The Courtesy of a Bit of Context
Posted On May 17, 2021 BY Hannah Morris
This post was written by Hannah Morris, Director of Assessment & Advancement at The Latimer Group. It’s easy to live inside our own heads. We know what we know. As a result, we sometimes start talking, telling a story, asking a question, making a statement, and then realize that the person we’re talking to has no idea […]
Presentation Tips: A Simple Way to Simplify Your Slides
Posted On May 12, 2021 BY Dean Brenner
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 […]
The Self-Evident Truths of Communication Today
Posted On May 7, 2021 BY Dean Brenner
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 attention span and mind share, and […]
Speaking Tips: Build Your Message in Three Acts
Posted On April 28, 2021 BY Dean Brenner
At the heart of almost everything we teach is the concept of intentionality… preparing and communicating with intention and purpose. Great communication skills don’t just happen. Not without some thought, effort, planning, and yes, intention. In addition to being intentional about your message’s main points, we also encourage being intentional about the structure, sequence and […]
5 Ways Poor Communication Can Hurt Your Organization
Posted On April 26, 2021 BY Dean Brenner
We all aspire to be better communicators. We all know that communicating well will help us accomplish our goals, drive good outcomes, and add value to our colleagues and customers, and generate business. But while we all may agree on the benefits of good communication, we generally think about poor communication as a momentary setback. […]
Video: How to Communicate at the Highest Level
Posted On April 21, 2021 BY Dean Brenner
Have you ever considered mapping your progress as a communicator? In short, the only way to REALLY be sure you’re improving as an effective communicator is to have some way to measure that improvement. When we work with clients at The Latimer Group, we use a three-stage rubric of Professional-, Leadership-, and Executive-Level communication… So how do we […]
The Common Language of the Playground
Posted On April 19, 2021 BY Dean Brenner
(Author’s Note: I was scrolling through our blog archive over coffee in the early morning hours yesterday, when I came across this post from three years ago. The story is a simple one, and pretty self-explanatory. But as I always say to my clients, colleagues and friends, the simplest stories often have the most powerful […]
The Message Makeover Podcast: Building Bridges Between Worlds, with Dr. Jared Horvath
Posted On April 16, 2021 BY Dean Brenner
This is a killer episode, and we say that with great humility. In the latest episode of The Message Makeover Podcast, we interview Dr. Jared Horvath, an award-winning cognitive neuroscientist who has lectured at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School and the University of Melbourne. What’s special about this conversation? Dr. Horvath is the guy who […]
It’s Never as Clear as You Think It Is
Posted On April 14, 2021 BY Dean Brenner
There is a disconnect that I witness every day. The disconnect is between our own perception of what is “clear” and what others think about that clarity. When we have an idea or a strategy or something in our head, and we have thought it through and worked it out, in our own minds it […]
The Art of Negotiation (as taught by a four-year old…)
Posted On April 2, 2021 BY Dean Brenner
(Author’s Note: I was recently scrolling through our archive of old blog posts. And I came across this one, which I wrote in 2014. It is a simple story about an interaction with my then-four-year-old son, where he outmaneuvered me at the frozen yogurt shop. But as is often the case, the simple story illustrates […]