​​​​Allison Harris

It seems that over the last year or so, so many writers and professional whom I admire talk about having "imposture syndrome." At the same time, on a daily basis I work with sales professionals, who are so often overly confident (probably a job requirement, though still annoying at times). A recent article in Quartz discusses a survey that reveals, "the most common problem people face is that they don’t feel confident." For decades, Western culture touted self-esteem. It got

I recently had my first baby, and I did not get particularly compelling maternity benefits. Some part of my business brain understood. A start-up needs to keep the lights on, but I also begrudged the short-sighted perspective. I was the first U.S. employee to have a baby, and was given the minimum that the law requires. I certainly did not come back from maternity leave feeling compelled to "lean in." Especially, as I see so many smart companies providing my peers with a bett

Today, when I read The Washington Post piece, "Scaramucci learned his press tactics from Wall Street. They’ll only get uglier.," I immediately recognized the tactics of some of my former bosses. "When a negative report was in the works, company representatives often called up the journalist writing it and tried to ingratiate themselves with a charming introduction and some light chitchat. The point was to humanize the people at the firm so that journalists would feel guilty r

Part of communications is both having good interviews to get a solid foundation as well as preparing others for public interviews. The Turnaround is a podcast interviewing great interviewers, such as Larry King, Terry Gross, Werner Herzog, Audie Cornish, Brooke Gladstone and Anna Sale. Host Jesse Thorn talks to admired professionals about their careers interviewing famous and non-famous people, and they share how they get the best from people for a compelling interview. And w

This news report of the new White House communications director makes me cringe. Anthony Scaramucci Called Me to Unload About White House Leakers, Reince Priebus, and Steve Bannon He started by threatening to fire the entire White House communications staff. It escalated from there. Scaramucci sounds like an impetulant child, and while I'm not intimately familiar with Reporter Ryan Lizza, I do believe his account. The White House has lost all communications credibility. This