Dean Brenner

At The Latimer Group, we believe that the ability to persuade, influence and build consensus is the most important skill that you can have in the workplace. If you attempt to add one skill to your tool box, verbal persuasion should be at the top of your list. This begs the obvious follow-up question… How do you make yourself […]

In all our work, we strive to help our clients craft their communication in the most effective, persuasive way possible. Here are 5 coaching strategies and story telling approaches you can use to be a more intentional, more persuasive communicator. For more episodes of The Message Makeover Minute, and other videos from The Latimer Group, […]

What does the world of communication look like right now? What are the barriers to getting our point across today, at this moment in time? There are a bunch, and none of them are inconsequential. Truth #1: The world continues to be a really noisy place. There are lots of people and things competing for […]

Web meetings, conference calls, and virtual platforms are no longer “occasional” methods of communication. These are now full-time communication platforms, and likely will be for the foreseeable future. So, we really need to be thinking about how we can communicate in the most effective way possible using these new tools. In the latest edition of […]

A survey from Raindance Communications looked at the issue of multitasking. And for those of you who regularly lead conference calls (like me), brace yourselves… the numbers ain’t pretty. These stats are a little dated but still eye-opening. According to this survey: 90% of people surveyed said they multitask while on conference calls; 70% reported doing other, unrelated work; 50% […]

I am a poker player. I love the odds, the strategy, the bluffing, the reading of the other players, and most of all the social interaction. I play a couple of times a month with friends, never online with strangers. And only for low stakes… very low stakes. I just enjoy the experience. Just like everything […]

A lot of our clients tell us that the new increase in “virtual communication” causes anxiety for a number of reasons: technology, “etiquette,” and so on… However, some basic communication skills will always apply… Fall back on those basic tenets when feeling anxious about the “new” communication concepts that come along, and that anxiety should […]

One of the ways I have been dealing with the unknowns of the current health and economic crisis is by reaching out to people around me. A few weeks ago, I made a list of about 20 people in my life that I wanted to speak to… fellow business owners, long-time friends, former mentors and […]

Welcome to The Message Makeover Minute, our newest way of connecting with you about great communication skills. We’ll share coaching and communication advice in short easy-to-absorb videos from several of The Latimer Group’s team members. We look forward to connecting with you and sharing these insights in new ways, and we hope you’ll enjoy the […]

I was listening in on a conference call last week, with a decent sized audience. The leader of the call was working really hard to manage the call, bring some energy to it, engage people. He had clearly spent a lot of time thinking about what he was going to say. His message was positive, […]