respect

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 […]

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 […]

My colleagues and I always talk about the importance of knowing your audience, and preparing for your work communication correctly. We work with our clients on their ability to clarify the message and the ask, and to try to anticipate what the audience will care about, and the questions or objections they may have. And […]

My family and I recently returned from a short trip to Mexico. We have visited family there several times with our son over the last six years, and this was the first plane trip for our infant daughter. Traveling with young kids can be a real challenge, no matter how hard you try to organize […]

Just about three years ago, I published a post on this blog called “Teach Them to Fly,” about my then three-year-old son, and how important it is to give people — kids and adults alike — the confidence and encouragement to soar with their passions and strengths. I revisited this post recently, and some things […]

My colleagues and I speak and write all the time about the importance of getting to the point. We talk about the importance of respecting your audience’s time, managing their attention span, and how our fast-paced 21st century world makes this skill a critical one. It turns out that a pretty famous guy, Winston Churchill, […]

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, […]

There is an old adage that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat people who “don’t matter” and when no one is looking. In other words, you get the real insight into a person’s character by the way they treat people who can’t help them in some way, or […]

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 […]