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Writing about New Year’s resolutions is so yesterday.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

I bet it WAS just yesterday when you resolved to lose the 5, 10, or 20 pounds you’ve gained over the last year. Maybe you are promising to go to the gym three times a week; then you’ll run three miles a day. Quit swearing. Start learning a new language. Book the trip to Paris you’ve been wanting to take. The list is endless and differs from person to person. They all seem easy enough. Just one little hitch: you have to START. BEGIN. COMMENCE, just like the new year. As Nike says: “Just do it.”

Personally, I know what I’m going have to do. I’m going to change it up and focus on resolving to simplify and abound.

I am going to start by de-cluttering my office. Touch a piece of paper once, and dispose or file. Better yet, try to lose the paper and use the cloud.

When I have a dinner party, I am not going to prepare my signature 5 course Bobby Flay meal, which requires shopping at 4 designer food stores and many hours of prep. I love doing it, but isn’t a Tex Mex party featuring Ina Garten’s 30 minute chili just as fun for getting people together?

Lastly, I am going to just say no more often to technology: to opening up my Facebook page whenever I want to sneak a peek, to answering my emails like an internet ninja, to texting like a banshee the moment I hear the ding of my smartphone. I know that those distractions will simplfy my life. For sure.

As for abounding (root word for abundance), Merriam Webster defines abound as: to be present in large numbers or in great quantity; to be prevalent. Yeah, that’s what I want. I want to have an abundance of love, hope, family, friends, clients and good will. I’ve decided that if I simplify my business and my life, then I will prevail and 2015 will be abundant.

Happy New Year!

Here is my interview on WNYJ’s Community Impact, as we discuss The Intergenerational Workforce.

We discuss how all companies want to be productive, but only a few know that how their employees communicate (or not) affects their productivity and eventually their bottom line. With an unprecendented five generations in the labor force today ranging from the Millennials to seniors – companies have to understand and define what communication style will work for each generation and the organization itself.

SusanAscher.com
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The Ascher Group
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Business Strategist And Serial Author Interviewed On Regional Television
-Susan Ascher discusses the strategic use of communication to enhance a company’s productivity and profitability-

Short Hills, NJ — Susan P. Ascher, Founder, President and CEO of SusanAscher.com, The Ascher Group and The Sphere of Excellence in Communication ™, was recently interviewed on WNYJ Television’s “Community Impact Show” to discuss the role communication will play in 2015 to increase a company’s productivity and profitability.
In an over-arching interview on “Community Impact,” with Host, Jay Trelease, Susan discussed leadership and the communication conundrum existing in today’s companies. With an unprecedented five generations in the workforce – success will be determined by aligning and combining each generation’s unique communication style. Companies cannot succeed in a world with Millennials texting, Gen Yers e-mailing, Baby Boomers telephoning and Seniors holding out for face to face communication. With Gen Z on the horizon, the communication conundrum needs to be addressed sooner than later, and SMART, SOPHISTICARD, SUCCESSFUL companies are already doing that.
Please click here to watch to the entire interview.
WNYJ-TV is a non-commercial educational, independent television station which carries programming from MHz WorldView, a non-commercial television network owned by Virginia-based Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation.

A serial author, Susan’s newest book, Dude, Seriously, Get Your ASK in Gear!, was just published (2014) and is a compilation of chapters on what we as leaders need to ask ourselves to succeed and stay relevant in The Digital Age. It continues the success of her first book, Dude, Seriously, It’s NOT All About You!, (published 2011), her rant on protocol and communications in the 24/7 nanosecond New Millennium.
Background:
Susan P. Ascher helps her clients differentiate themselves to stand out in business and in life. She speaks to business executives, business owners and professionals in career transition on how to best showcase their skills and the proven value of networking through golf.
A sought after national media resource, Susan has been interviewed on Bloomberg, ABC, NBC, CNBC, News 12 NJ, News 12 NY and My9TV and is a frequent commentator on TV 8 in Vail, Colorado. She presents workshops at universities throughout the country such as Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., Colorado Mountain College in Edwards, Colorado, William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey and Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, New Jersey. She has been published in Forbes magazine, Crain’s New York Business, The Star-Ledger, NJBIZ and New Jersey & Company magazine.
Susan is a recipient of numerous awards from the Inc. 500, to Small Business Person of the Year, to Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year as a four time finalist. Most recently, she was named a Leading Woman Entrepreneur and Business Owner of New Jersey.
For additional information, please contact [email protected].

This past November 21, 2014 I talked to Lisa Singer on Women’s Radio Network’s Open Forum and answered her questions about my new book, “Dude, Seriously, Get Your ASK in Gear!”.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my loyal clients, friends, and fans! I love the word Thanksgiving. It’s made of of something I try to practice every day: being thankful and giving. Sometimes it’s a thank you for the mundane, like to the waiter who refills your water glass before you ask. Sometimes it’s being thankful that a friend or relative conquered a disease they were fighting. And sometimes it’s just being thankful for all of the things we take for granted: our family, friends, the roof over our heads, our jobs, and of course, the fact that we get to celebrate all the abundance that we so often take for granted. On the other hand, the giving piece might mean collecting food for your local community food bank, or helping serve in a soup kitchen. For others it’s donating time or money to a charity for those less fortunate then we. Think about what Thanksgiving really means and express your gratitude in celebration of this wonderful holiday by thanking and giving to those around you!

Did you ever hear the phrase “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar”? Translation: treating people well never goes out of style.

A couple of months ago, I was driving down a major highway in the pouring rain. Even though I was running late for my meeting, I was not speeding. When I changed lanes to get out of the way of a Mack truck who was riding herd on my tail lights, I was shifting gears (yes, I drive a stick shift), and a state trooper came up from behind. As the lights on his car started twirling, my heart started racing, and sure enough, it was me he was pulling over. UGH.

I rolled the window down and the first words out of my mouth were, “I’m so sorry officer, what did I do”? He was very nice and responded: “I think you were texting and driving.” “Oh, no Sir”, I replied, “I was shifting gears to get out of the way of the truck who was tailgating me, and I must have looked down for a moment.” Registration and insurance IDs were produced, and after a few minutes, he came back and very kindly told me he was giving me a warning, and to just be more careful.

Which leads me to using please and thank you. How hard is it to insert please before ordering your morning joe at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? And why is it even harder to say thank you? In our haste to get where we have to be or get what we what to have, we sometimes forget to the niceties in life. The reality is, being considerate of other’s feelings, whether it’s I’m sorry, or please and thank you, good manners never go out of style.

I am not suggesting we can always find our way out of a situation by apologizing, but I guarantee hostile confrontation never diffuses a situation. When you do something wrong, or you hurt someone’s feelings, try saying “I’m sorry”. Not only is it healing to both parties,it allows you and the person you apologized to move on with dignity. As far as please and thank you, we can never say enough please and thank yous to the people who serve us, like us or love us.

Give theses phrases a try. Hopefully there will be more pleases and thank yous than I’m sorrys. Doesn’t matter, as long as long as you start practicing!

The ad campaign for Coke in the 20’s was, “It’s the Pause That Refreshes”. Kind of like stopping to smell the roses. Just like Kevin Cashman states in his book “The Pause Principle” we need to go slower to go faster. We need to stop to move ahead. We need to pause to reflect.

So often I find myself coaching my clients to pause, stop and reflect. To embrace serendipity. To be more spontaneous. And always, to seize the moment, all with the end goal being the ability to start something new, create something different, or gain the clarity required to push forward. Sometimes it’s a simple walk in the park, a yoga class, or a bubble bath. Other times it’s an all out escape from the day to day business of life. Now, here I was, deciding whether I would take my own advice.

Ok. I’m not going to lie. On the first of the month, I called a friend to schedule a book signing at a club that I used to be a member of out in Colorado. I asked Hanna what was new exciting and she told me that she and a small group were going on a trip to Napa and Sonoma, and why don’t I join them? When I asked the departure date, she said the 12th,of same month. The brain went into high gear. How could I figure this one out, I asked myself?

Having just come off a whirlwind of appointments, engagements and program development, I looked at the calendar and realized that if I could move a few things around that week, (which included a Monday holiday), I might actually be able to swing it.

Here I was, foodie, gourmand and wine connoisseur, being offered the opportunity to spend time in an intimate group setting of friends, in a beautiful place, which I hadn’t visited in 20 years. More importantly, I could take some time to refresh, re-create and pause to reflect.
I did what I always do when I have a significant choice to make. I slept on it, and the next morning I called Hanna and shouted out a big YES to her!

What came out of that pause that refreshed was being in a beautiful place, fun and laughs with friends,lots of great wine tastings,and tons of delicious meals with fodder for my own entertaining. Best of all, the pause that refreshed stoked the creative fire that gave me my idea for the title of the third book of my Dude trilogy. It was worth the journey 3000 miles west, just for that.

As Dr. Steve Kussin of CBS New York recently said: “Consequences are what follow as a result of particular actions.” He refers to the fact that while we are busy getting our kids into the right colleges, and in some cases, nursery schools, grammar schools and high schools, we are sorely lacking in helping them become independent, forward thinking adults, who can make good decisions, so that they can become contributing members to society.

Anyone who knows me, knows how close I am with my daughter, Sam. They also know the challenges that I, like almost every parent, face when it comes to raising an independent human being. From the time Sam brought in her first self-made art project in Kindergarten, an animal which…I don’t know what she called it… it was an orange with two cloves for eyes and a piece of apricot for the mouth… to most recently, when she moved out to Denver and landed her first job post college, with no prospects at the time btw, and only her meager savings, her mantra has always been: I can do it all by myself!

In hindsight, Sam HAS done it all by herself, and much like Frank Sinatra, she has done it HER way. Not always the easy way, sometimes the risky way, but always with her parents giving her the tools and setting the boundaries. It’s not easy and NEVER fun! Really? It’s fun telling your 15 year old kid they can’t go out on a Friday night because they did something inappropriate and now you have to listen to the whining and begging until the boundaries open up again? I THINK NOT! Teaching your kid the consequences of her actions….be they good or bad: THAT is our responsibility as parents.

We need to start worrying a little more about our kid knowing right from wrong, understanding that the company they keep is a reflection of who they are and where they are going, and that every action has a reaction: positive or negative.

Pushing your kid to be the the best athlete with the highest grades is great. But only if she realizes that every decision she makes in life has consequences. And being able to make good decisions in life is the true key to success.

Inspiration for this blog post:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-gilman/harvard-schmarvard-why-ge_b_5896976.html

There are certain people we just assume will be with us forever. We see them as immortal, ubiquitous, omnipresent. Joan Rivers was such a person. Her death came too early, and even in death, she celebrated life. When she went out she did it with the same nerve and verve that made her the ICON that she was and is.

When the word came out last Thursday that Joan had left us, I was stunned and sad. I wasn’t ready to lose her. Not that she was ever my friend, but as her life story unfolds, I realize how many lives she touched, how many people she connected with, how gracious and well-mannered she was, how much adversity she had to overcome in her life, and how much I could relate to her. And this is NOT about me. DUDE, SERIOUSLY. It’s about the fact that Joan stood for much of what I believe in. (Except maybe the plastic surgery.)

Joan was FUNNY. Something many of us are afraid to be.We need more humor in this crazy VUCA (volatility,uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) world we live in. Get over yourself and make someone LAUGH OUT LOUD.

Joan was a CONNECTOR: not just with studio execs and the rich and famous, but with everyone she came into contact with, from the taxi cab driver to the girl on the street.

Joan was GENUINE. WARM. APPROACHABLE. She was never a legend in her own mind. You can see this in any of her interviews. She never tried to outdo, impress or put down others, unless she was part of the put down, and could make you laugh while so doing.

Joan had GOOD MANNERS.  Betty Halbreich, her friend and personal shopper at Bergdorf Goodman remembers her treating everyone like they were special and important, and that Joan wrote thank you notes as a matter of course when someone had given her a gift or had done something special for her. She used her words: Please. Thank you. I’m sorry. And she meant them.

Joan was a master of OVERCOMING ADVERSITY. Three months after Fox cancelled her show, her husband committed suicide. With no partner to lean on, and no paycheck coming in, she started her own highly successful line of jewelry and handbags on QVC. When people asked her how she did it, she said simply: when I see a door, I open it. Good advice for all of us who are stuck, whiny or ungrateful for what we DO have.

LIFE. She lived it with the axiom YOLO. Look it up if you don’t know it by now.

RETIREMENT was not in her vocabulary. Retire from what? She started everyday with a purpose and a calendar full of events: from stand up shows and guest appearances, to lunches, dinners and parties with her family and friends, her social and business calendars were a whirl of living life to the fullest.

To quote Joan: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is God’s gift, that’s why we call it the present.”

Thank you for making me laugh until I cry Joan.I will miss you, your verve, your nerve and your authenticity.

R.I.P. Joan Rivers