If you’ve ever had to react on the spot to a situation that was so sticky, so icky that it left you speechless, read on to see how a friend of mine handled a recent conflict.

Congress decided to “mix it up” for the State of the Union address, to sit together instead of opposite sides of the aisle. It was even referred to as “dating,” and fraught with the same social complexity and awkwardness teenagers encounter. This seemed like an empty gesture, but I was quite surprised by the outcome.

In the wake of the horrific shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, I’ve been thinking a lot about how the words that we’ve been using in our political discourse may have impacted the situation.

Gosh, I wish I’d seen Adam Lambert’s performance at the American Music Awards. Instead, I woke up to an uproar — faces in crotches, girls on leashes, big, fat, same-sex kisses! Oh my.

I got a tweet from André Rieu, the well-known violinist and Johann Strauss Orchestra conductor. He was aghast at Michael Jackson’s deathand felt what many did of course. Because André is a musician and performer, however, he felt an especially profound loss. So am I and thus, so did I. Jackson was a prodigious talent and his effect on culture is permanent. As Obi-wan said, “I felt a great disturbance in The Force.”

I was sitting next to my classmate, Chris, on Saturday morning. It was the last day of our fabulous 8-week FastTrac* Growth Venture course that is sponsored by a local non-profit, the Women’s Business Development Center. Just to be clear, Chris is a guy.

Things are tough out there. Really tough. Everyone I speak to has a story – cancelled contracts, price pressure, layoffs, disappearing clients. In my own experience, the slowdown was abrupt. Through June, I was working at capacity. I had the best first half ever. 2008 was looking to be a record year. Not. Any. More.

Oh, boy, how quickly things can change. As a leading authority on political communication, it’s been fascinating to watch Barack Obama’s recent communication struggles. It didn’t seem possible just a short month or so ago [see Fast Company article The Brand Called Obama], but it’s starting to look like Obama has a “tin ear” when it comes to interpersonal communication.

Inspirational entrepreneurial tips from a bold leader who stuck to what she was good at, anchored her work with her passion and wildly succeeded.

Women need to roll with the punches when criticism is “piled on”.