As an addition to the article I wrote for MMC and ‘The Vine’, here’s 10 things you can practice to help you develop flexibility and social skill… For the original article see here. In your head- Assume every person you meet is important, and treat him or her as such. Remember that angry and unhelpful…
For my friends, colleagues and acquaintances at MMC and ‘The Vine’. Here’s a ‘taster’ of some of the things we might cover at our lunch meeting this week. Personal Impact- At it’s simplest, personal impact is about being good at getting people to like you. It’s about being flexible in your approach to meeting strangers,…
The full quotation is: “They who honour me, I will honour. They who despise me I will disdain.” It was used, memorably, in the film ‘Chariots of Fire’ to illustrate the conviction and motivation of the hero; and his good grace in the fiercest of competition. It’s a snippet from the Bible, obviously, and though I’m not a…
In my 20 years of speechwriting, coaching and conference presenting, I’ve noticed that, ironically, it’ s most often native English speakers who are most difficult for international audiences to understand. The reasons are simple. They tend to speak in their vernacular. They use slang and jargon not taught in ‘school’. They use over complex language,…
President Barack Obama is used so often as an example of a great speaker by ‘experts’ that he’s almost become a cliche. There’s no doubt that he can be a great speaker, on occasions, as many of us can be, to friendly crowds, with a well crafted speech, when everyone is listening and no one…
Here’s a great article on FT.com about the use of management speak in the London held inquests into the deaths of the innocent and guilty in the London Bombings of 2007. Lady Justice Hallet, the coroner, objected to the use of ‘management speak’, by the senior representatives of the emergency services interviewed as a part…
Here’s some sound advice from a friend of mine, Mark Richards at Simple Words. In short- Bluntly, Google don’t want their search engine rankings clogged up with badly written articles that are all too often simply copied from other badly written articles. He’s a writer, a good one too, and you wouldn’t be surprised to…
Here’s a lovely ‘how to’ of things to do to network effectively at those sometime tricky social & professional occasions, from Karen James. Tips like- People like to talk about themselves and their business. Good questions would be; ‘How did you get started in business?’ or ‘You have been very successful, what’s your secret?’ Which beautifully illustrates the underlying…
‘The compassionate Fool’ by Norman Cameron , is one of my favourite poems. It’s beautifully written. When I first got to know the piece I thought that it was about me, as teenagers tend to. About how difficult I found it to get out of relationships in case I hurt the other person’s feelings. Then I passed through…