Persuasion

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, […]

We spend a lot of time discussing credibility with our clients. And we always like to tell them that no matter how good a speaker you are, no matter how strong your message, voice and presence are, if your audience does not find you credible then we can’t help you. Credibility is everything. To quote […]

As we close out 2015, my colleagues and I at The Latimer Group have been giving a great deal of thought to what we learned over the last twelve months. Communication is a critical skill, in every organization. And there is a never-ending need to keep working towards improvement, for us as well. So, with […]

At The Latimer Group, we’ve been talking lately about the difference between Persuasion and Consensus. The question came up in our discussions among our colleagues and clients about whether Consensus is always necessarily a good thing. We wrote recently that it is — that we can persuade our coworkers toward a certain outcome, but if […]

We were having lunch with a good friend and client of The Latimer Group last week. During our discussion, we mentioned some ideas around the concept of “consensus” as it differs from the concept of “persuasion.” Our work has always been focused on helping our clients build the skills of persuasion, and our clients value […]

Quick thought for the day, and a theme we discuss all the time here at The Latimer Group. Wow, is it ever noisy out there! And the best way to get the attention of your colleagues, the best way to be heard, is not to yell louder. The answer is not to combat noise with […]

Have you ever sat through a meeting, listening to someone who just rambles on and on and on? Brutal, isn’t it? You are looking at your watch or your phone, trying to wish the time forward and each time you look you realize it is only 48 seconds since the last time you looked. It […]

In our last post, we talked about a few key steps you can take to become a better listener. But there will always be obstacles inhibiting our ability to listen. One of those obstacles is bias — the idea that we have preconceived ideas about who we’re communicating with, which prevents us from being fair […]