Author: kenritley

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: GET A BOUND NOTEBOOK AND A NICE PEN . . .

. . . and bring them with you to important meetings. It is not about looking old-fashioned, or rejecting laptops, or even about the notes themselves. It’s about the non-verbal signal you send: I’m professional, I’m serious, I’m going to capture the important information permanently.

This matters even more in meetings with senior stakeholders you do not see every day, often Gen-X or Baby Boomer decision makers who grew up in a time when a notebook in the room signaled commitment and follow-through. That impression still exists today.

In your first few months on the job these small signals add up. They help your more senior colleagues perceive your reliability, your maturity, and your professionalism.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: NAME YOUR FILES PROFESSIONALLY.

If I ask someone for a list of stakeholders and they send me “list.xls” it may contain brilliant information, but the name sends a strong non-verbal message that they may be lazy or careless with their work. It only takes seconds to name it “2026-03-Stakeholder-List.xls” or something equally clear and structured.

A good file name shows that you care about clarity, versioning, and long-term readability. In professional environments that small non-verbal action signals discipline and attention to detail. It also makes you stand out, because fewer and fewer people take the time to do this, and those who do are noticed immediately.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: WHEN EDITING POWERPOINT SLIDES IN A TEAM . . .

. . . never make changes without first making a copy of the original slide.

I learned this trick many years ago from a brilliant consultant and have been using it ever since. It is especially powerful when you make small changes, because your colleagues can quickly toggle between the versions and immediately see exactly what you edited.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: CHATS AND EMAILS . . .

. . . are two business tools for two separate purposes. Many students have never written an email, only read them, and so they don’t yet realize that email is a complicated tool that requires practice and experience to master.

CHAT is the right tool for ephemeral information sharing:

• Quick questions and fast clarifications
• Time-sensitive nudges (“Are you free?”, “Client is waiting”)
• Messages that don’t need to survive beyond today

EMAIL is the right tool for long-term storage and retrieval:

• Decisions, agreements, and commitments
• Summaries, briefs, attachments, and documentation
• Topics that must be searchable later

Using a chat when the situation requires an email creates chaos: nothing is recorded, nothing is clear. Using an email when the situation requires a chat creates delay: everything slows down. Choosing the right tool shows you are organized, respectful, and professionally predictable.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: WHEN JOINING A COMPANY PRETEND YOU ARE ON A STRANGE NEW PLANET . . .

. . . with lifeforms that think differently than you. Look carefully at the various leaders in your new company. Every generation has its own habits, comfort zones, and invisible expectations, not just around technology but also communication and, much more importantly, decision-making.

Manager Tools always says “communication is what the listener does.” Your success in the first months comes down to noticing how each group prefers information, matching their style, and communicating in ways that feel natural to them, not you. These small adjustments help senior colleagues see you as someone who understands the environment and is easy to trust.

And trust is not only what opens the first doors. It is the absolute foundation of business life. Without trust nothing moves. With trust, everything does.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: DESIGN YOUR POWERPOINT SLIDES FOR READING OFFLINE . . .

. . . not just for presenting live. To be provocative: students are taught rubbish. Big fonts, reduced text, clever transitions. And the biggest sin: videos embedded in presentations.

In the real world, chances are high that 95% of people will be reading your slides offline, not viewing them live. Any senior manager or executive will want a copy at least 24 hours before you present, sent as a PDF, which is exactly why videos are a no-go.

Hallmarks of a good presentation:

• Should be understandable and effective by reading alone
• The storyline is everything. Slides are not a list, they tell a story.
• Titles state the conclusion, not the topic
• 10pt fonts are fine. Executives prefer detail they can read over empty space.
• No gimmicky transitions, no videos

And something rarely taught: the role of backup slides. If a topic is important, it belongs in the backup after the main slides. A good backup answers questions before they are asked. I have seen top presentations with 8 main slides and 20 or more in the backup.

Remember, your real audience is not in the room. It is in the inbox.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: WHEN REPLYING TO AN EMAIL FROM AN AMERICAN YOU JUST MET . . .

. . . always use the name they used when they signed their email.

American professionals usually have two names in circulation: a formal version that appears on HR systems, diplomas, and legal documents, and the name they actually live by.

This short name is their public key: it tells you how they want you to address them, and it signals the level of warmth they’re offering. A “Hello Michael” response to “Best, Mike” rejects their invitation to engage on a less formal level. To an American that can feel jarring, taking a very abrupt step backward after they’ve taken a step forward.

If you know these unwritten rules you can navigate the cultural code effortlessly and build rapport faster with your US colleagues.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: RESPONDING TO EXECUTIVES AND SENIOR LEADERS . . .

. . . is not about impressing them but giving them what they need. Executives operate with extreme time pressure, high responsibility, and constant context-switching. They value clarity, calmness, and people who make their lives easier.

When dealing with executives, be CLEAR:

• Be Calm: executives want steadiness and emotional control, not people who amplify pressure or urgency.
• Be Lucid: executives want the core message immediately understandable, not mentally taxing to decode.
• Be Efficient: executives tune out rambling explanations and tune in to crisp, economical points.
• Be Accountable: executives expect a proposed path forward, not an ask for instructions.
• Be Reliable: executives judge you by consistent patterns of behavior, not isolated moments.

Every interaction with an executive is a chance to build trust. With trust everything moves. Without it, nothing does.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: WHEN REPLYING TO AN IMPORTANT EMAIL FROM AN IMPORTANT STAKEHOLDER . . .

. . . just type a “$” on the TO: line before you start editing.

Sometimes you make a mistake while typing and an email is sent before you are ready. This can be bothersome but it could also be embarrassing or even disastrous. By entering this character it guarantees, at least on many email clients such as MS Outlook, that the email won’t be sent until you remove it.

Most email clients will accept this, and you can save the email in the meantime. When you are finally ready to send, just remove this little send protection and go.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: WOULD YOU WRITE A PERSONAL EMAIL TO SOMEONE IN A LANGUAGE . . .

. . . that you knew they could not understand? Of course not. The idea of communication is to be effective, and you can’t be maximally effective if they cannot process the information you give them.

Manager Tools has taken this one step further, popularizing the so-called DISC model. According to this, people tend to have behaviors in a mix of four different categories: D = Dominant, I = Influence, S = Steadiness, C = Conscientious. If you know roughly what category a person is in you can communicate with them in a way that is maximally effective. I learned this approach many years ago, and once you learn it, you apply it without thinking.

Here is a good example. A senior executive replies to your first email: “Sally, great idea. Set up a meeting, BR Susan.” How do you think Susan will feel if she reads a reply such as “Dear Susan, I received your email and I want to thank you for the meeting… Best wishes, Sally.” Susan is a high D. She will feel an innate friction at unneeded politeness and verbiage.

It turns out this goes far further than just knowing the comfort zone where people communicate most easily. It’s about how you interact with them, how you motivate them, how you delegate to them, and how you give them feedback. And these are key factors in the business world if you want to get things done.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: WHEN SENDING OUT MEETING INVITATIONS . . .

. . . make sure they have descriptive titles. Rule: the reader should immediately know what the topic will be. “Meeting” or “Sync-Up” just won’t cut it.

Your colleagues’ calendars, and soon yours too, will be filled with so many meetings that being able to do a quick visual scan and understand the context is important, especially when some prep work is needed before a meeting.

As a college instructor I never fault students for not knowing these things. How could they? University life doesn’t “contaminate” you with dozens of overlapping appointments, client calls, steering committees, and project reviews.

Students: enjoy your freedom. Graduates: get ready for more “rituals” than you could ever imagine.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: WHEN WORKING ON YOUR POWERPOINT SLIDES IN A TEAM . . .

. . . use small labels to indicate who does what, and the status. I learned this trick many years ago from a brilliant senior leader, Felix Wirth, and it completely revolutionized how I worked.

Use a small label with the person the slide is assigned to, and use a label to indicate status: TO-DO, IN PROGRESS, DONE.

In this way, not only will each person see what they have to do, but also what everyone else is working on. And the overall lead will quickly see the status at a glance.

You might also find labels easier for communicating with each other. The review options in PowerPoint are painfully limited, and this simple system fills the gap.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: THE MOST POWERFUL QUESTION YOU CAN ASK IN ALMOST ANY SITUATION . . .

. . . “WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?”

For project managers: PMI emphasizes defining success early, because projects often fail when success is not explicitly defined. The IPMA ICB defines success relative to stakeholder expectations, not just time, scope, and cost.

For managers: Peter Drucker taught that effectiveness starts with clarifying objectives and outcomes. Kaplan and Norton showed that success extends beyond financial metrics. Kotter stresses the need for a clear vision of the desired end state.

For consultants: Firms such as McKinsey, BCG, and Bain routinely use outcome-defining questions like this in project kickoffs to align stakeholders.

But why does it work? “What does success look like?” is powerful because it activates multiple psychological mechanisms at once: it counteracts cognitive biases; it disrupts automatic behavior; it shifts people from habitual action to reflective goal-oriented thinking; and it forces perspective-taking by requiring individuals to articulate what success actually means.

Even Texans will agree: that dog’ll hunt. 🤠

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: WHEN WRITING EMAILS TO AMERICANS THINK TWICE ABOUT “DEAR SUSAN” . . .

. . . if you want to sound professional. Just ‘Susan,’ may be more appropriate.

In the DACH region we are raised with formal etiquette. Removing “Dear” feels naked or even rude. Americans might find it strange but when Europeans walk into a room it’s expected to greet everyone: “Grüss Gott” in Stuttgart, “Grüezi” in Zürich, or “Grüessech” in Bern.

But Europeans beware! In the US and international tech hubs “Dear” is an artifact of the 1950s and it makes you sound like a great-grandparent! To a fast-paced American executive “Dear Susan” may feel stiff, overly formal, and too slow.

The Email Greeting Reality Check:

• “Dear Bob,” The safe gold standard for first contact, but quickly becomes old-fashioned in a fast thread.
• “Bob,” The Power Move. In many cultures, starting with just a name and a comma feels like a reprimand. It’s blunt and cold, but for Americans it can be fine.
• “Hi Bob,” The modern bridge. Friendly enough for Europe and efficient enough for the US.

For US and European exchanges, mirroring what you see is generally a safe and recommended approach. But watch out for Asia, where relationships may be asymmetrical: they show you “benevolent closeness” but still expect “proper respect.”

The Golden Rule: When in doubt, be authentic to yourself.

And remember, your greeting isn’t just a formality. It’s the tone of your professional brand.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: CREATING PERSONALIZED MEETING MINUTES . . .

. . . is something that can take your professionality to the next level. I learned this trick from a brilliant CIO, Kimmo Koho, and it’s changed my life. No matter how small the meeting you’re in, follow it up with a reply that looks as shown.

Why does this work? Three reasons:

1. The template is dead simple. No app, no AI, just structure and discipline.
2. It forces you to listen differently: when you know you’ll be writing up notes, you start listening for what actually matters.
3. Speed is everything.

KEY POINT: Send it within 10 minutes after the meeting ends, or ideally before people sign off. That’s the moment it makes an impression. An hour later, nobody cares.

The real power isn’t in the notes themselves. It’s the non-verbal message you’re sending: it’s not a form, it’s me writing; I was prepared; I was paying attention; and I’m organized enough to follow up before you’ve even closed your laptop.

That says more about your professionality than any CV ever will.

ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: PLEASE LEARN THE BASICS OF EMAIL, OF WHICH THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS . . .

. . . either ACCEPT or REJECT calendar invitations. I’ll go out on a limb and say not just the majority but the overwhelming majority of my students don’t do this – and they probably have never done it.

Let me be very clear: a calendar invitation is not an FYI. It is not a notification. It is not an email you read and move on from.

A calendar invitation is a request for a commitment!

• ACCEPT means: I will be there, you can count on me.
• DECLINE means: I cannot make it, please find another time
• NO RESPONSE means: I don’t respect your time enough to click one button

That’s how every manager, client, and colleague you will ever work with reads it. Every single one.

And here’s even more damage you can avoid: your response is visible. When someone sends a meeting to six people, they can see who accepted, who declined, and who ignored it. Guess whose name stands out? Not in a good way.

Final point: declining is not rude, it’s professional. Add a one-line reason (“exam conflict, could we do Thursday?”) and you’ve just shown more professionalism than most people manage in their first year of work. Silence is what’s rude: it says, your planning doesn’t matter to me.

Build this habit now, before you enter a workplace where it actually costs you something.