MONKEYZ BLOG

These days we all seem to be in “crisis mode” 24×7, as though if we were to relax/lighten up for one second our lives would crumble around us. That’s just plain sad. I’m not suggesting that the country and the world don’t have some pretty serious problems (we do), but if we spend all of…

Halloween is not even here yet (less than a week and counting) and already Christmas and other Holiday decorations are making their way onto some of the larger retailer’s floors. ‘Tis the season, so to speak, which means it’s also time for all those inevitable news stories to begin popping up about how this group…

Without question, making your voice heard is important to the social and moral “health” of America. I’d hate to imagine where we’d be as a country (even as a world) without the right to speak and assemble freely. And yet, as people around the country “occupy” this and “occupy” that, I can’t help but wonder…

Often when we hear the term “PR,” we mistakenly think about advertising or press releases, items that companies and individuals use to send information. And, certainly those things are important components of any good PR effort. But PR is so much more. PR is a company’s voice to the people. Just consider the term itself.…

People are talking about you right now—your business, your products, your customer service. Can you afford not to listen? Better yet, how can you become part of the conversation so you can raise awareness of your brand and beef up your marketing efforts? Social media sites allow friends, colleagues, and acquaintances all over the world…

It would be easy these days to become so preoccupied with what’s going on in Washington DC (or “not” going on, for that matter), your state capital, or your local business environment, that you start to lose sight of the task at hand: to live well, love well, work hard, and make a difference in…

Setting proper expectations is often be the key to customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction, we all know is the key to referrals, retention, and repeat sales. Case in point—your client thinks he or she is getting a Cadillac, but what you’re able to deliver is a Ford Focus (my apologies for the analogy to all…

Do you ever feel like a lone voice in the wilderness? Or worse yet, do you fear voicing your beliefs or even living them because doing so wouldn’t be popular or in vogue? I know, sometimes, I do. Sometimes it’s just easier just to go with the flow, avoid confrontation, and be a “yes” man…

In life, we all have a start date. If you’re reading this week’s Blog you were probably born sometime before 1990, making you at least 21 years old (those were the days!). We all have an end date, too, but compared to birthdays and just about anything else, it’s never as much fun to talk…

For the past few weeks, I’ve focused on “entitlements,” mainly from the perspective of how some feel they’re entitled to something they’re not necessarily owed. Given recent events and the overall financial plight of our country, it shouldn’t take a simian with super intelligence to figure out why such thoughts were foremost in my mind.…

When you were little, I wager more than one adult asked you, “When you grow up, how are you going to change the world?” I was no different. I daydreamed often about how I was going to change things. I’d become president, be an astronaut, a doctor, or do something really cool, like act in…

The country’s financial ills aren’t going to fix themselves. We’ve got friends around the world, especially in Europe, hurting just as bad as (or worse than) us, and we’ve got enemies who would love nothing more than to see the United States crumble. And here at home, frankly, no matter what side of the political…

What do you do when times get tough, personally or professionally? Do you curl up in a ball and try to ride it out, hoping for the best, or do you take action? This King Monkey believes nothing’s going to happen unless you make it happen. Just as the military teaches soldiers to move when attacked, to initiate…

No doubt, actions speak louder than words. But what about attitude? Does attitude speak louder than words? A whole science (Neurolinguistics) has grown up around the study of language and how it affects the brain. This King Monkey is no expert on the topic, but it boils down to the notion of how you say…

Maybe it’s because most of us grew up glued to the TV set where issues resolved themselves neatly (complete with laugh track and/or dramatic music!) in 23 minutes for the typical half-hour sitcom, or 43 minutes for hour-long dramas, but “patience” seems in short supply these days. It’s like Freddy Mercury once crooned, “I want…

I wager that few of your high school teachers or college professors—and certainly not your Mom or Dad—told you years ago that your work day could be conducted poolside or reclining on the beach with friends and family nearby playing volleyball, grilling  steaks or veggie burgers, and sipping a few cold ones. Yet nowadays, especially…