Dean Brenner

The Courage to Shut Up

Posted On February 26, 2020 BY

Frequently, one of the participants in a Latimer workshop will say something that totally grabs me. And I always will pause the workshop, write a note in my “ideas book” and then say, “That will be a blog post, and I can footnote you, if you want.” In this case, the participant politely declined a footnote. We […]

No PowerPoint, No Problem

Posted On February 24, 2020 BY

Originally published at Forbes Coaches Council, January 2020. I’ve learned from years of teaching workshops that nearly everyone starts their preparation for a presentation by planning a slide deck, whether that means opening up a new Microsoft PowerPoint, repurposing an old one or two (which often results in a Frankenstein-like creation of mismatched fonts, colors, […]

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about personal behaviors, especially in relation to how we “show up” in a professional setting. And here are five things that always seem to jump to the front of the line for me, as being the most important communication behaviors. Think about this… What would it be like if you […]

A Story About Kindness

Posted On January 27, 2020 BY

Everyone who frequents this blog knows that we write about communication. But every once in a while we also like to share stories about other things, simple things, everyday ordinary things. This is one of those times. Last week was one the most important weeks of our year here at The Latimer Group. One of […]

One of the best parts of the client workshops we teach is that our clients are really smart people. We are blessed to be able to work with so many companies, which are full of bright, qualified, hard-working people. Sure… I am kissing up to our clients this morning… but it also happens to be true. And frequently someone […]

How To Build A Next-Level Team

Posted On January 15, 2020 BY

Originally posted with Forbes Coaches Council, December 2019. Putting together a team that works well together, tackles their goals efficiently and produces meaningful results might seem like an easy equation. Hire top talent, and let them work. But even the most gifted employees will flounder without one key component: clear, consistent communication. Let’s imagine a team […]

How often do you sit in meetings and think to yourself “wow… this is a colossal waste of time“? My guess is your answer is some version of “far too often.” The next time you are feeling that way, do some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations. Make an estimate of what you get paid by the hour. And […]

Hello friends, and welcome to 2020. Our team is back today after a good, well-deserved vacation. Vacations are always a great time to forget about work for a while, and to pause, breathe, and reflect. I did plenty of that over the last several days. And after a period like that, I always like to […]

Thank you to all of our clients and friends for making 2019 such a great success. We have been as busy as ever… we have expanded our team, our services, and our reach this past year. And the only reason we are able to do that is because of our clients and friends who inspire […]

We spend a lot of time in this space, and with our clients, discussing how to communicate more effectively. We discuss how to prepare and structure a message, how to capture attention, how to make the meeting valuable, how to get to the point, etc, etc, etc. And then occasionally we discuss here the other half of the communication […]