One of the most common complaints I hear from women is that men don't listen. Be it at work where their good ideas are ignored or at home when their spouse totally forgets what she told him. Why can't men listen? They can, if you follow these five steps.

So the next time you want to talk to your male boss, be heard in a meeting, discuss an issue with your spouse, or connect with your teenage son, remember Renee's Rules…

1. Speak Loud Enough

Men don't hear as well as women. Honestly. It starts at birth and continues through life. This was … Read More

Billy Joel and his wife of nearly five years Katie Lee are splitting up. A "friend" of the couple told the New York Daily News that the age difference of 33 years drove the couple apart ( 15 Common Divorce Mistakes). I doubt it. Maybe, like so many couples that end up divorced, they just weren't meant to be. You never hear anyone say "Dick and Jane are the same age—that must have had something to do with their breakup." I call BS on blaming the age difference when it comes to divorce. Though, admittedly, I'm biased. … Read More

When your spouse comes home from work and tells you his boss yelled at him in front of three colleagues, do you one-up him with a story of the client who reamed you out in a meeting—and later spilled his coffee on your shirt? When you tell your date you need to check out early tonight because you have a 6am conference call tomorrow, does he tell you that he's getting up at 5am to go to the gym? If this sounds familiar, you may be getting sucked into "misery poker."

In a new relationship-focused Wall Street Journal column called Read More

Going to couples therapy wasn't something my boyfriend or I had to wrangle the other into. Our rough patch was more like a slick of black ice, and we were careening towards a precipitous ending. We had moved in together almost a year earlier, and couples therapy seemed easier than breaking up. It would at least buy us time to figure out how to split our belongings while I looked for my own place in New York City.

I went into counseling thinking Ryan had to change. If he didn't fix at least eight of the things that were … Read More

There are a lot of unfair and untrue male stereotypes floating around. At the very least, the stereotypes that are true are seriously misunderstood. As a guy, I've experienced first-hand what it's like to be stereotyped and it's not a good feeling. Unless you are an attractive pro athlete who is somehow clumped in with a group of Nobel Prize winning scientists, but this is rare. While it's not fun to be stereotyped, stereotypes often exist because they offer some kernel of truth. I don't speak for dudes everywhere; these are just my personal thoughts about these male qualities. … Read More