Blog

There are some universal communication mistakes that anyone can make in the workplace. That’s a pretty long list. But in addition, there are also some communication mistakes that are not universal, but rather are gender specific. And in an era where there is more scrutiny, and far more risk, coming from the things we say […]

A few weeks ago, I was having a follow-up conversation with a workshop participant. He called me in response to the same, sincere invitation I make at the conclusion of every workshop I teach. Call or email me if you think of something you want to discuss, or just want to run something by me. So, […]

I spend a lot more time thinking about listening now than I used to. Why? I am not really sure. It could be my advancing age. It could be parenthood. It could be experience in my job. It could be the influence of some of the people in my life. Probably, it is a little bit of all those […]

Over the last two years, at least one thing should be crystal clear to all of us… that an inability or refusal to evolve can lead to existential threats to our business. “Evolve or die” has become more than just a cliché… it has become a truism that we ignore at our own peril. And […]

One of our central tenets in teaching persuasive communication is to know your audience. Having an informed sense of your audience’s needs, concerns, and context (did the company just suffer a drop in the stock price, did the VP in the room just get a big promotion, is a merger shaking everything up?) allows you to craft […]

If you are like the vast majority of people we meet in our workshops, then you are struggling with too many meetings, too many messages, too many requests, and too many demands on your time. If you are like the vast majority of people we meet in our workshops, then the boundaries between your home […]

In this episode of The Message Makeover Podcast, we dip into the waters of one of the most widely-publicized scandals in recent US history. We interview John Vandemoer, the former sailing coach at Stanford University who was caught up in the college admissions scandal that ensnared coaches at many schools including Yale, Georgetown and USC, […]

The people who know me outside of work, or who know my family, know that we live on a street in a town that takes its Halloween very seriously. Our street has become Halloween central in our town, drawing kids from lots of surrounding communities above and beyond just our own. I keep an accurate count […]

I have a wide range of conversations with the people I coach. Coaching discussions on communication and leadership skills can cover a lot of territory. But there is a short list of things that seem to come up over and over and over. And at the top of the list is this seemingly simple idea. […]

I am an amateur history nerd, and love to read political and military histories in whatever precious little spare time that I have. Recently I was reading a short piece about the mental challenges soldiers often have after they leave the battlefield. After Vietnam, and through to present day, we refer to it as post-traumatic […]