Ken Ritley

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.