Dean Brenner

Is it possible to communicate too much during a crisis? Let’s dig into that question a bit. During a crisis, emotions tend to run higher than normal, for everyone. And the default setting for most people during such a period is to hyper communicate. The common wisdom is that “more information is better” during a […]

Like many of you, I crave good communication from the people I lean on in a crisis. I look to the leaders in my life… political, business, personal… and I lean on them for good communication when things are bad. I prefer good communication all the time. But I need good communication during a crisis. […]

Last week, we hosted a free lunchtime conversation to share our observations on the “new normal” world we have all been thrust into. We covered some of the obvious communication implications of this new world, but our conversation went well beyond that. This health crisis has impacted not just the way we communicate, but the […]

I’m thinking a lot about how well we listen. How well do you actually listen to the people around you? Do you think you listen well? Are you sure? I think I listen well, most of the time. When I focus on it, which is often, I listen really well. But it is really easy […]

We have been meeting virtually for a long time, and the ability to use virtual meeting platforms to get people together is not at all new. My colleagues and I have been communicating and teaching via WebEx since The Latimer Group started nearly twenty years ago. But like many organizations, virtual communication tools have been […]

Well now… is anyone else having a tough week? Raise your hand if this past week or two have been unlike anything you have ever been through before. (Please know that I have both my hands raised right now.) Scary times, indeed. We are in the midst of a health crisis that, while we have […]

Hello clients and friends, Over the last few days, we have been on the phone with many of our contacts at our client companies, and everyone we have spoken to is in agreement on the following: We are living in challenging, uncertain and rapidly-changing times. There is no denying that. Among the many aspects of […]

According to some sources, more than 30 million business presentations are created each day. And you know what? Most of them are terrible. We’ve all sat through the proverbial terrible presentation with no purpose, nothing memorable, no clear action items, too many slides, the monotonous drone of the boring presenter. There is a reason business […]

Welcome to the latest episode of The Message Makeover Podcast. Recently, Kendra and I shared a conversation with Lydia Fenet about the art of persuasion, and the ways to command attention in every room you walk into. Lydia is a Managing Director at Christie’s in New York City, and is the most prominent charity benefit […]

This is one of those simple, personal stories that I love to share. Our four-year-old daughter Kate loves animated movies (who doesn’t?!?) and her stuffed animals… The Lion King movie and her stuffed Aslan from the Narnia stories are current favorites. One day a couple of weeks ago, Emily and I started to notice a […]