Cornerstones features the writings of Jennifer StJohn and the Fusion Group editorial team. Enjoy these insightful and engaging essays for a different take on business, life and the pursuit of success and serenity.
The Eyes Have It – A Matter of Life and Death
“Why do we practice this eye contact stuff with such dedication? When — in real life — will we ever require anything so tortuous?” It’s a lament of many students encountering “Presenting for Results!®” for the first time… or the second… or the third…
Welcome to Real Life — which is — as it turns out — remarkably tortuous, dangerous, life threatening, duplicitous and fraught with disaster at every turn — at least when you leave Malibu…
In
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The Unseen Power of Transitions
“And We’re back!”
-Johnny Carson
American Television Personality and Entertainer
Host of “The Tonight Show” for thirty years
(1925 – 2005)
And we’re back, from a relished break; borrowing Johnny Carson’s
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Small Thing? Big Thing!
“Sometimes a small thing can become a big thing…”
– J. R. St.John
Deep in the throes of a series of finals presentations, we — on the receiving side — had a complex matrix of decision items to consider and we were tuned up pretty seriously, looking for the smallest detail upon which to award an incremental advantage — or to take one away.
The pitching teams were in their
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Broken Compass
“Look Within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will bubble up if thou wilt ever dig!”
– Marcus Aurelius
The Indications
GM, McKinsey, Volkswagen. All part of the international economic firmament; and each one undergoing painful ethics audits and self-evaluation.
GM for installing faulty ignition
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Dusty Trauma Elementary School
“Many of our adult fears were forged in the arena of elementary school.”
– J.R. St.John
Most of our unhappy considerations about the arts of presentation and argumentation emerge from the distant, dusty traumas of Elementary School. Amazingly, we all seem to have experienced the same litany of indignities; the
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