How to Combat Bad Reviews

Voicing one’s opinion online can become a bloodsport on occasion and nowhere is this more true than in the realm of online reviews. Opinions matter, at the very least insofar as they affect your business, and ensuring that you manage your online reputation is more important than ever before. Negative reviews are going to happen. You can’t please all the people all of the time. What’s key however is making sure that they do not influence a lot of your audience, and...

A client once responded to one of my questions by saying, “Oh Greg, I am too busy living to think about life!” His off-the-cuff comment named a trap all of us fall into sometimes. In just one example, it is easy to become so consumed in our careers we fail to really think about our careers.

To avoid this trap, I suggest carving out a couple of hours over the holiday break to follow these simple steps for reflecting on your career.

Step 1: Review the last 12 months. Review the year, month by...

Nearly all businesses at some point feel the allure of producing what is now commonly referred to as an ‘E-Blast.’ You have your e-mail list all fired up and ready to go, so let’s just take a look at few statistics: 140 BILLION E-MAILS ARE SENT EVERY DAY, and there are ONLY 7 BILLION PEOPLE ON EARTH. That means on average each single person on this planet is receiving 20 emails daily! If you took away from that those who don't even have access to a computer of any sort, that number...

Otto von Bismarck is attributed with saying, “Fools say that they learn by experience. I prefer to profit by others experience.”  Therefore, I hereby give you the opportunity to profit from my foolishness.

So, here are the criteria you ought to use when hiring... (do as I say, not as I do)

1. Are They Willing to Admit to Mistakes?  Nothing is more irritating and disruptive to an organization than people who cannot & will not admit to their own shortcomings. We all make them and if we cannot...

I've been an employee for the last 26 years. I've been an employee, effectively rising through the ranks of very successful companies. Most recently, I was a highly valued, recognized employee of a $1B+ multi-national that was a leader in its field.

Oh yeah...and I was pushed out. With no explanation. Just business, they say. Gotta cut some costs. So we let a few people go and scoot around some chairs on the deck of the Titanic. (Way to be bold!)

Immediately I set about "finding" a new job....

Steven Sinofsky, Board Partner with Andreessen Horowitz, recently shared his thoughts on the impact of new technologies...and on the sure signs that you are deploying them WRONG. So many of these struck a chord with my recent experience, that I couldn't help but share...lol...ENJOY!!! (or cringe, as the case may be...)

1. Spend more time summarizing or formatting a document than worrying about the actual content. Time and time again, people over-invest in the production qualities of a work...

1. Let the company be what the company wants to be.
2. Don't worry about the details until the details matter. Keep moving. Send the email. What will be will be. A word here or there doesn't matter that much. Worrying about the details before you even know if there will be details to deal with is a waste of time. It's all written in the stars.
3. The big decisions and grinding are what matters. Big decision: our Chairman Ken Lerer strongly felt BuzzFeed needed to go into hard news. That big...

The face of business has lost something over the years. As the world became more corporate, the big picture took over and much of the personal touch was lost. This effect can be seen beyond business and even into our personal lives. I call this “The Front Porch Theory.” The front porch has disappeared from many houses and thus so has the interaction with our neighbors. People have substituted this direct relationship with TV and the internet. I believe the basic longing for the one-on-one...

I've always been a bit of an entrepreneur. I guess I've always thought we all are at some level, though maybe some are missing a chromosome making them genetically incapable.

Its difficult to define exactly what it means to be an entrepreneur. A dictionary definition is easy. But defining the truly differentiating factors is not so simple nor objective.

It's Really NOT about the money...

Everyone thinks the entrepreneur is driven by money...but for the truly successful and fulfilled...

Career choices always come with a bit of compromise. We've all heard, "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.", whether or not it was really Confucius who first said it. And it is a great quote because it succinctly describes a goal we all dream about. For most of us it remains elusive, as our career paths combine luck (good or bad) with serendipity...but little more.

So truly CHOOSING what we are going to do every morning when we rise is a joy that...

Whether in the office or on the road, I’m often asked about leadership and my personal set of management principles. With that in mind, I thought I would share a checklist that I’ve presented to HP leaders, outlining the fundamental questions I want our teams asking themselves every day. These five questions are extremely straightforward, but that’s the point – no company can succeed in executing its bold strategies if the basics aren’t being taken care of.

Question 1: Do you know your...

"You canÂ’'t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”

What a very blunt, real, big-picture, if somewhat humanistic, perspective! Way too often we spend time focused on the rearview mirror instead of dreaming about what is ahead. Whether fear, lack of confidence, or resistance to change restrains us, we must...

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers share how they turned setbacks into success. Read all their stories here.

I once read that four of the main triggers of depression are losing your job, moving out of your home, divorce, and the death of a family member or close friend. In 1996, I was four for four.

I had lost Mesa, the company I had founded and led through four decades. My 24-year marriage was ending in a nasty divorce, and I had moved out of my house into a...

A recent survey found that Southwest Airlines had the best customer service in the airline industry and they deserve it. Want proof? Just call them to cancel a flight — they’ll do it without a charge. Now try the same with some of the other airlines and you could pay up to $300. Want more proof? Just listen to this hilarious Southwest flight attendant go over her flight’s safety procedures. I wish all airlines could be like them.

But let’s not complain. In 1927 it took Charles Lindbergh 33...

We’ve all heard about the marketing segments called “yuppie, metro-sexual, millennials, etc.” but we’ve probably not heard of the segment called YUMmies. Young Urban Males, dubbed “Yummies” by HSBC, is a segment, really. And big brands have made noticeable shifts to target this segment, including Burberry, Tumi, Michael Kors, according to this recent article from BusinessWeek.

There may be a number of reasons why we are only hearing about this now.

Desperately Seeking a New Segment

Metrose...