Dean Brenner

I recently re-read a great article that discussed the four behaviors most responsible for killing relationships at home. The article quoted John Gottman, author of The Seven Principles That Make Marriage Work. And Gottman was quoted in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink. Anyone quoted by Malcolm Gladwell is worth a few minutes of my time. In […]

Do you want to be an effective communicator? Be more memorable? Do you want people to follow your lead, support your idea, or buy your product or service? Of course you do. When I say “be memorable,” I’m not suggesting that you do something outrageous so that they remember that crazy person who did “x.” I mean […]

What we care about most at The Latimer Group is your ability to communicate your message — your story — powerfully and persuasively to your audience. Virtually all the work we do points back to that theme of great communication, and great storytelling. Even in the workplace, great stories and great storytelling are what will stand out among your clients […]

How do you prepare for that big sales call, or that important meeting with your boss? If you prepare at all (not trying to insult you, but a shocking number of people still try to “wing it”), and if you are like most people we meet, then your prep goes something like this… organize your […]

In so many organizations, we see discussions around problem solving go wrong. In order for an organization to be effective at solving problems, there has to be a framework of questions that will lead towards full alignment on the issue. Once we have that alignment, then we can have a serious conversation around legitimate solutions. And […]

Clients of The Latimer Group have heard me say, many times, that the hardest thing for any organizational leader to do is to change the way his or her people actually behave. If you want to reinvent your organization, you can add or subtract business units, product lines, services, locations, etc, etc, etc. You can make yourself […]

In a recent workshop, one participant asked a series of questions about how broad the application of the content we were teaching in the course actually was. I answered in a very “Latimer way,” by saying that our model applies to all forms of workplace communication: meetings, conference calls, presentations, email exchanges, etc. As I […]

How often do you sit in meetings and think to yourself “wow… this is a colossal waste of time“? My guess is your answer is some version of “far too often.” The next time you are feeling that way, do some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations. Make an estimate of what you get paid by the hour. […]

That little voice inside your head, the one that tells you aren’t good enough… do you know that voice? Do you ever hear that voice telling you to question your own value or qualifications? Do you ever hear that voice whispering sour questions to you? I hear that voice, and I am sure most of you do […]

We have shared many past posts here on the need and importance of clarity and brevity in your communications. Clarity and brevity are often the price of admission to be heard in the 21st century — table stakes — the cost to simply be able to play in the big leagues and have people listen to you. But […]