Communication

I love podcasts, and listen to a wide range of them: sports, news, politics, crime drama, entertainment… you name it. I love the easy access and the escapism of a good podcast. One of my favorites is called Smartless which is cohosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, three celebrities who are good […]

AI tools are being used everywhere these days. The efficiency and precision they bring is powerful, but as we mentioned in the blog post, AI: “Use it as a Prompt”, we never want to remove the human element from communication. Powerful, persuasive communication is authentic in tone and content. To achieve this using an AI […]

(Author’s Note: This is a piece I originally wrote several years ago. But we republish it every 18 months or so, because the point continues to be true, and because my colleagues and I continue to see evidence of the risk of PowerPoint every single day. As you read this, keep this in mind… your […]

Have you ever listened to that person who says something like “um” over and over and over? After a while, all you hear are the “ums.” How about the person who says “like,” or “you know?” Distracting, right? How about the person who qualifies everything they say with a “sort of” or a “kind of” […]

Over the last month, we have spent nearly every day in workshops with some of our top clients. And in every single one, the concept of terrible PowerPoint slides came up. Everyone wants to know how to make their slides simpler. Everyone wants to have a “Steve Jobs” level of simplicity with their slides. But […]

Everyone always wants to talk about leadership. Every organization is obsessed with training its leaders, present and future. And many professionals invest in developing their own leadership skills. Important stuff. But leadership is only a part of the equation for a successful organization. The other part… and in some ways, the more important part… is […]

Everyone needs to know how to sell themselves. Sometimes we are in the midst of a formal job search. Sometimes we are building out our network, and are thinking about the next job. Sometimes we are auditioning for a promotion. Sometimes we are building the necessary relationships to sell more of our products and services. […]

There is a mindset I hear people articulate from time to time… and that mindset is that your presence is primarily created by the way you look and carry yourself. I heard this again recently in a workshop I was teaching, and the participant said that they did not have the wardrobe to create a […]

We spend a lot of our time in workshops, on this blog, and in all our conversations with our clients, discussing the importance of good communication skills. We always talk about the power of listening, of being prepared, of having goals and talking points and plans… all of it matters. When you take a good […]

I was speaking with my good friend Tom not long ago, and he said something to me that really resonated. Tom is a business owner, and the definition of a “straight shooter”. He doesn’t tolerate people who waste his time or who don’t deliver as promised… and he is not afraid to say so. We […]