The Most Important Skill in Business
Posted On December 1, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
If you can persuade others to think or act in a certain way, influence their decisions and behaviors, and build consensus among your colleagues, you have competitive advantage. Period. Full stop. In the 21st century business world, (where information is more available, attention spans have plummeted, organizations are leaner, and everyone is less loyal and […]
Practice DOES Matter
Posted On November 20, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
I had an outstanding experience yesterday with a workshop participant from one of our major client companies. This young man had participated in one of our one-day presentation skills workshops about six weeks ago. And then he signed up for a different workshop this week, a two-day “executive communication skills” workshop. In the October session, […]
The Global Need for Respect
Posted On November 17, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
During the past year of client work, we’ve spent time with professionals from over 25 different countries… busy, ambitious, successful, intelligent professionals. They worked in finance, engineering, marketing, communications, procurement, and all sorts of leadership and management positions. Our client base is certainly a diverse group! And any time we have an intense period of […]
The Death of Spin Communication
Posted On November 10, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
The recent election cycle in the United States has made one thing very clear to me… that we have now reached a critical breaking point in our tolerance for “spin” communication. What is “spin” you ask? Anyone who lives in the USA knows exactly what it is, because that is all we hear anymore in […]
What Happens When Politicians Forget to Be Leaders?
Posted On November 2, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
Today’s post was written by Whitney Sweeney, Director of Client Relationships at The Latimer Group At The Latimer Group, we teach the importance of leadership communication. To be a leader people will want to follow, you must know how to deliver your message in a way that people will hear and internalize. You must be […]
Do You Have “Situational Awareness” in Business?
Posted On October 27, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
It is a little after 4am on a cold and dark October morning in New England… jet lag. I’m home for a few days after a great week of client work in Paris. And in a few days, it’s Singapore, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth. During stretches like these, where we have several busy months, and […]
The Impact of Optimism
Posted On October 24, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
I’ve been working in Paris, France all week, leading a series of executive communication skills workshops for our largest client. The participants have come from all over Europe and the Middle East: France, England, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Finland and India. It has been a fantastic opportunity to test ideas on a global scale and enhance […]
Executive Presence Means Different Things Around the World… Sort Of
Posted On October 22, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
It is very early in the morning in Paris, and I am preparing for day two of a workshop on executive communication skills and presence. The room will be filled again today with a culturally diverse group of executives from this client company, all of whom are serious about their communication skills, and this class. Over […]
To Communicate More Effectively, Know Your Audience as Completely as Possible
Posted On October 20, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
Anyone who knows The Latimer Group knows that “Know Your Audience” has been one of our enduring themes since our founding thirteen years ago. We believe it is one of the fundamental rules of great communication. And the concept has lots of implications and manifestations. Knowing your audience means, in its simplest form, understanding what will […]
How to Practice the MOST Human Thing
Posted On October 13, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
Note: This piece was originally published on September 23, 2014 at business and leadership blog Switch and Shift. It’s a great resource for leadership topics and discussion about how we can improve the human side of how we do business. Be sure to check out some of the posts and articles from the other contributors there. […]