Dean Brenner

Here is a common scenario that I have watched and experienced many times: the words that were spoken/written by someone were received in way that was different from the intended impact. The message that was received or the feeling that was created was not at all what the speaker/writer was trying to send or create. […]

Hello friends! We recently added a new element to our website, where you can submit your communication questions directly to us. We will collect the questions, and either answer directly back to you, or when appropriate, publish a series of questions and our answers on our blog. Our goal here is to give you some […]

Keeping your energy level up all the time is hard. We all get tired. We all get frustrated. We all get sick of our work/colleagues/friends/selves. And when we are any of these things, our productivity suffers. One of the best quotes I have ever heard (well… more of an attitude than a quote) is that positivity […]

Showing your audience respect has a lot of great payoffs. It makes your audience feel engaged and positive, it can enable a culture of buy-in, in which people feel committed not only to execute a plan or implement a new product but to make it succeed… and it can make you a more specific, persuasive […]

I have always hated the concept of the “New Year’s resolution.” It has always seemed contrived to me, and the vast majority of resolutions I have made at this time of year don’t remain in place for very long. Most are a distant memory by mid-February. And I am highly confident that most of you […]

It’s hard to get people to pay attention any more. A lot of people believe that attention spans are shrinking. But regardless whether they are or not, here is an undeniable fact: there is exponentially more competition for mindshare and attention than ever before. So the net effect is the same — because there is so much […]

Hello clients, friends and members of The Latimer Community. The “end of” something is often a great time to reflect on what you have been through… the end of the day, the month, the quarter, or the year are all great and natural times to pause and reflect. So as we rapidly approach the end […]

(Author’s Note: The following story happened on December 6, 2021 during a quiet afternoon at our office. I happened to be sitting at our conference table with my wife Emily. We were having lunch, doing Christmas cards, and just making small talk about all the things we had to get done between then and the […]

My wife Emily and I have recently been going through some old files in our basement, clearing some stuff out and making some much-needed room in an already-crowded basement. And whenever one starts opening boxes from long ago, two things always seem to happen. You find some stuff, and wonder “why did I ever keep that?” And […]

There is a disconnect that I witness every day. The disconnect is between our own perception of what is “clear” and what others think about that clarity. When we have an idea or a strategy or something in our head, and we have thought it through and worked it out, in our own minds it […]