The other day, I was at a workshop and one of the speakers was clearly nervous.  He began his talk by telling the old story about the survey that asked people to name their greatest fear.  Public speaking came in first, by a large margin.  Death was fourth.  So, if you believe the results of this survey, most people would rather die than stand up and give a talk.  He was one of them.  He urged us to be kind to him because he was nervous doing this talk.
He was suffering from what is known …

Competence is one of the keys to career and life success that I discuss in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success; Your Success GPS; and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success.  If you want to succeed you need to develop four basic, but important competencies: 1) creating positive personal impact; 2) becoming a consistently high performer; 3) communication skills; and 4) becoming interpersonally competent.
Here is an overview of how to become a dynamic communicator.  It is rule 26 in 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success.
The life of a business traveler, especially …

The August/September issue of SUCCESS Magazine showed up in my mailbox yesterday.  As usual, I dropped what I was doing and paged through it.  I’m taking it with me today on a trip to Florida to celebrate my niece, Morgan’s, engagement.   I’ll read it cover to cover and make notes as I read.
I love SUCCESS Magazine.  Have you subscribed yet?  If not, you should.  I haven’t found a better source of content on career and life success. 
One article jumped out at me, as I always post about communication on Thursday.  The article is called …

Today is Thursday, so this post is on dynamic communication.
Your writing can make you appear smarter or dumber than you really are.  How you use modifiers can have a big impact on the impression you make with your writing.  The other day, I received the June 2008 Writing eTips Newsletter from Upwrite press (www.upwritepress.com).  It had some great common sense advice on the use of modifiers.
“When you use modifiers incorrectly, they actually muddy your message and suggest carelessness on your part. Here are two of the most common errors in using modifiers, along with ways …

Today is Thursday, so this post is on dynamic communication.
All dynamic communicators are excellent conversationalists.  All excellent conversationalists are great listeners.  The other day, I read a very interesting book, “Same Words, Different Language” by Barbara Annis.  Ms. Annis bills herself as “the world’s leading gender specialist.”  After reading “Same Words, Different Language,” I’m inclined to agree.  If you are interested in understanding gender differences and how to deal with them, I suggest you read it too.
For purposes of this post, I want to concentrate on what Ms. Annis has to say about listening.  She …

Today is Thursday, so this post is on dynamic communication.
I’ve sung the praises of Women’s Edge Magazine in this blog on several occasions, the most recent being Monday of this week.  If you missed it, you might want to check out the post I did on Muhammad Ali’s greatest lesson.
The current issue of Women’s Edge has a great article on communication written by Kim Mills and called “Bounce the Slang, Dude.”  Ms. Mills has a great sense of humor.  She begins by saying, “Have you ever heard a conversation but did not understand what was …

Today is Thursday, so this post is on dynamic communication.
Last Thursday, I did a post on how to become a dynamic story teller.  I described the four step process for creating and telling good stories that I have developed. 

Identify one, two or three things you “know to be true” about the topic of your story.  If you can’t do this, you probably don’t know enough about the topic to be speaking about it in the first place.
Think of the life experiences that have led you to this knowledge.
Use these life experiences to create stories …

Today is Thursday, so this post is on dynamic communication.
Dynamic communicators are good story tellers.  Everyone likes a story.  Stories are hard wired into our brains.  They come from the oral traditions of most cultures.  They were the way people learned prior to the written word.  Stories are powerful because they help us grasp important concepts.
In 1982 two very different books were published that changed the face of business books forever.  Both were built on stories.  “The One Minute Manager” by Ken Blanchard and Spenser Johnson was a little book that was story about a …

Today is Thursday, so this post is on dynamic communication.
Today’s post is the fourth in a series on advice to my niece Brett, who graduated from Florida State last weekend.
Brett, all successful people are dynamic communicators.  All dynamic communicators have three things in common.  1) They are excellent conversationalists.  2) They write clearly and succinctly.  3) The present well – to groups two or two hundred.
Effective conversations are an up close and personal undertaking.  All of the dynamic communicators I know are great conversationalists.  Like most things I have one great piece of advice on …

Today is Thursday, so this post is on dynamic communication.
I came across a great book the other day: “Do It Right: The New Book of Business Etiquette” by Valerie Sokolosky.  Ms. Sokolosky is the author of seven other books, including “Monday Morning Leadership for Women.”  She leads workshops on the changing needs in the global marketplace.
There is a chapter in “Do It Right,” called “Techno-Etiqutte and Written Communications,” that has some great common sense advice on becoming a dynamic communicator.  Here’s what Ms. Sokolosky has to say about telephone communication.
Top Ten Telephone Do’s and Taboos:

Identify …