 A great story is not just heard; it’s felt. Stories can persuade, convince, and convert. Here are 4 ways to move people to action through storytelling…
Stories do more than entertain — they persuade. And many successful leaders and entrepreneurs use stories to turn words into impact. For some guidance when it comes to spinning a tale, Will Storrs, journalist and author of A Story is a Deal, shares four storytelling techniques to drive results.
When is the last time you were motivated to action by a story? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.
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 A leader’s positivity at the start of a year or project can have an out-sized impact on team performance ...
It’s no secret that a leader’s positive or negative communication can have a deep impact on how a team performs. Now researchers have studied what effect the timing of positivity might have. As a study published in Organizational Science showed, timing is everything. “When leaders expressed a lot of early-term positivity, their employees performed better throughout the year, compared with all other timing (for example expressing more positivity at the mid-point, or end of year, or leaders who were primarily negative at the start).” Here is the evidence-based advice:
Do you recall a leader or coach you worked with whose early positivity inspired you? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  The road to less arguing and better problem solving starts with asking one simple question…
Have you ever tried to change the mind of someone you disagree with? Good luck! And yet, psychologists say that remembering one simple question is the first step on the road to less hostility and more productive dialogue. Finding common ground may seem unlikely, especially in times like these. But it all begins with listening. Then, for the sake of initially engaging your partner, forget about facts. Regardless of their veracity, reciting a list of studies and statistics will likely just raise defensiveness. Beating people over the head with evidence that proves they’re wrong, only makes them more likely to insist they’re right. “People generally put their affiliation with their group and their sense of themselves as a competent and good person ahead of rationality,” writes Jessica Stillman in INC. Yelling doesn’t work either. Stridency might make you feel relief in the moment, but it almost always backfires and hardens other peoples’ beliefs. So, what’s left? Asking the “magic question.” According to science writer David Robson, author of the 2024 book, The Laws of Connection, you need to convince people of your good intentions for the conversation. Ask them: Can you tell me more about how you came to think that?” Is this enough to have someone do a 180-degree opinion turn? No. But, it is a start. You cannot change anyone’s mind if you don’t convince them you are open to understanding them. Have you ever tried to change someone’s mind about a deeply held belief? How did that turn out? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Framing things positively has enormous advantages… and there is one negative word you should consider banishing for good…
If you ask someone at Disney what time the park closes, they don’t exactly tell you. What they say is that “the park is open until 10 PM.” This is an example of what Debra Jasper, CEO of Mindset Digital, refers to as “positive priming.” And she thinks it should be applied to virtually every interaction. “Start with what you can do, not what you can’t,” she advises. If a client asks if you can meet at 2 PM Tuesday, they do not care or want to hear that you are busy. Instead counter with when you can meet: “I can make Wednesday morning work.” Or, instead of saying, “I can’t get that to you until Friday,” try, “I can get that to you on Friday.” Above all, Jasper says, there is a word you might want to banish from your vocabulary. That word is unfortunately. If you look up synonyms for “unfortunate” you get words like “grievous”, “dreadful”, and “disagreeable.” Is this really the tone you want to set? The next time you are tempted to begin a communication with “Unfortunately, I can’t…”, pause and rethink. How can you frame this communication positively? Hint: Start with the words, “I can.” How often do you find yourself using the word “unfortunately” and what could be your substitute? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below. We'd love to hear from you! Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Regardless of whether the word “writer” is in your job title, we are all writers—creating email, cover letters, reports, speeches, blogs, newsletters. Here are four tips to help you do it much better…
It’s easy to feel frustrated by the writing process, but it's also easy to boost your skills through some simple practices. Mastering the art of writing will help you be persuasive and prompt others to view you as smarter and more insightful. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Samantha Amber, author and host of the podcast How I Write, offers these tips:
What do you have on deck to write next, and which of these tips might help you most? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  If your job interview felt more like a dud than a win, don’t panic until you try these 4 moves…
Writing in Forbes, contributor Caroline Ceniza-Levine notes there are important criteria in deciding who moves on to callback interviews and the ultimate job offer. These include specific accomplishments that match the job description, your fit into the company culture, and your ideas about what you would bring to the role. Meanwhile, here’s what you can do while you wait:
Did you ever feel pessimistic after an interview only to get the job after all? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022. Gratitude has consistently been shown to lower stress, reduce pain, boost immunity, and improve blood pressure and heart function. Here’s how to spread gratitude not just on Thanksgiving…but always.
We recently released a micro learning video series on how to express gratitude so it sticks, and these tools are easy to learn. Neuroscientist Glen Fox has spent his entire adult life studying gratitude. “Grateful people tend to recover faster from trauma and injury, have better and closer personal relationships and may even just have improved health overall.” Fox did an experiment using brain-imaging scans to map which circuits in the brain become active when we feel grateful. “We saw that the participants’ ratings of gratitude correlated with activity in a set of brain regions associated with interpersonal bonding and with relief from stress,” he said. To up your conscious gratitude, Fox suggests keeping a gratitude journal. On a regular basis, write down what you are grateful for, even if those things seem mundane. The positive effect is cumulative so it’s a good idea to make this a habit. You can also write letters of gratitude to those who have helped you along your way. Says Fox, “I think that gratitude can be much more like a muscle, like a trained response or a skill that we can develop over time.” When was the last time you actively expressed gratitude, and how did you feel? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below. Create lifetime communication mastery online, with our virtual programs, awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  To get what you want, try saying nothing, or in the words of our book title, Be Quiet, Be Heard…
“A well-deployed silence can radiate confidence and connection. The trouble is, so many of us are awful at it.” So writes Rachel Feintzeig in the Wall Street Journal, and we couldn't agree more. Most of us rush in to fill any void in a conversation, but remaining still can reap untold benefits. Strategic silence can help in negotiations and selling. Instead of countering every point, try embracing a pause and soon you may find your counterpart jumping in with valuable information that will help you understand their needs and close. Sometimes holding your tongue can feel like going against biology. Humans are social animals, says Robert N. Kraft, professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at Ohio’s Otterbein University. “Our method of connecting — and we crave it — is talking.” For years, Kraft assigned his students a day without words, and many students also found that when forced to stop talking, they bonded better with their peers. Without pauses, we’re generally worse speakers, going off on tangents, stumbling over sounds, offering TMI (too much information), and maybe saying things we later regret. We can also put undue stress on ourselves, as talking to excess can raise our blood pressure, adrenaline and cortisol. So, the next time you are unsure of what to say, try saying nothing at all. Can you recall an instance when staying quiet helped you get what you wanted? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  From casual interactions to formal presentations, there is one, simple, 3-step hack to help you get through to people when it matters most.
Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Matt Abrahams, who teaches organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business, offers a simple hack to achieve this... Structure your message to cover "What?", "So what?", and "Now what?"
This framework is applicable to a vast number of situations. As Abrahams says, it organizes your thoughts, serves as a guidepost to those you are trying to influence, and renders information easy to follow and act on. It is equally useful in presentations, answering questions, and providing feedback. This structure supports your message, so that it is heard, internalized, and acted upon. Does this structure look like something you can use? We’d love to hear your results! To join the conversation, click on "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Do we reward, promote and respect ultra-confident people, or doubt and distrust them? The answer: It depends on how they express it!
One way people express confidence is with words of faith in their own abilities. Another way is nonverbally, using body language and tone of voice. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Elizabeth R. Tenney, assistant professor at the Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, reports that In a series of studies, researchers found that overconfidence can damage your reputation — but only if you express that confidence verbally. When you express confidence nonverbally, those negative consequences fade away. Talking about your likelihood of success by making bold predictions can backfire when results don't meet your projections. When this happens, your reputation can suffer. But communicating confidence nonverbally, can be seen as powerful and compelling: Confident people tend to speak in a louder vs soft voice, offering their own opinions, and generally conveying a larger presence. So how should you communicate confidence in a way that garners positive attention and influence in groups? According to this new research, when you express confidence verbally, your credibility may suffer. However, your expression of confidence nonverbally can be a significant advantage. The reason: nonverbal behavior is not so clearly tied to a specific, falsifiable claim as are verbal expressions. How do you evaluate whether someone seems confident, and what is your response if their results are not what you expected? To join the conversation, click "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Have you ever received "feedback" that’s useless and annoying? Instead of asking for feedback, try asking for advice.
Feedback is backward looking. It is anchored in past behavior. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Dr. Amantha Imber, author of Time Wise and host of the podcast How To Work, suggests asking for advice instead. Advice-giving is a form of guidance that leads to thinking about future actions. Imber offers 4 steps to getting advice that will really help you improve:
When was the last time you asked for advice, and how did you do it? To join the conversation, click "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  If you are considering a significant change in your organization, it is crucial to first take the emotional temperature of your members. But new research suggests that few leaders know how to do this.
In her survey of over 200 leading company executives, Patti Sanchez, chief strategy officer at consulting firm Duarte, Inc., found that 69% of respondents said they were planning or currently conducting a change effort. Unfortunately, half of these same execs said they hadn’t fully considered their team’s sentiment about the change. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Sanchez offers strategies for ensuring your team is motivated and onboard:
Do you know how the members of your organization feel about any changes you plan to implement? And if not, how might you find out? To join the conversation, click "comments" on below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  The “real world” doesn’t care about your college GPA, and success is really based on three essential qualities.
In a commencement speech at Kean University this May, Neil deGrasse Tyson, esteemed scientist, author, and educator, argued that five years into the future no one would give a thought to college grades, and he exhorted graduates to focus instead on three essential qualities:
What qualities do you think really matter most in one’s life and career? To join the conversation, click "comments" below because we would really like to get your feedback! Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  To get ahead, it’s good to be noticed by senior management, but how do you do it without antagonizing your own boss?
If your boss isn't being particularly useful in helping you advance your ideas or take advantage of opportunities, you may be tempted to go over their head. But, needless to say, this can present risks. As recounted in the Harvard Business Review, Dave MacKeen, CEO of Eliassen Group, a strategic consulting and talent solutions provider, and Chuck Cohen, Managing Director of Benco Dental, the largest, privately-owned dental distributor in the U.S., offer suggestions for demonstrating your true potential without alienating your direct manager:
What have you done to raise your profile, and how did your boss react? To join the conversation, leave a reply below. We would love to hear from you! Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  “Big things happen during small talk,” says Matt Abrahams, Stanford instructor and host of the popular podcast, Think Fast, Talk Smart. He says "Small talk gets a bad rap", but it is actually an incredibly effective communications tool. He often challenges people to think about how many of their close friendships started with small talk – and the answer is, generally, quite a few.
“A lot of us put tremendous pressure on ourselves to be interesting," Abrahams explains. "We want to say exciting, valuable, relevant stuff, and it's the wrong mindset.” The trick, he maintains, is to lead with curiosity. He advises we think of an initial, casual conversation as akin to Hacky Sack. You serve to the other person and then they serve back to you. Good conversation is, by definition, collaboration. Some quick small talk tips:
Of course, if you're at a professional gathering, there's a chance you have a specific agenda in mind when starting a conversation, for example, looking for customers, investments, new hires, or useful information. In such cases, Abrahams says, “find hooks and ways of bridging to the topic you want to discuss so that it could become a natural part of the conversation.” Can you recall a significant business or personal relationship that began with small talk? To join the conversation, click "comments" below. We'd love to hear about your experiences! Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022. |
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