Sometimes actions speak louder than words, as I wrote in my last blog post. While I agree with Albert Mehrabian’s theory that about 55% of what we communicate comes from body language, it’s also important to note that body language is highly subject to interpretation. All too often our non-verbal behavior may be misread, or we…
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In my last blog post, The Message is the Medium in Business Communications, I wrote that our words significantly impact the success of our business communications. But, there are times when actions speak louder than words. A few weeks ago, while on a weekend getaway, my friends and I stopped at a favorite small gallery famed…
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Marshall McLuhan, Canadian luminary, famously declared, “The medium is the message.” Yet, when it comes to business communication, whether it’s electronic or paper-based, it’s your words that matter most. As Tony Robbins, speaking about human relationships, articulated so succinctly, “words matter.” If you’ve ever had an argument with any one, I am sure you’re aware how true these…
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I recently participated in a basic one-day first aid and CPR training workshop. Although you don’t need a medical background, it would have been easier if I had one. The course was very intensive. A lot of great information and demonstrations were packed into 6-8 hours. By the end of the day, my head was spinning. I…
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As a business owner, I am sure you frequently encounter people who solicit you in order to sell you their services. For instance, the other day the phone rang and someone, who identified herself, only as “Ann,” launched into a monologue about how her digital marketing company would “achieve outstanding outcomes” for my business. She…
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Instead of lauding Russell Peters for the great job he did as host of the recent Juno awards celebrating Canadian music, organizers had to apologize for his comments. Headlines in the news were not what you’d expect. They were about Russell Peters’ “jokes” about the young women in the audience and Mélanie Joly, Canada’s Heritage…
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Lately, it seems I’ve been contacted, more than usual, by a greater number of ESL professionals, who are anxious to improve their ESL business English skills. Because Canada is so famously multicultural, I’m not surprised. Even though we embrace diversity, it’s not necessarily that easy for these non-native English speakers to achieve the success they…
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Whenever I solicit grammar questions from an audience, many of the questions relate to punctuation. Punctuation is a crucial part of good writing. It tells us where to stop, where to pause, and it marks off the exact words someone is saying. But it does so much more than that. Judicious and correct use of…
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Sometimes, we can be our own worst enemies. Case in point: I’ve been working with a highly accomplished IT manager, who’s an expert in her field. She’s smart! She manages large, highly technical complex projects. When she makes presentations to colleagues, with similar technical backgrounds, she tells me they have no trouble understanding her. Yet,…
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