One of the most valuable distinctions you can make about language is to develop insight into active and passive voice. “Mistakes were made” is passive voice. It doesn’t say by whom those mistakes were made. People use passive voice to avoid...
communication
Here are articles on communication
Leading by Example: Walking Your Talk … Under a Magnifying Glass
In a leadership position, even the small stuff … isn’t. People watch your every move. Get used to it.
How would you know if you’re evil?
It's almost Halloween, which means it's time to confront our fears... The Evil Queen stood in the doorway. The terrifying thing wasn't the smoke rising from her hair, the sinister red glow emanating from her fingertips, or the half-eaten apple rolling on the ground...
Google apps are free. Not!
I posted a comment about the new Gmail interface on a social media site. One responder said, "you get what you pay for. Gmail is free." Reading that, I realized that the "Google is free" argument used to work for me, but it no longer does. Google apps are not free at...
Make It Easy To Communicate
If you're a businessperson, relationships and partnerships are a key part of getting things done. Communication is one of the most important components of successful working relationships. Yet all the communication technology we've invented has actually made it harder...
1 Step To Start Regaining Control Of Your Inbox
I spent a couple of hours today methodically unsubscribing from several years' worth of newsletters, subscriptions, etc. It's amazing how freeing it feels to see browser window after browser window saying, "Thank you, you will no longer receive these emails." I didn't...
An NLP hint on writing and emotion
Using emotion in writing depends on your words and the emotions those words bring up. Choose your words to create the emotion you want.
The secret to persuasion? Just ask!
How do you persuade? Questions! This post leads to my HotJobs article on the same topic.
My psyche was just hijacked by a sweet sounding, marketing demoness!
I just received a voicemail from an amazingly sincere, genuine-sounding coaching "guru." She went on and on about how she wants to give back to me and show her tremendous appreciation. All I have to do is visit her web page for details. I visited. It turned out to be...
Giving feedback: is the “sandwich” valuable, or trite and ineffective?
Conventional wisdom has it that you should sandwich negative feedback between two pieces of positive feedback. You can read about "the hamburger method" here. Shelle Rose Charvet points out that most people already know the method. Now, when they hear positive...