Dean Brenner

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 […]

There are two ways we can get people to do what we want or need them to do: because we have influence over them, or because we have authority over them. We can have influence without authority, and we can have authority without influence. Influence comes from respect, collaboration, and credibility. Authority comes from title […]

We communicate with each other in so many different ways… a topic we write about all the time. Our words, facial expressions, body language, how we speak, WHEN we speak, the way we listen, the way we behave… all of these things are communicating messages out all the time. And since this is Thanksgiving week […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council October 20, 2017. To be a powerful communicator, you have to be brutally honest. You need to look critically at how great a change you are suggesting and how much you are asking of your audience. But perhaps the most important place you must look is within yourself. How […]

We’ve reached a tipping point, I believe, in the use of mobile devices. These tools have had a wildly successful positive impact on our efficiency and ability to communicate. But too much of any good thing can eventually become a bad thing, and that is where we are with mobile devices. And we’re hearing it […]

We talk all the time about message development — clarity of and organization of message make it easier for people to listen to you. And if you do all the right things on your message plan, and then translate it into a good slide deck, the final piece of the puzzle is your delivery. Once […]

My wife and I recently had some bookshelves built in our home, which gave us some much-needed space to display many of the books we owned. So when the job was completed, we had a wonderful night of populating our new shelves. We had a little wine, and we spent hours opening up boxes of […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council October 2, 2017. There are lots of tips and techniques for crafting a persuasive bit of communication. But there’s one fundamental secret that underlies all of them. What is this secret weapon or becoming a powerful communicator? Honesty. Why? Because to successfully persuade someone, you need to be […]

Good morning all, and happy November! Our primary focus here at The Latimer Group is persuasive communication skills. We teach and coach these skills for a living. But we see our value more broadly than that. Within the context of teaching and coaching stronger speaking and writing skills, we also think it is important to […]

We deliberately used an example of that weak language in the title of this post, to illustrate what it can do to your message and your credibility when presenting. Weak phrases like “pretty much,” “sort of,” “kind of,” or “a little bit,” don’t actually add a lot to your message. Phrases like these make you […]