Universal Communication Truths
Posted On March 15, 2021 BY Dean Brenner
Any good coach will always do their best to understand the unique circumstances of the person they are coaching. No two people are the same, and therefore, no two coaching assignments are the same. You have to meet the person you are attempting to coach “where they are,” because a good coaching relationship is exactly […]
Video: How to Become an Olympic-Level Communicator
Posted On June 21, 2017 BY Dean Brenner
Want to communicate at the Olympic level? Work on the 4 skills of great communication one by one, and when you put them all back together, you’ll be communicating at a much higher level. What are the 4 skills? Dean lays them out for us in the video below: At The Latimer Group, our […]
Video: The 4 Skills of Great Communication
Posted On April 24, 2017 BY Dean Brenner
Ask anyone who performs at a high level: athletes, dancers, singers, etc. They all prepare and practice their skills the same way. They break their skill down into smaller “sub-skills,” then practice each one individually, then put them all back together, and their overall skill level has improved. The same is true with communication. “Great […]
How Distracting is Your Speaking Style?
Posted On March 13, 2017 BY Dean Brenner
Have you ever listened to that person who says something like “um” over and over and over? After a while, all you hear are the “ums.” How about the person who says “like,” or “you know?” Hard to listen to that after a while. How about the person who qualifies everything they say with a […]
Petulance, Parenting, and the President
Posted On March 7, 2017 BY Dean Brenner
Earlier this morning, I was thinking about the way I coach clients. My colleagues and I always preach the important of message AND delivery. Message matters, first and foremost. But the way in which the message is delivered has a huge impact on the way the message is received. And then on my drive into […]
Leadership Tips: When to Debate, When to Dictate
Posted On January 30, 2017 BY Dean Brenner
I’m working with an executive right now who has an interesting and engaging leadership style. He likes to collaborate, he likes dialogue, he wants to hear what people have to say. He allows lots of input, and seems to detest strict hierarchy. I like this style, actually, because it is similar to my own. But […]
Mapping Your Communication Progress
Posted On December 12, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
Our work at The Latimer Group is all about helping our clients build strong and powerful communication skills. And to do that effectively, we have to be able to help them assess two things: current strengths and weaknesses, AND a path towards improvement. One without the other just isn’t that helpful. Skill development, in any […]
The Most Important Ability You Need in the Workplace
Posted On December 7, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
(This post written by Brett Slater, Chief Social Media Officer at The Latimer Group) I got an amazing text from Dean yesterday while he was in a break at one of The Latimer Group’s workshops: “The most important ability in the workplace is account-ability…” Whoa. Mind::blown. That phrase popped up spontaneously in that workshop, and we […]
What Is Your Superpower?
Posted On November 3, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
I have written here on many other occasions that leadership and team lessons can come from anywhere. It is always great to find some little nugget of wisdom and apply it to other facets of your life. And it is especially profound when that little nugget comes in the most innocent of ways… a passing […]
The Secret to Finding Your Executive Voice
Posted On October 6, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
We recently finished an intensive workshop with one of our top clients. The topic was Executive Communication Skills, and the goal was to coach a small group of about 10 rising executive stars in the art of persuasive, executive-level communication skills. We covered a lot of ground over the two days, but one topic worth […]