Persuasion

A colleague pointed us to a recent episode from the BBC Business Matters podcast. The subject: Has email made us more passive-aggressive at work? Here’s the excerpt: Passive aggression, defined, is behavior characterized by indirect resistance to the demands of others, and an avoidance of direct confrontation. Both of which are much more easily done via […]

(Earlier today, at my 5am spin class, I heard some sad news. I learned that a guy who had been a regular member of our early morning spin group had died over the weekend, apparently taking his own life. We weren’t close… we were friendly, enough to chat before and after class. We knew each […]

One of the most frequent questions or objections we hear in our workshops, usually delivered right about the time we are teaching our Latimer Group Model for Persuasion, is this… “I don’t have the time to do the things you are telling me to do. I know I need to, but I just don’t have […]

(Note: This post was originally published in August of 2013. But it’s more important now than ever.) My family and I spent the weekend with some dear friends, and over the course of a weekend of laughter, swimming, ping pong and wine, the conversation turned (for a few minutes) to business. My good buddy, who […]

I was recently speaking to a client, a person I have been coaching for about six months. This coaching assignment has been focused on the subtle aspects of persuasion. He is relatively new in his organization, and has wanted to work on how to better influence his colleagues, without coming on too strong. Many of […]

My colleagues and I preach the importance of “knowing your audience” all the time. We believe it is a critical component of persuasion. But knowing your audience requires knowledge on multiple levels, beyond just the individual. Here is what I mean… if you are pitching someone on your product or service, and trying to sell […]

(This post was originally published Dec 2014) I had an outstanding experience recently with a workshop participant from one of our major client companies. This young man had participated in one of our one-day presentation skills workshops about six weeks ago. And then he signed up for a different workshop this week, a two-day “executive […]

Think about how you communicate in the workplace. Not just the words you use, or doing what you say you’ll do, or meeting deadlines, or smiling and being easy to work with. Assuming those traits are all a given, what about your “brand” among your coworkers? Have you given thought to how you, personally, are […]

We talk all the time in our workshops — and write all the time on our blog — about the things you’ll never hear your audience say when you speak or present. So, because we GUARANTEE your audience will never say these things, you’ll have absolutely NO reason not to be clear and simple in […]

Last Saturday night, Feb 13, 2016, I was standing on the bench for the Choate hockey team, cheering for the team, and supporting two of my good friends, Pat Dennehy and Mike Velez. They indulge me a few times a year, and let me join the team as “guest coach,” which basically means I cheer, […]