Gratitude: An Important Form of Communication

Author’s Note: It is very early here in southwestern Rhode Island, where we will spend the Thanksgiving holiday with extended family and many friends. I am watching the moon set out the kitchen window, and am now seeing the first hint of the sunrise glow to the east. The house is absolutely still, the only noticeable sounds being the drip of the coffee machine, the tap-tap-tap of my fingers on the keyboard, and an occasional exhale from yours truly… the kind of exhale that just feels and sounds different when you are in a place that relaxes you.

I have spent the last hour thinking about what I wanted to write for today. It is Thanksgiving week, so gratitude is an obvious theme. No mystery there. And as I often do when I am looking for inspiration, I started scrolling through our library of past blog posts.

I stumbled across the one below, that I wrote during Thanksgiving week in 2017, which was our 15th year of operations – a milestone for any small business. I remember being proud of making it to 15 years, and grateful for all the people who helped make that happen. And so as our team has navigated our way through a strong and crazy 2021, we have started to focus more on another milestone upcoming… The Latimer Group will celebrate 20 years in January. The pride has kicked in again. And so has the gratitude.

So, as we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving in 2021, I will pause and reflect on the colleagues, clients and friends who have been essential to the success of this business over the last 19 years (and counting). And I share with you again the words I wrote in 2017, because they resonate just as loudly today as they did then.

Thanks for reading, and for being a part of The Latimer Community. ~Dean

We communicate with each other in so many different ways… a topic we write about all the time. Our words, facial expressions, body language, how we speak, WHEN we speak, the way we listen, the way we behave… all of these things are communicating messages out all the time. And since this is Thanksgiving week in the United States, I want all of us to remember that our measure and expression of gratitude is also a message we should be communicating out to the people around us.

This has been on my mind a lot lately, because The Latimer Group is wrapping up its fifteenth year of operations… a milestone for any business. I often am reminded that 85% of small businesses don’t make it past year two. So fifteen years is something to be proud of.

But our existence and whatever success we may have had is the sum total of the work, advice and counsel, referrals, ideas and encouragement of many people. Our message, and my message in particular, right now is one of gratitude. As my colleagues and I spend the last few weeks of this year planning for the future, we are also spending time reminding ourselves of what we have built together. I am grateful for my colleagues, our Board, our clients, our business partners, and the countless people who have given a referral, an idea and a pat on the back along the way. It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a village to nurture a business.

Think about the people around you, who have helped you along the way. And make sure your communication with them includes a healthy dose of gratitude. Support should always lead to gratitude. And gratitude usually leads to more support. Funny how that seems to work.

Finally, any mention of the gratitude I feel would not be complete without a mention of my wife Emily, since this whole thing was her idea. One morning in September of 2000, Emily and I were hiking out of the Grand Canyon. As we enjoyed sunrise in the canyon, and while hashing out once again the “what am I going to do with my life” conversation, Emily said the magic words. “You have always been a good coach, and you are a good public speaker. So, coach public speaking. Just do that.” That was it. That was the idea. And here we are, all these years later. Thank you, my love.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our clients and friends in the United States. And to all our clients and friends across the globe, have a great week, and we hope to cross paths again soon.

Does your team:
– Take too long to make decision?
– Fail to ask for what it wants or needs from you?
– Make things too complicated?
– Deliver unconvincing or disorganized presentations?
– Have new hires who are unprepared to communicate in the workplace?

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Dean Brenner

A book about change

The Latimer Group’s CEO Dean Brenner is a noted keynote speaker and author on the subject of persuasive communication. He has written three books, including Persuaded, in which he details how communication can transform organizations into highly effective, creative, transparent environments that succeed at every level.