Dean Brenner

Hello and welcome to 2021! I hope you had a peaceful and happy holiday, and that everyone in your world is healthy. We had a wonderful “stay-cation” in our home, and spent a lot of time reading, playing games, and watching our favorite shows. Honestly, another week of that would be just fine. But its […]

(Writer’s Note: As we wind down the year, we have been spending time going through our blog archive, looking for older posts that still resonate. I wrote this post in 2012, and it applies just as accurately today as it did when I wrote it eight years ago. Enjoy!) I spoke at my former university […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council. In goal-oriented communication, few things are more important than creating a sense of connection between yourself and the person you are speaking to. When you are in the audience, what type of speaker captures your attention more: the one who speaks to your concerns, your needs and your circumstances, or […]

Writer’s Note: This piece was originally posted on our blog in November 2019, and was originally written for Forbes.com. And even though many organizations, are still operating primarily remotely, we believe that the behaviors in this piece are universal in their importance. So, don’t get hung up on the idea that we aren’t in the […]

We believe in lots of things at The Latimer Group, including the importance of certain traditions. Some of our favorites include starting off our Monday team meetings with personal stories and experiences from each member of the team; taking a mid-year retreat together for an in-depth look into our business (which sadly could not happen […]

The further I get into my career, the more I realize how much success is dependent on having strong, objective, trusted voices in your life to point you in the correct direction. On a certain level, I have always known this was a good thing. But the further I go, and the more I evolve, […]

Death by PowerPoint. Or as Dilbert put it: “PowerPoint poisoning.” It’s software that is so despised that it has been banished by Amazon and banned from military strategy meetings. It’s easy to hate on PowerPoint. After all, it’s often the single common denominator between all the boring presentations and too-long meetings we have to endure during our workdays. But is […]

Simon Sinek is a favorite around here. We’ve written about him specifically in the past, and there’s a huge overlap in many of the themes we teach… This is a great addendum to some of the posts we’ve written in the past on listening, understanding, and seeing the other side. Simon’s advice, Be the last to speak. Take […]

Ask anyone who performs at a high level: athletes, dancers, singers, etc. They all prepare and practice their skills the same way. They break their skill down into smaller “sub-skills,” then practice each one individually, then put them all back together, and their overall skill level has improved. The same is true with communication. “Great […]

The Latimer Group team is taking a much-needed and well-deserved break this week. Like many of you, we have experienced a wide range of highs and lows this year. So, I have encouraged our team to try to pause, and take a really deep breath for a few days this week. Deep breaths are good […]