Persuasion

I think about communication in a very specific way. Communication (or rather great communication) is not a series of memorized steps, standard moves, or a list of tips and tricks. No, I think about it much differently than that. Rather than a series of memorized steps or standard moves, great communication is really about questions and […]

We just finished an intensive workshop, designed in multiple modules and spread out over multiple days, with one of our top clients. The topic was Executive Communication Skills, and the goal was to coach a small group of ten rising executive stars in the art of persuasive, executive-level communication skills. We covered a lot of […]

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 […]

Let me get the footnote of attribution out of the way. I “borrowed” that line, with permission, from my great friend and business school classmate, Phil Bonanno. And now back to our regularly scheduled program… My colleagues and I talk all the time about how listening, awareness and respect are critical building blocks of persuasion. You simply can’t […]

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about personal behaviors, especially in relation to how we “show up” in a professional setting. And here are five things that always seem to jump to the front of the line for me, as being the most important communication behaviors. Think about this… What would it be like if you could… […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Director of Assessment & Advancement at The Latimer Group. “I’m smiling at you.” “And I’m giving you a tired face.” This was the exchange I had with my daughter the other day as we were walking in public, masked. We had gone a long distance and I wanted to show […]

When people are asking us questions — during an interview, sales pitch, presentation, or anything else — there are lots of ways to think about and prepare for those questions. Let’s think about this on several levels. The lowest, and worst level, is when we don’t think about the Q&A at all. We don’t anticipate […]

If your communication problem is time, then brevity is your friend. Make sure to shorten your message significantly. Reduce your information to a list of “three things,” so that your message is easier to remember. If your communication problem is attention span, then a “hook” is your friend. Work hard to connect with your audience with something […]

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 it […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Director of Assessment & Advancement at The Latimer Group. “I’m sorry.” And “Thank you.” These are expressions that we learned to use early in life. They were often shared at our parents’ insistence, and our reluctance, at least where siblings were involved. But I wonder if most of us have […]