Listening

As a small business owner, I am constantly thinking about the various needs that I, and my teammates, should always be thinking about. What needs am I referring to? Whose needs? I am constantly thinking of three sets of need: 1. Our clients’ needs. We are a service provider, and we preach “knowing your audience” […]

Last week I spent some time speaking with someone I occasionally coach. Last week’s problem was that he and a close colleague were in a tough spot, not communicating well. Apparently, the colleague was doing some things that were intensely frustrating for my client. The details are not important to the story, but there was […]

Many people want to be known as great speakers. Many people want to be known as the person who can make the point in a clear and compelling way. And many work on this skill by focusing initially on the wrong things. Speaking well and sharing information is, first and foremost, about knowing how to […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]