What Do We Choose to Remember?
The most basic definition of a memorial is that it’s something that exists to remind us of a person or an event. Many of us have personal memorials—objects or photos or books or even places that we keep in our lives in order to help us think about people or times past. These are some …
The Tangles of Our Own Making
Our sweet dog, Rhodie, has a little problem with hyper-vigilance. Someone walking down the street near our house? ALERT! Guy next door getting out of his car? THIS IS A PROBLEM ! Neighbor’s dog frolicking in his own yard, minding his own business? GET HIM! As a result, Rhodie has to be on a long leash …
Your Own Personal Billboard
Our faces are our billboards to the world. They are telling the people around us how we’re feeling, whether it’s okay to approach us, what kind of person we are, whether we’re paying attention, what we think about the person who’s talking right now. This is even more true in a virtual environment. Since all …
A Few Words About Introverts and Extroverts
“Introvert” and “extrovert” are words we love to throw around to describe ourselves and other people. But as with so many personality traits, using these terms as a general catch-all can do a real disservice to both types of folks and everyone in between. As I discuss in the video below, introversion and extroversion refer …
When the Best Things in Life Aren’t Free
Last week, a Broadway theatre-goer smuggled a phone into the audience and recorded footage of the star of the show “Take Me Out.” This video was released onto the internet. Those are the objective, and minimal, facts of the situation. These facts describe a situation that would never, could ever, have happened a few years …
The Problem with Getting Feedback on Your Presentation
If you knew you needed to improve your public speaking, how would you start? Lots of people answer: “I would go and get feedback from people who have seen me present.” Okay, great. But what kind of feedback are you going to ask for? Before you answer, let me beg you, don’t say this: “The next …
What’s in Your Word Cloud?
We all have lots of thoughts and ideas washing through our minds at any given time. Stuff we need to do, fragments of conversations we’ve had, bits of songs, worries, reminders, what to make for dinner. You know word clouds? There are words of different sizes close together on a background, and the relative size …
What Does a Leader Do When Things Go Wrong?
Years ago I was hired to direct a play at a theatre that made its money and reputation on very mainstream plays and musicals. They were branching out into some lesser-known works that were more of a risk with their core audience, and the company brought me in for one of these plays. Our rehearsal …
How Does It Feel?
A weak handshake “Um, so…” Slumped shoulders Confusing presentation structure A data dump of bullet points Rambling answers Text-heavy slides Or… A firm handshake Clear eye contact Posture that takes up space A clear message Energy that invites your audience in Stories that connect to the listener Images that convey ideas and emotions Which would …
Coaching Is for You
One of the fundamental principles of coaching is that you can only coach who’s in the room. In other words, it doesn’t make sense to spend a lot of time talking about the boss, the spouse, the colleague: we can only coach the client. Inevitably, clients do talk about other people during sessions, and understanding …
