I lost my composure during a phone call.

It was 2:30 on a Friday afternoon. Six hours after I left a message at my Doctors office I called again. Since I had not received a call back and the pharmacist had not received my prescription, I was afraid the matter wouldn't be handled before they closed for they weekend.

The on-call doctor had prescribed painkillers and an MRI for my injured back.

When you run your own business you are your own master and your own slave.

There are always more things to do than you have the time or money to manage. How you are able to cope with this situation determines whether you have a chance of becoming a successful business owner.

Two opposing styles cause the most problems. One is doing everything your master demands of you.

A manager who coaches others needs to provide feedback that keeps them focused and on track. Feedback is also a critical element for working out relationships with coworkers, friends and family members. Unfortunately, "feedback" can become a euphemism for not very constructive criticism.

Feedback can and should be a way of helping another person become more effective.

Janet's career as a software engineer appeared to be stalled. She completed each low level assignment competently, but felt ineffective in team meetings. When Janet asked for more challenging work, she was ignored, while other team members made similar requests and got the choice assignments.

Janet struggled along as best she could and tried hard to support others and be a good team player.

Do you have the experience of feeling accepted, cared about, and important when you are with others, or are you worried about being rejected, forgotten, or abandoned?

Probably, like most of us, you feel comfortable and secure in some situations, and insecure and a little scared in others. A lot probably depends upon how connected you feel to the people you are with, and your past experiences with them.

Yvonne, an executive, feels paralyzed by her boss' new rules that require her to get approval for even the smallest expenditures. Yvonne is also representing her company in merger negotiations. The potential partner considers her boss expendable, and has asked her to stick it out until their process is complete. The negotiations are going slowly. She wonders whether to get out now or stay on, hoping things will change.

In a survey of 40,000 Americans, 93% of them admitted to lying regularly at work.

When members of an organization hide the truth from each other it sets the stage for distrust, lowered productivity, poor decisions and frustration. On the other hand, to quote a police investigator, "If you tell the truth too bluntly, you get your ass in trouble!"

Creating an atmosphere where speaking and hearing the truth is valued and practiced takes deliberate attention.

It's easy to break agreements. It is especially easy to blow off agreements when you feel overwhelmed and overworked.

After all:
You have way more work to do than time to do it in.
You keep putting off important tasks in order to put out fires.
You don't have the information you need to complete the task at hand.
You have a large stack of business cards you collected while networking.

When you're the one who must deal with conflict you know what to do?

If you're an executive, manager or human you resource professional, managing conflict is probably part of your job. So is recognizing when hidden conflict is the source of a problem.

The very word conflict has a negative impact on most people: you associate the word with war, destruction, hostility and pain.

If you are going to help people resolve conflict, you should be aware of potential pitfalls that can undermine the entire process.

The most dangerous pitfall is that your clients may expect you to single-handedly design and implement a solution that will fix everything. The next most dangerous pitfall is for you to try to meet those expectations.