It can be tempting to throw a really big word or a complex sentence into your presentation. As with everything else, ask yourself: “What is this for? What’s my intention here?” If the answer is not: “This is the best way to serve my audience,” cut it. Keep it simple.
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Leaving a small plane, passengers crowd into the narrow jetway, waiting for the bags that were checked at the gate to be returned to them. They press themselves against the walls, making a corridor for the people who don’t need to wait for their luggage. An airport employee, calling down the jetway, says, “Stand … Read more
My family and I have recently binge-watched a Netflix show called Hyperdrive. Hyperdrive features a slate of drivers and their souped-up cars racing a course of increasingly crazy obstacles. The drivers go through narrowing walls at top speed, race up inclined six-story tall bridges, and drift their cars sideways into targets. They do all this … Read more
Imagine that you are walking from one place to another. You must make this journey every day—maybe from home to work. One day, on the road between point A and point B, there’s a huge dog, snapping and snarling at you. The next day, the dog is there again. Each time you try to make … Read more
It was a busy morning in our house, and I needed to leave early. I asked my kids to do several things before they left for school. The first thing I asked my daughter to do involved looking up information on her phone. While she was doing that, I said, “Please make sure to … Read more
Let’s say I run a thriving dog-walking business. I employ five dog walkers to take various clients on walks on different days, and different times. One walker, someone I have worked with for a while, does a good job but is really flaky about his schedule. He changes things around at the last minute, takes … Read more
What is your default mode? Are you the listener or the speaker? A loner or a group project cheerleader? The leader or the follower? Do you like to weigh all the options several times before you decide, or go with your gut? Do you express your feelings or hold them to yourself? Are you … Read more
Oh, meeting amnesia. This isn’t the kind of amnesia that makes you forget to go to a meeting— No, this is what happens the second the meeting is over, and everyone scurries back to their real work. They forget, instantly, about what happened in the meeting and what follow-up actions they are supposed … Read more
A friend turned to me recently after a conversation with someone else had ended awkwardly. She said, “I know that didn’t land well. I was 70% trying to be helpful, and 30% being a jerk.” That 30% is pretty powerful, and my guess is that it’s going to override the 70%.
Have you ever watched one of those shows on HGTV, one where the team of experts comes in to remake and remodel some regular person’s home? There are a million of these, but the one I saw most recently was an episode of “Property Brothers.” Jonathan and Drew, the aforementioned brothers, were helping a … Read more
