Leigh Perkins

Leigh Perkins

Freelance marketing writer Leigh Brown Perkins firmly believes that building new skills and chasing new ideas should be a lifelong quest for all of us.

More from Leigh Perkins

Tips for Managing Virtual Teams Successfully

The coronavirus pandemic has left millions of well-trained managers the world over wondering if the rules of leadership designed for a collective workplace still apply. Like the times we live in, the answer is not straightforward. Some things about managing personnel remain the same, but many new challenges, both operational and emotional, have erupted in the work-from-home ecosystem. If you’re an executive or boss in charge of off-site employees, we invite you to embrace the conversion to distance-leading with our tips for managing virtual teams successfully.

Project Management, Leadership & Management

Choosing the Right Leadership Styles in Management

To be an effective leader, you must possess a management approach that aligns with your own personality, your team, and your organizational objectives. Whether you’re hiring for a top position or gunning for one yourself, it’s important to understand common leadership styles, how they affect day-to-day management of your organization, and what you can do to make the most of your attributes today to develop into a stronger leader tomorrow.  Follow this article to learn more about choosing the right leadership styles in management.

Leadership & Management

8 Study Tips to Pass the Microsoft Certification Exam

Think that using Microsoft applications from sunup to sundown means passing your certification exam is a sure thing? Even if you work on Microsoft platforms on a daily, professional basis, it would be almost impossible for you to know every function, every task the test will cover. That’s why it’s important to take test-prep seriously and use these 8 study tips to pass the Microsoft certification exam.

Business and Technology

6 Tips for Interviewing and Hiring Remotely

 Your company has gone completely virtual, and who knows if they’ll revert to the old normal even when the pandemic ends. If you’re hiring, you can adapt your recruiting process and adjust your HR priorities with these 6 tips for interviewing and hiring remotely.

Human Resources

How to Learn and Memorize Faster

Conventional wisdom says it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master any skill. Such deliberate care in learning new things is admirable, but you’re scheduled to sit for the SAT nine Saturdays from now and, come on, you also have a life. If you need to shorten the learning curve for your weaker test subjects, simply adapt clever techniques from memory champions and adopt their brain-boosting habits so you can learn and memorize faster.

Test Prep

How to Become a Freelance Project Manager

If you’re a project manager, or planning to become one, chances are your future employment will include independent contract work. According to a study published in January 2020 by Business Talent Group, project management is the top gig-worker skill employers are seeking. Here’s why now is a great time to move into independent contract work and get in on the outsourcing boom to become a freelance project manager. 

Project Management

Essential Books to Improve Leadership Skills this Summer

The most successful people in the world have one thing in common: They read. Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, and Barack Obama are all voracious readers, and it’s a good time for you to become one too. The long days of summer offer big blocks of reading time (poolside, perhaps?) and bookstores, libraries, and digital platforms are brimming with titles to inspire and empower you. If you’re ready to jumpstart your reading habit and your career, check out these essential books to improve your leadership skills this summer.

Leadership & Management

Project Management Jobs and Career Opportunities

Are you considering a career in project management, but think you’re limited to roles in tech, engineering, or construction? While those three industries have been the foundational fields for project managers, you’ll find your career options are wide open now, with challenging roles for generalists and specialists in creative, governmental, and science-based industries. You never know where you might find project management jobs and career opportunities, so let’s job-hunt!

Project Management

10 Tips to Help You Study for the LSAT

You’ve always dreamed of going to law school, so preparing for the LSAT is incredibly important to your future. Unlike college finals or other standardized tests, the LSAT is not a knowledge examination; it is a skills-based test. The only way to prepare for it is with dedicated practice over a long period of time. It sounds daunting, but you can make test prep a whole lot easier on yourself with 10 tips to help you study for the LSAT.

Test Prep

5 Apps to Help You Study for Test Day

Your preparation for standardized tests will be interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. No question about it. The lockdown has removed the possibility of enrolling in high-quality on-campus test prep courses and potentially will delay your scheduled test date. But you have an excellent emergency workaround: You can maintain social distancing while achieving your best score on any of the admission exams for undergraduate and graduate school when you use one (or more) of these 5 apps to help you study for test day.

Test Prep

9 Tips to Help Employees Working From Home (Without Distraction)

Working remotely? Even if you’re new to telecommuting or only did it occasionally before the coronavirus locked down your work life, you’ve probably already discovered how fascinating your laundry, the cat, Reddit, and that small thread dangling from your bedroom curtains can be when you’re supposed to be working. Follow our nine tips to help employees working from home (without distraction) and get your focus back!

Human Resources, Professional Development, Leadership & Management

Why Process Improvement Depends on Creative Thinking

If your organization has made great strides in its improvement program, but you’re still not delivering that string of innovations you expected, maybe your approach to Lean Six Sigma is missing a secret element – creativity. For even a black-and-white problem there could be a kaleidoscope of possible solutions. That’s why process improvement depends on creative thinking. Let’s look at how unleashing your imagination within the well-defined methods of quality improvement can help you achieve high-return breakthroughs.  

Process Improvement

Three Process Improvement Techniques to Boost Work Efficiency

When American business titan Jack Welch died March 1, 2020, it signaled a milestone moment to reevaluate the innovations that earned Welch Fortune magazine’s “Manager of the Century” title. Perhaps his most enduring legacy will be his early adoption of Lean Six Sigma Principles. If you’re ready to learn more about titan-worthy streamlining methods that you can apply to your own enterprise, explore three process improvement techniques to boost work efficiency and produce real results where you work.

Process Improvement

Movement, Mindfulness, and Motivation: How to Increase Employee Productivity

Building a more engaged, high-results staff could require a shift in traditional ideas about where, when, and how the workday should unfold. To help your team achieve improved outcomes and have less stress doing it, focus on three almost effortless improvements to the modern workplace: Movement, mindfulness, and motivation are how you can increase employee productivity and enhance your team’s everyday experience at work.

Human Resources, Professional Development, Leadership & Management

Are Cool Places to Work (with Wine, Yoga & Table Tennis) Changing Corporate Culture?

When your team meeting takes place around the foosball table or your office features a meditation studio for midday re-centering, there can be no question that the workplace is transforming into a more creative, active, human-focused environment. But what’s the business advantage of converting your office into an anti-office, part-time pool hall, part-time tasting room? Are cool places to work (with wine, yoga, and table tennis) really changing corporate culture? The answer might surprise you.

Human Resources, Leadership & Management

Office Design Tips for the Ideal Work Environment

Can a coat of paint in the break room inspire breakthroughs for sales? Can a row of sleek new desks motivate marketing to a metrics-smashing rash of creativity? Research suggests yes. Smart workplace design can do wonders for innovation, productivity, and employee morale. If you’re ready to learn how sprucing up your office can transform your whole team’s output and outlook, follow the experts’ office design tips for the ideal work environment.

Leadership & Management

How Developing Your Emotional Intelligence Supports Career Advancement

Your emotional quotient, or EQ, is unquestionably influenced by genetics and your personality, but it is in no way limited by them. Your EQ is a learnable, measurable set of skills you can improve for the benefit of your well-being and relationships. Practicing EQ-building skills is how developing your emotional intelligence can support your career advancement, too, by boosting your self-awareness, self-management, and people skills for a happier, more productive work life.

Professional Development, Leadership & Management

New ACT Test Changes Can Boost Students' Scores

High school students preparing for standardized college admission tests, we have exciting news: The ACT is making important updates to its exam that can save you time, money, and anxiety. Best news of all: The new ACT test changes can boost students’ scores. If you’re ready to make the most of the new ACT to achieve your best exam results, read on!

Test Prep

The Best Apps and Resources for Business Professionals

Does technology slice through your workplace like a double-edged sword? On the one side, it makes your job so much easier. On the other side, keeping up with the latest apps, gadgets, software, and networking options cuts into your schedule so relentlessly, it’s almost a second full-time job. To gain the benefits of tech without being overwhelmed by the innovations flooding the marketplace, we’ve curated a list of the best apps and resources for business professionals. These tried-and-true recommendations for your android or iPhone will sharpen your everyday operations, from payroll to office party invitations, no matter where business takes you. Ready to get scrolling? 

Professional Development

6 Tips for Process Improvement: Applying Lean Six Sigma at Work

Lean Six Sigma is among the most popular management strategies used by businesses worldwide, improving performance by blending the methodologies of LEAN and Six Sigma. If you’re not sure, though, how this synergized approach can help your organization reduce complexity and eliminate waste, explore our 6 tips for process improvement and begin applying game-changing Lean Six Sigma principles at your workplace to optimize value, quality, and efficiency.

Process Improvement

GRE Test Prep During Winter Break

It’s beginning to look a lot like GRE test-prep season. With a long, luxurious holiday break of two weeks or more coming on quickly, you finally have time to get serious about studying for the Graduate Record Examination – your entrance exam for graduate school. In just a few hours a day, you can really get the GRE ball rolling: identifying your weak spots, familiarizing yourself with the question types, and registering for a quality test-prep course. So, if you’re thinking about taking on GRE test prep during winter break, take our useful advice first, and then get set to ace that exam.

Test Prep

Benefits of Becoming a Paralegal

You may already know that the paralegal profession offers you the opportunity for a challenging and well-respected career, but there are additional advantages to the field you may not have considered. If you’re contemplating a career change or you’re seeking a promotion within the legal field, now is a good time to weigh the many personal and professional benefits of becoming a paralegal.

Paralegal Certificate

6 Tips for Delegating Effectively in Project Management

When you’re a project manager, your first task is to give up the notion that you can take on and take credit for every project that crosses your desk. Your goal is to gain authority and efficiency, perhaps counterintuitively, by becoming less caught up in the day-to-day. In short, you must become a master of delegation. If letting go feels like giving in, think through these 6 essential tips for delegating effectively in project management and you’ll be on your way to helping your team take the reins and get more projects across the finish line.

Project Management

5 Reasons Strong Legal Writing Is Important for Paralegals

Almost all legal work depends upon the written word, so paralegals must know how to draft flawless and persuasive submissions to the court, emails to clients, internal memorandums, wills, resolutions, contracts, and other legal filings. Your writing tasks will be varied, but each document will be critical to the success of your cases and to your firm's communications. If you’re considering a career as a paralegal, you should know the top 5 reasons strong legal writing is important for paralegals.

Paralegal Certificate

What Does a Leader Look Like? Identifying Real Leadership Qualities

If you’re reading this post about leadership qualities, you already possess one of the key traits of a leader, which is introspection. Your curiosity about the topic indicates a self-awareness to reflect on your personality, choices, and motivations, and compare them to the ideal. But that’s just one essential characteristic. What are the others? What does a leader look like? Identifying real leadership qualities is more complex than compiling a simple Top 10 list; it’s a subtle but balanced interweaving of hard and soft power traits, meshed with technical skills flexible enough to meet the demands of the marketplace of the future.

Professional Development, Leadership & Management

How to Choose the Right Business Process Improvement Methodology

Improving your competitive advantage is always your top business priority. One of the most effective ways to accomplish this is to focus on the quality of your organization’s processes. But with so many competing claims about process improvement methodologies, you may be unclear about which one will have the most impact. Let’s evaluate which approach will work best for you by narrowing down how to choose the right business process improvement methodology for your goals.

Process Improvement

Top 5 Reasons You Should Earn a SHRM Certification

Training for and achieving a professional certification from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is an invaluable tool as you build or expand your human resources career. SHRM certification is a distinction that indicates to your employer you have achieved a high level of HR knowledge and skills, as well as an understanding of the strategic importance of HR to your organization’s success. When your résumé features those SHRM letters, followed by CP and/or SCP, you’re sending the message that you’re serious about your HR career. Earning a SHRM credential does require time and focus. If you’re not sure about making the commitment right now, consider our ranking of the lucrative, career-changing, and personally empowering top 5 reasons you should earn a SHRM certification. 

Human Resources

5 Reasons to Become a Project Manager

Your first informal role as a project manager can often happen organically on the job, when your boss notices your technical and organizational skills and asks you to run a project. Maybe you’ve been successful coordinating a one-off assignment to manage a product launch or a sales conference. Perhaps you merely have a hunch you’d be good at it given half a chance. Or it’s possible you have become your team’s de facto handler to guide complicated plans to completion — all great starting points for a project manager. But if you have not yet seriously evaluated the career benefits of formalizing your role through training and certification, this is a very good time to consider the top 5 reasons to become a project manager.

Project Management
View more