#Skills4Life

I read, write, consult, design, deliver risk management training, build software, and travel. These are some of my favourite things to do and you'll find a lot of the results on this website.

I also enjoy helping people solve problems and become more successful, so drop me a line if you'd like some advice over a conversation. The first 15 minutes are free, so you're mad if you don't :-).

For more good ideas, my latest book has its own website and my other websites are at my FYI SmartList.

Subscribe, I will let you know when I make Kindle versions of my books free. I'll also let you know as soon as the new website is up for the Security Risk Management Body Of Knowledge (SRMBOK).

4 min

How To Achieve What You Are Gifted For

Marie Curie knew something about success. The first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris, the first woman to win a Nobel prize, and the first person to win two Nobel prizes. That's an impressive track record in anyone's estimation. All the more amazing when you consider that as a woman in the 1890's, she couldn't even enroll in university in her native Poland; much less become a professor. It took years as a governess for her to save enough to follow her dre

10 min

How to write a job application letter that gets you to interview

"The only purpose of a job application letter is to be invited to interview." After you've read this and downloaded a template for the job application letter, you might also like to know my thoughts on how to turn a job interview into a job offer. There was a time when I sent out roughly 100 job application letters without even a single job interview. It was disheartening. I eventually worked out a 2-page template that landed 5 job interviews from 5 job application letters an

8 min

Secrets of Success

Would you like to know the one tip that could guarantee success? The ‘secret sauce’ or ‘silver bullet’? Of course, you would. And so would I, if it existed. The simple truth (at least my assessment after decades of research and achieving success in most areas of life) is that there are no secret recipes for success. No magic strategies, tactics or hidden arcane rituals. Just one simple principle has delivered and keeps delivering, success in my life and the lives of everyone

12 min

Non-Verbal Communication

"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say." Ralph Waldo Emerson Every day, as managers, leaders, parents, friends and colleagues we consciously and unconsciously respond to, and transmit, countless nonverbal cues and behaviors, including postures, facial expression, pauses, proximity, touch tone of voice, eye gaze, obvious gestures, and micro-gestures. All of our nonverbal behaviors send strong messages and they don't stop when you stop speaking. Even when y

JULIAN TALBOT