Listening

The other day I was on a conference call with two good friends. One, Bill, is the CEO of US-based marine industry company. The other, Ron, is an independent marketing consultant. We were catching up on some business issues, and Bill made a comment that stuck with me. His company has had some communication challenges […]

We’re pleased to contribute once again to Switch and Shift, a business blog focused on “the human side of business.” Our most recent contribution is called “5 Communication Behaviors We All Must Adopt.” In the rapidly-changing business world of the 21st century, there’s an overwhelming need for clearer, more succinct business communication. If we can […]

Earlier this week, someone told me that “they are more efficient when they multitask.” Yeah… right. This will be a short post today, because the efficiency of multi-tasking is a complete myth. And there is tons of detail to prove it, including this recent spot on NPR. In last week’s post, I pleaded with you […]

We’ve done a couple posts recently about some things you’ll never hear anyone say in the workplace. You can read those posts here and here. But our point in today’s post is that as you go about your communication in the workplace, be it with colleagues, clients, or teammates, there are a few things that […]

Have you ever listened to yourself speak to your colleagues or customers? Have you ever just recorded yourself in a standard, nothing-special conversation, and actually listened to what you sound like? Try this. Record yourself in a typical conversation or phone call and listen closely to what you sound like. More specifically, count your pronouns. […]

A little more than a year ago, I wrote a short post here about the importance of instilling confidence in the people around you. I used a vignette about my son to make the point — a little story about how he was still young enough to not care about what other people thought. And […]

We coach people to be as persuasive and powerful in their communication as possible. But sometimes, your audience is just not open to what you have to say. Our clients often share experiences where the audience is not always open minded. Some of our clients tell us, “They don’t want to hear that from me,” […]

Last post of the week… I’m running to the airport now to begin the long trip home from Singapore. It’s been a great trip, but I’m excited to head home. I love being home, but I also love what international travel does for my approach to my business. I love being forced to stretch boundaries […]

In our last post, we talked about the undeniable benefits of having a broad perspective on communication and having a high sensitivity for audience understanding. Global travel is a great way to broaden your perspective and to realize the vastly different ways people communicate. We believe firmly in audience understanding as a mission critical component […]

Greetings from Singapore, where I’m doing a week of corporate communication training for two of our favorite clients. This follows up a week in Shanghai for the same two clients. International travel is exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. It’s exhausting to travel this far from home, for two straight weeks of day-long workshops. When I get […]