Assertions, part 2

After this blog post came out, I got a terrific email from a reader, Laura. She told me that she was frustrated with my point of view because I seemed to be advocating standing up on a soapbox and throwing your opinions out there, with no supporting evidence.   When I got her email, I ... Continue Reading

Managing time.

This matters.   We’ve all been in meetings that run over, where it becomes obvious during the first agenda item that whatever is at the end of the meeting is going to get very short shrift. Someone has been unrealistic in their planning, someone isn’t taking charge of the meeting…   A few years ago, ... Continue Reading

Great voices.

You know who are geniuses at using their voices and words effectively? Sportscasters. Not the TV ones, the radio ones.   Think about it. Have you ever listened to a game that’s broadcast on the radio? Those people have a really hard job—they have to watch what’s going on, translate it instantly into words, say ... Continue Reading

Our greatest truthtellers

Your body knows a lot. It knows when you’re feeling out of your depth, when you’re under-prepared, when you’re worried, when you’re excited. Sometimes it knows before you do.   Have you ever felt a tight throat, a racing heart, and not been quite sure why? Then you open your calendar and realize your day ... Continue Reading

I have too much to say!

Marissa writes: I give quarterly reports to the board of the organization I work for. I only have ten minutes to recap everything, and I feel like I’m talking faster and faster to get it all in. What can I do to feel like I’m giving an effective update? Marissa, we get this question a ... Continue Reading

If you’re here, be here.

It’s a funny thing. Most of us know that when we’re engaged, time passes more quickly. We’re in flow, so we’re not watching the clock, so we’re surprised when we look up and see that an hour has passed.What we don’t quite always manage to implement is our own control over this phenomenon. We moan ... Continue Reading

Red herrings.

I love mystery novels. There’s something about falling into the story and then being surprised at how it twists and turns that makes a mystery the ultimate relaxing read for me.   Recently though, reading a book by an author I usually enjoy, I found myself frustrated by just these same twists and turns. The ... Continue Reading

Losing our way.

Put this in the “Everything is a metaphor for everything else” category:   We all have times in our lives when we don’t know what’s next. Something we counted on is gone, a person or a place or a job. Times of transition are often like this—“I knew what to expect in the last phase; ... Continue Reading

When other people are an agenda item.

As I’ve noted before, everybody is busy. A side effect of that busy-ness is that our interactions with other people can start to have a quality of efficient productiveness, as if “call Mom” was item #7 on today’s list of things to do.   Have you been on the receiving end of that kind of ... Continue Reading

“Don’t feel nervous!”

The advice I dislike the most on the topic of communication all falls into a common category, which is basically, “Don’t feel nervous!”   The other versions of this are:   Be more confident! They’re not going to bite! You know your material; why on earth are you worried?   Here’s the problem. When we ... Continue Reading