Unless you are a hermit, your professional reputation will be determined by your ability to communicate. I guarantee that if you make and keep these three simple yet profound promises throughout 2017, you will multiply your communication power. Keeping in mind that these principles apply equally to written and oral communication, here they are: 1….
A lawyer friend recently expressed his frustrations with attention-challenged listeners. Blame it on our education system, the internet, loud music or global warming– the truth is that many of your conversation team-members are often not completely with you. How to respond depends on two things: how much time you have to waste, and how important…
Researchers working with mice have recently confirmed what we already knew: time flies when you’re having fun! What the scientists discovered is that highly-stimulated mice had greater neural activity in the part of the brain which plays a role in processing the passage of time, making the mice underestimate the amount of time which had…
Q: Norm, why do you insist on putting a hyphen in “e-mail”? Most folks just call it email– isn’t that simpler? A: Yeah, it’s probably simpler, but I don’t like it. Notwithstanding its many idiosyncrasies, English does have some rules of spelling and pronunciation, and “email” doesn’t satisfy them. It also makes more sense to…
Parable, simile and metaphor are techniques to convey an idea by comparing the new concept to something the listener already understands. A reader of the Gospel knows that Jesus taught nearly all his key principles by parable, using simple stories to reveal eternal truth. St. Patrick held up a shamrock to explain the Trinity, and…
Perhaps this is slightly off the usual message of effective communication. But perhaps it’s the most important lesson of all. For each of us, there will be a final word, after which is eternal silence. What has not been spoken will forever remain unspoken. Do you have a loved one who is in the twilight…
Nothing devastates effective oral communication faster than annoying mannerisms. Valley Girl talk, droning, whining, snorting or slurring– any of these will slash your credibility by 50%. In a face-to-face situation, lack of eye contact and bad body language have the same effect. If the audience is important, deliver your message with the respect they deserve….
Donald Trump said that the DNC hacker might have been a “nerd sitting on his bed that weighed four hundred pounds.” You know what he meant, but that’s not what he said. The plain meaning of the phrase is that the bed weighed 400 pounds. Silly Donald! Recently the CBC headlined “Dangerous Stories About Barbecue…
You meet an old friend from high school who pulls out the class picture. Who do you look for first? Don’t lie to me, now– you know exactly whose face you’re looking for! It’s yourself, right? Don’t feel awkward– we’re all the same. This is literally nature at work. Nature builds self-interest and self-preservation into…