Much of politics and political discourse today seems to be a display of people imposing their will on others. Rather than diplomacy, reasoning, or the careful navigation of the law, we see force and pressure. Unsurprisingly, this only escalates tensions and mistrust. I’m embarrassed to admit the number of times I’ve imposed my own will
I used to manage a product that provided transcripts and summaries of corporate earnings calls to investors. This was before AI, so the transcripts were produced by stenographers and the summaries were written by lawyers. The thinking was simple: Stenographers were trained to produce verbatim, sequential output, whereas the lawyers were trained to produce accurate,
I recently observed a meeting where a team member raised a complex issue. Another leader immediately jumped in to address it. Within seconds, the rest of the room went completely silent. I had the distinct sense that the rest of the team didn’t go quiet because they lacked ideas, but because of the approach the
By the time you read this, my son will have performed his guitar and vocal solo. It’s his first and final high school solo concert performed over three nights, in front of hundreds of people. He has been anxiously anticipating this moment on the stage since the tryouts months ago. That anxiety comes from a
Several years ago, my marriage counselor shared a piece of wisdom with me that fundamentally shifted how I view communication: Defensiveness is the weakest posture in an interaction. I saw this play out recently during a presentation at a city council meeting. A consultant was pitching a proposal, and the mayor questioned the data regarding
The all-girls chorus sang first in our recent high school choir concert. Their voices were beautiful as they harmonized in unity. If you closed your eyes, you’d think they were angels. But seeing them made me think that they probably didn’t all view themselves as angels. Do you know what someone looks like when they
I work with a large company that recently decided to stop sending clients the annual survey they had been sending out for years. While the “home office” saw it as a way to reduce administrative effort, the decision caused an uproar among field employees, who generate hundreds of meetings from the survey results each year.
Did you know that the word “but” is an acronym for “before the ultimate truth”? Ok, it’s not really…but that’s what it signals: What’s to follow is truer. When you use the word “but,” it tends to create unnecessary friction in an exchange. In my last post, I suggested seven words that lead to greater
I remember years ago leaving a meeting with several high-level leaders and saying to one of them privately: You really did a good job getting everyone to understand and buy in to that complex topic. I was in a technical role at the time, and his response shocked me: The key in these meetings, he
One of the highlights of my week is shopping at Costco. Stick with me. Despite its size and corporate structure, it maintains high employee retention. This makes the retail experience feel more like visiting a locally owned market where you see the same people working month after month for years. I’ve developed some long-term friendships
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE