Great communication does not just happen. It requires thought, preparation, practice… and it requires a philosophy. There are many philosophies out there in the 21st century business world. But here is what works for us

My colleagues and I at The Latimer Group talk about this all the time… the power of persuasion is the most important skill one can have in our

One of the questions I get asked all the time is, “How can I be less nervous when I stand up to present?” Here are a few things that will help build your confidence, the first two of which will not surprise you in any way.

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…

One of the best ways to communicate in a powerful way is through the use of story. And one of the best story telling techniques we know is called “Problem→Solution.” We use it and teach it all the time.

Most people think of their communication as a tangible and clear output: words on the page, images and messages on a slide, words coming out of the mouth. And there is truth in that belief.

It’s a common occurrence in the business world. You prepare for a meeting or presentation, expecting that you will be able to speak for a certain length of time… only to find out that you will be allotted much less time than you planned for.

In our workshops, we talk all the time about making things simple. The simple answer wins the day most of the time. In a world that is increasingly fast-paced, time-starved, and overloaded with information, the person who can

Have you ever listened to that person who says something like “um” over and over and over? After a while, all you hear are the “ums.” How about the person who says

We write constantly in this blog about all the different elements of good communication… clear messaging, effective visuals or slides, powerful presence and delivery, speaking with the “executive voice“…

Anyone who has ever worked with The Latimer Group, or read or listened to any of our content, will easily recall one of the primary tenets of our work – great communication requires that you understand who you are speaking to. We discuss this constantly — anyone who

Have you ever, um, listened, um, to someone who, um, has a distracting pattern to the way they, um, speak?

Therefore, the most valuable person in most meetings today is not the person with all the details. The most valuable person today is the person who can

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.