One of the most frequent debates that comes up in our workshops and coaching is this: “Sometimes I am not asking for anything, so there is no persuasion. Sometimes, it IS just an update.” And The Latimer Group’s standard reply to that question is

How often do you sit in a meeting, or on a conference call, or listen to a presentation, and feel disengaged within the first two to three minutes? Yep… me too. It usually takes speakers forever to simply

This is a blog about communication and leadership, and how to make ourselves more persuasive, and how to increase our presence and expand our credibility. And all of those things are vastly more powerful if we simply remember to…

We need to be thinking about doing more than just delivering information from point A to point B. Sharing or delivering information is fine. Providing our colleagues with a status update is important. But it is not nearly enough.

We all have bias, whether we will admit it to ourselves or not. And if we are not careful, and if we don’t manage our bias, then that bias may get in the way of real business progress.

There is one element that is consistently required for successful and persuasive communication…. creating an emotional connection.

The best preparation involves getting fully immersed in what the other side/person/group is going to say, and to try to see their point of view.

Do you want to be seen as “essential” by your manager, leader or executive? I will assume for a moment that your answer is “yes.” So let’s talk about what that will require.

But regardless of the kind of persuasive argument you might be trying to make, there are a a few universal truths we all need to keep in mind. If we want to make our most persuasive argument, we need to do a few things…

There are a few questions we frequently hear from our workshop participants. And perhaps the most vexing is the question of detail: how much do I need, where do I put it, how much is too much?