaders who think they know everything, or those who belittle others, or who are inexperienced. But those aren't the most difficult clients to coach. It's the ones who won't take the time to reflect on themselves who are problematic.<br />
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<a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2018/09/emotional-intelligence-and-power-of.html" target="_blank">Emotional intelligence</a> consists partly of self-awareness, and you can't have self-awareness without self-reflection.<br />
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An <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/03/why-you-should-make-time-for-self-reflection-even-if-you-hate-doing-it" target="_blank">an article in the <i>Harvard Business Review</i></a>, Jennifer Porter wrote:<br />
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"Reflection gives the brain an opportunity to pause amidst the chaos, untangle and sort through observations and experiences, consider multiple possible interpretations, and create meaning. This meaning becomes learning, which can then inform future mindsets and actions."</blockquote>
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Abraham Lincoln's habit of self-reflection, taken up in 1849 following his defeat for a second term in Congress, formed the basis of what he needed during the Civil War.<br />
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For without the intense self-discipline to scrutinize himself, he would not have developed the habit that allowed him to block out the chaos of the early 1860s and take the counsel of his team of rivals that fueled his decision making during the war.<br />
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Even when we've failed—especially when we've failed—we need to be brutally honest with ourselves. For only then can we forge a path forward that shows us the gaps we need to fill and the strengths we need to play to.<br />
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Emotionally Intelligent Leaders Do This One Thing

We think we know Abraham Lincoln pretty well. The 16th president of the United States stands as one of the greatest leaders of all tim...

If You're Committed to Transformation, You Need Start Small

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Resolutions are hard. It's probably why we only make them once a year.<br />
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January is the natural time to do that, as we look to turn the page and make a change. But doing so requires a degree of self-awareness and an understanding of what we can realistically commit to.<br />
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Whether we're planning new campaigns, a daily routine, or a way to engage with our direct reports, building in new habits requires a set of gradual, rather than drastic, changes.<br />
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And waiting for the payoff requires patience.<br />
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Which can be difficult when Wall Street wants quarterly results and your boss wants this month's numbers.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.” </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">– Charles C. Noble</span></div>
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Changing behavior takes time. But it's the first step toward making broader changes that are essential for personal and business growth.<br />
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It's what will make teams think about each other differently and commit to working together in different and better ways.<br />
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It's what will pave the path for considering customer-centric approaches to experience design.<br />
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It's what will lead toward improved technology purchases.<br />
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But committing to that enterprise technology system out of the gate? That's a mistake. Because you haven't built the muscle memory through force of habit yet.<br />
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After all, Rome wasn't built in a day.<br />
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<i>Image credit: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giovanni_Paolo_Panini_%E2%80%93_Ancient_Rome.jpg" target="_blank">Imaginary Gallery of Ancient Roman Art</a> </i><i>by Giovanni Paolo Panini, 1757 (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)</i><br />
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If You're Committed to Transformation, You Need Start Small

Resolutions are hard. It's probably why we only make them once a year. January is the natural time to do that, as we look to turn...

Scott Monty - Strategic Communications & Leadership Advisor