Is there anyone you're trying to get through to today?



Mark Goulston, M.D. specializes in helping people to get through to anybody, anywhere, anytime.

He has trained FBI/police hostage negotiators, been a UCLA professor of psychiatry for more than twenty five years, practiced as a clinical psychiatrist before transferring his skills to the business and non-profit world as an executive coach, leadership advisor and team building expert.

He is a thought leader at the national consulting firm Ferrazzi Greenlight, the best selling author of four books, and writes the weekly Tribune syndicated career advice column "Solve Anything with Dr. Mark." He also writes "The Leading Edge" column/blog for Fast Company and contributes columns to Harvard Business online. In 2004-2005 he was selected as one of America's Top Psychiatrists by the Washington, D.C. based Consumers Research Council of America.

For more information visit: markgoulston.com or contact him at: mgoulston@markgoulston.com.

Blog Entries by Mark Goulston, M.D.

Just Listen -- Keep A Tiger Out Of YOUR Tank

Posted December 23, 2009 | 02:44 PM (EST)


10 Reasons Not to Date a Married Man

a.k.a He'll NEVER stay that into you

There are no positive reasons for dating a married man. Even the good reasons don't stand the test of time and turn out to be bad ideas in good ideas' clothing. If you find yourself on...

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Just Listen - Overcoming Holiday Shyness

4 Comments | Posted December 21, 2009 | 11:25 AM (EST)


"How did you FEEL?"
"What did you THINK?"
"What did you DO?"

I am a Role Specific Extrovert. That means that when the occasion calls for me to be "out there" I strap on some courage and give it my best shot, but it doesn't come naturally.

Despite...

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Just Listen: Tiger's PR Mistakes

10 Comments | Posted December 16, 2009 | 04:34 PM (EST)


I was so curious about how Tiger Woods has handled his situation from a PR perspective, I spoke to Roger Gillott, President of Los Angeles-based Gillott Communications LLC, a strategic PR firm. He specializes in positioning clients strategically and doing damage control with companies and professional services firms when...

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Just Listen -- Too Late For This Year? Try Next...

Posted December 16, 2009 | 10:52 AM (EST)


I was too late to follow the example of my friend Teri Frankel of TCB Insurance (the TCB stands for Taking Care of Business). I won't be too late next year. Hope you agree.

To Our Clients and Friends,

As 2009 comes to a close,...

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Just Listen -- There Are No Mistakes, Just Lessons

13 Comments | Posted December 9, 2009 | 01:20 PM (EST)


A mistake stops being a mistake when you admit you've made it, make amends (if necessary) for it, learn the lesson it has to teach you, and implement that lesson going forward so that it never reoccurs.

For many years, like many other people I had a fear of making...

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Victory in Afghanistan - Calling All Artificial Intelligence Experts

3 Comments | Posted December 2, 2009 | 01:20 PM (EST)


At the risk of being what one of my beloved and recently deceased mentors would call overideational (i.e. carry an idea to absurd lengths), I had some thoughts about how to achieve a victory in the war in Afghanistan. But to complete them I will need input from the...

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Nov. 27: National Day of Listening

Posted November 27, 2009 | 01:20 PM (EST)


One of the best things about being truly thankful -- as I hope many of us were yesterday on Thanksgiving -- is that it enables us to come from a place of abundance vs. scarcity. When we are thankful and grateful, our cup runneth over and life feels more hopeful...

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Just Listen - Stuff Your Turkey With Giving Thanks

Posted November 23, 2009 | 12:10 PM (EST)


Why settle for giving a "thank you" when you can give a POWER THANK YOU*?

Make giving thanks the center piece of your Thanksgiving by having each person give a Power Thank You. It has 3 parts:

Part 1: Thank someone for something specific that they did for you...

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Just Listen: Papertrain Your Problem Relatives For Thanksgiving

4 Comments | Posted November 18, 2009 | 05:04 PM (EST)


An ounce of flattery will get you a well behaved guest.

Do you have any relatives or friends that ruin everyone's time on Thanksgiving or Christmas and you can't un-invite them? Do you feel guilty at wishing they'll either have other plans or be too...

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10 Habits Of Happy Couples

13 Comments | Posted November 17, 2009 | 11:49 AM (EST)


What does it take to be happy in a relationship? If you're working to improve your marriage, here are the 10 habits of happy couples.

1. Go to bed at the same time
Remember the beginning of your relationship, when you couldn't wait to go to bed with each...

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Eh!? Who needs sleep?

1 Comments | Posted November 9, 2009 | 11:54 AM (EST)


Who needs sleep when you can stay up all night glaring at your partner saying to yourself, "I think I've made the biggest mistake being in this relationship...and now I'm trapped!"

This unfortunately is not an unusual occurrence in contemporary marriage. In conducting marriage and couples therapy for more than...

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The Ft. Hood Killer - Guilty, But Not Evil

Posted November 8, 2009 | 11:27 AM (EST)


The measure of a civilization is how it treats those who have hurt it.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan was not a bad person.  He was even possibly a good person.  But he was a very sick person who did a terrible thing.

If you are someone who disagrees with that, then...

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Just Listen - Maybe You're Just Wrong (VIDEO)

Posted October 29, 2009 | 02:25 PM (EST)


Illness vs. Hubris: What would you choose?

Recently when I have been seeing couples, families or individuals in which an Axis I psychiatric illness (major depression, anxiety, bipolar illness, schizophrenia according to the current psychiatric diagnostic nomenclature that usually requires some sort of medication) is clearly not present I...

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Just Listen Microsoft - An Opportunist Does Not a Visionary Make

Posted October 23, 2009 | 12:56 AM (EST)


With the release of Windows 7 and Microsoft hoping it will reverse their luck after Vista, I was reminded of a recent appearance on This Week in Startups hosted by Jason Calacanis and our discussion about the difference between an opportunist and a visionary.

An opportunist* by...

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Just Listen (I Doubt It) Evolution Interrupted

7 Comments | Posted October 20, 2009 | 03:17 PM (EST)


"If a tree falls in the desert and nobody is listening, does it make a sound?"

Well if I write the following blog in the Living section of the Politics and Business heavy Huffington Post and nobody reads it, does it even exist?

I don't even know...

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Oprah vs. Dr. Phil - An unauthorized Opranalysis

4 Comments | Posted October 17, 2009 | 04:37 PM (EST)


Hell hath no fury as when the most trusted brand on the planet becomes so deeply disappointed and feels so duped when "a force to be reckoned with turns out to be a farce to be managed."

First an initial disclaimer. I don't personally know Oprah Winfrey. I appeared a...

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Just Listen - Modem Operandi: When Artificial Intelligence meets Emotional Intelligence

1 Comments | Posted October 12, 2009 | 10:05 PM (EST)


I like to consider myself a fairly empathic guy, but on a recent appearance on "This Week in Startups" I told Jason Calacanis that I am viewing people more as modems than as human beings.

Nearly everyone who is connected to the Internet is connected through a modem...

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Just Listen - Don't Confuse a Narcissist with Asperger's Syndrome

8 Comments | Posted October 9, 2009 | 09:58 PM (EST)


Jason Calacanis: "So are hard driving founders narcissists?"
Dr. Mark Goulston: "If anything they're more like people with features of Asperger's Syndrome."
- from "This Week in Startups" and Twist episode 21

Both narcissists and high functioning people with Asperger like features are goal minded...

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"Own the Debate" - President Obama, enter stage Left and Right

1 Comments | Posted October 5, 2009 | 09:34 PM (EST)


2009-10-06-OwntheRoomcover.jpg

An interview with David Booth, co-owner of Eloqui and co-author of "Own the Room" Business Presentations that Persuade, Engage, and Get Results.

Mark Goulston: We're certainly seeing a lot of President Obama. Given your background in the theatre prior to being...

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Q: Feeling Anxious? A: "Just Listen"

9 Comments | Posted October 3, 2009 | 05:34 PM (EST)


Anxiety is the state of having your brain, mind and behavior be out of alignment with the task in front of you.
- Mark Goulston

Consider someone in their early forties or older who has a, b and c skills that have earned them a living. Skills that they...

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