Many years ago a client taught me a valuable communication lesson. It was about managing client anxiety and expectations. His was a complex case, made worse by the exasperating and outrageous behaviour not only of the other party but of the other lawyer. They both broke all the rules, all the time. What should have…
About half my class that year started out sullen and disinterested. Most of this group were male and a year or two older than grade-average. Many were just months away from sixteen when they could, and would, drop out. Their bodies came to school, but their minds and spirits didn’t. After the usual skirmishes to…
Most people think that communication is all about content. They’re only half right. Consider communication as a woven fabric, with the warp and the woof (or weft) lying at right angles to one another. Each east-west strand passes, alternatively, above and below each north-south strand, in turn supporting and being supported by the other. A…
Geoffrey Powell was a British solicitor who, in his retirement, attempted to teach Canadian law students something about wills and estates. That he succeeded to some extent was more a testimony to his skill and perseverance than to our cleverness. Back in the seventies, law students tended to be a grungy bunch, slouching around in…
My Dad was a master chef. His motto was “The eyes eat first.” What he meant was that presentation will make or break the dining experience. Artistry on the plate sells food, but a dish of glop will be left to go cold. The adage is even more true for communicators. Great presentation will make…
Some years back we had a file come through the office where an old bachelor had left his estate “equally between my brothers and my sisters”. As it turned out, he had three sisters and two brothers. If you’ve been following the Friday Briefing, you’ll immediately spot “between” as trouble. As counsel for the estate…
I like to think it’s because of my magnetic personality, but that wouldn’t be the truth. Our dogs sit by my feet at the table for a very pragmatic reason: I’m an easy mark. While the other end of the table has a strict no-scraps policy, my end has nothing of the sort. Now, there’s…
Last week, you’ll recall, was a teaser. I wanted to get you thinking about the traditional ways we try to attract clients– any clients, not just great ones. We sponsor little league teams, we buy advertisement, we join service clubs, and we do all kinds of things to prove that we’re nice, and people should…
In 2012 the Canadian Mint got tired of producing one cent coins for an ungrateful population. Pennies’ only use in life was to make change. You couldn’t buy anything with a single penny, or even two or three. They were a nuisance for merchants and for banks. A penny on the ground never got picked…
You know the old riddle: “If a tree falls in the forest, and there’s nobody around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Without getting into that philosophical debate, let’s re-frame the question into something more practical for professionals. “If a professional is the best in the world at what she does, but nobody…