"Practicing "active listening" is a good way to improve your listening skills.

"But for us little guys — the companies who hire dozens instead of hundreds; the start ups looking to change the world with team members who are equal parts talented and passionate; the tribes where each new person immediately sends ripples through the culture — we read every cover letter, and make our interview decisions based on them.

"Want to make sure everyone knows the critical role your team or group plays?

You can’t control every variable, but it helps to be aware of the sometimes surprising factors that can influence who gets hired and who doesn’t.

Find out what employers can and cannot ask about you during the recruiting process.

Take action to keep public speaking anxiety under control.

Garr Reynolds brings Zen design instincts to his advice for visual design.

Whenever you can, get the audience involved in the development of your presentations.

"As entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders, self-awareness is essential to your success.

"Do you procrastinate?

"As soon as something goes wrong in our lives, we as humans tend to fall into negative thinking patterns.

Don’t make these common mistakes on your website.

Robert Wynne (photo, left) explains.

"In today's high-tech, high-speed, high-stress world, communication is more important then ever, yet we seem to devote less and less time to really listening to one another.

The career expert Alison Doyle offers advice and message templates to help you handle these uncomfortable messages.

"Diversity is among the most critical issues and opportunities we face today.

"Jesse Rieser's memories of growing up in Springfield, Missouri in the 1990s unfold against a familiar retail backdrop: storming the aisles of Toys R Us with his brother; meeting friends at the mall to flirt with girls and play videogames; hunting new bands in the CD racks of Best Buy," writes Laura Mellonee in a piece at Wired.

"The Zeigarnik effect can do something stunning when we scatter our attention and let our mind wander.

"When the pressure is on, why do we sometimes fail to live up to our potential?

"No matter how much we try to work with others and get along, the time comes when we can’t agree.

"Many of us have had to battle the specter of arrogance at one time or another.

Alice Boyes lays out the problem and the solution in an article at The Harvard Business Review blog.

"Let's face it - almost everyone has irrelevant jobs on their work history.

"Businesses can only operate as effectively as they can communicate.

"Most of us begin our careers working through the ranks of people executing tasks -- early success comes from correctly completing work while focusing on quality, time and budget.