For many people, the word "no" is an impossible one to use.

We want to make other people happy, so it can be difficult to say no to family and friends. It's also hard to say no to a career opportunity or to a co-worker that wants your help.

But sometimes in life, it's necessary to put your foot down.

Learning to be a little bit selfish can be a good thing, and it can help boost you in ways you never thought possible.

See how these 5 benefits to learning how to say no can improve your productivity and quality of life.

Wouldn’t it be great to know ahead of time what questions you were going to be asked in an interview?

In a recent post, we outlined the 6 questions that a candidate should never ask during a job interview. This week, we wanted to hear the interviewing process from an HR perspective so for our segment, Ask an HR Guru, we reached out to a diverse group of HR professionals to ask: What is your go-to interview question?

HR Gurus are the ones on the frontline that directly interact with your people and continuously work to make a difference in your organization day in and day out. The tight-knit HR community is comprised of passionate HR Gurus who are committed to grow as independent professionals, but also dedicated to learning new ways in which they can help improve their people and organizations.

As we prepare for the Super Bowl, we all have a tough decision to make- which team should I root for?

The two teams playing in the Super Bowl are arguably the best two teams in the NFL this year. However, there is a lot of time, coaching, and leadership that goes into building a championship team.  

Behind all great teams is a well-thought-out strategic plan and leaders that have a proven methodology to attract, retain, and engage top players. 

The same holds true in the workplace, and a solid strategic plan starts with establishing your employer brand through mobile apps, social media, and career sites such as Glassdoor and CareerBuilder. These are just a few ways in which you can reach more individuals to expand your talent pool.

This blog, Beware of These Three Leadership Traps, was originally posted by Wally Bock, Three Star Leadership, on April 13, 2017.

SNAP!!

When the trap closes, it’s too late to do anything. In the physical world, we set traps for other things like mice and pantry moths. Leadership traps are more insidious because you set them for yourself and when they spring, it’s too late. Here are three of the most dangerous leadership traps.

This blog, Leadership: Create a Great Working Environment for Your Team, was originally posted by Wally Bock, Three Star Leadership, on March 28, 2017.

If you’re responsible for the performance of a group, then you’re a boss. And, your challenge is to create a great working environment for your team. Fortunately, we know what a great working environment looks like.

This blog, 3 Secrets of Better Performance Conversations, was originally posted by Wally Bock, Three Star Leadership, on February 23, 2017.

We can laugh about it today. My new neighbor had just moved in across the street and, because he was new, he parked in just the perfect spot to block me from getting out of my own driveway. When I headed across the street, I was sure we were going to have a pretty good dust-up. I was ready. Imagine a fierce look and a clenched jaw.

This blog, The Secret of Great Leadership, was originally posted by Wally Bock, Three Star Leadership, on February 9, 2017.

This blog, How To Avoid Becoming an Awful Boss, was originally posted by Wally Bock, Three Star Leadership, on February 2, 2017.

Most of the nicknames we had for my worst boss ever are not suitable for a workplace-friendly blog. Most of the time, we referred to him by the initials “SA,” which stood for “Sir Awful.” Sometimes the people who worked for him would substitute another A-word for “awful.”

This blog, 3 Ways Excellent Leaders Keep Getting Better, was originally posted by Wally Bock, Three Start Leadership, on January  5, 2017.

Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi used to say that you should chase perfection even though you know you’ll never catch it because if you chase perfection you will catch excellence. He left something out.