In school, there were front row students and back row students. Front row students read ahead, took copious notes, and asked probing questions right up to the very last minute of class. The back row ran color commentary—sometimes insightful, sometimes inane. Up until recently, online communication vehicles have been targeted to a “front row” mindset: [...]
From the monthly archives:
July 2010
On Monday, LeaderTalk ran a blog entitled Tell Me a Story. Which got me thinking: here I am, telling people to treat their life like a story, and it’s been a while since I’ve told when myself. So, no lessons today. No observations, either. Just a good, old-fashioned story… which happens to be true. Locked [...]
It’s a known factoid that consultants love “needs assessments.” The question is, does anyone else? Behind closed doors, what clients call “Phase 1 Needs Assessments” (as if they are part of the ongoing project) go by a less euphemistic term: “paid business development.” Companies regularly pay between $20,000 and $500,000 for needs assessments, depending upon [...]
Good communications means nailing the message plus four contextual factors: delivery channel, timing and frequency, direction, and tone. Of these five factors, tone appears to be the most challenging for many people. It’s not we don’t understand that tone matters. We do. It’s not even that people don’t try to watch their tone. We do [...]
How can you talk about that million dollar idea you have and protect it at the same time? What’s the value of an unshared idea? The entrepreneur’s answers: 1. An idea unshared is worthless. 2. An idea so fragile it can be easily stolen by the next person you talk to isn’t a great business [...]
I just read that Syria has banned Islamic veils at universities. In the article, a woman states that wearing the niqab—a veil that covers all but the eyes—”reflects my freedom.” Which made me think that some of us, and by us I mean the woman in the article, are not clear on the concept of [...]
I'm Jason. I make people shine. My mission is to help 1 million people tell their stories better. 