A few words can paint a thousand pictures. It’s what came to mind when I saw the following slogan in big bold font in the Financial Post: We Are Audience Experts. The phrase, “We Are Audience Experts,” perfectly conveys the essence of business communication. You, as a business person, must be an audience expert in…
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I like it when people are direct. So, when I wanted to find out what would turn off someone on the receiving end of a business pitch, I asked Shawn Hamilton, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, of the Ottawa office of CBRE. I’ve worked with Shawn before and I knew I’d get the straight…
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You may have seen the video of a high school boy wearing a Donald Trump “Make America Great Again” cap while seeming to taunt a Native American elder at the Lincoln Memorial. It was as it turns out, a complicated situation. But one thing is clear: Anger fuelled the incident, and after it was over…
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Some of us might have had the misfortune of witnessing road rage while driving. But all of us have been forced to listen to “car horn rage.” Honking their car horn is the way many drivers express themselves— even when it’s obvious that the noise will have absolutely no impact on traffic conditions. I just read…
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The other day I spent about three frustrating hours on the phone trying to talk to an actual human being. I had to tackle some business issues with my financial institution, my insurance company, and my Internet service provider, all in one morning — what a mistake! After wading through the usual voice mail prompts…
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If I had a dollar for every time I’ve received an email that concludes with “please don’t hesitate to contact me,” I’d be a rich woman. It’s such a popular way to end a business email. Yet, it always rings a little false. For one thing, it’s an unnecessarily complicated way of saying, “I’d be…
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Clutter. We all have it in our lives, whether it’s that kitchen drawer stuffed with decades of smoke detector manuals, or stacks of paper under a sticky note saying “To Be Filed.” In the past few months I’ve faced a whole new level of clutter, because I’ve been getting ready to move out of my…
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I am sure you’ll agree that both in our personal and in our business relationships we need to know that we’re being understood and our concerns are being taken seriously. I’m always pleased when someone who is looking to do business with me seems genuinely curious about the kind of work I do at The…
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I’ve often blogged about the importance of words because our words have a powerful impact. It’s the reason I chose the word “human” instead of “soft,” in the heading of this post. To me, the idea that essential communication skills are “soft,” suggesting they are less important than “hard” or technical skills, is just plain…
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