Is Them the Facts?

A good friend of mine forwarded one of those "thought"-ful emails today and for some unknown reason, I decided to have a read. Regina Brett's 45 Life Lessons. I thought, "Who is Regina Brett? What makes her an expert on life?" But without getting too hung up on the details, I saw enough in her column that made me want to read through it. When it comes to writing, any kind of writing, it is important to grab the attention of the audience. In the case of the email that was forwarded to me, it was "90 year old woman writes..." that grabbed my attention. A couple points need to be made: First, it wasn't written exactly like that, but that was my interpretation. It said, "To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more." She was not in fact 90 when she wrote it. But, it grabbed my attention nevertheless. The second point I want to make, for the record, is that when I looked up Regina Brett on line, it turns out that she had truned 50, not 90. Someone had embellished her age at some point when forwarding her tips around the world. Even though this exaggeration helped popularize this Plain Dealer writer from Cleveland, Ohio, it is so important to write the facts. Writing requires creativity but not reinvention of the facts. To be added to Lanartco's Communication Performance Tip of the Week (a separate weekly message), please connect to this link or send your email address to info@lanartco.com.

The What?

I was standing in the lobby of Société Générale Monday waiting to see a client. Being a French bank, there are many second language speakers of English floating around. Two suits are walking towards the revolving door when I hear the American say to the French, "The what?" And I chuckle to myself, "Here we go again." Either, we as native English speakers don't try enough to understand foreigner's speech or it really is that hard to understand. I know plenty of people who have a mental block when it comes to understanding non-native English speaker's accents. What is that about? Time to expand our thinking. And it isn't that these folks aren't in training programs perfecting their English. They are. But we have to do our part. The first step? Wanting to understand. I know we can do it. in the end, maybe we can avoid the, "Say what?" To be added to Lanartco's Communication Performance Tip of the Week (a separate weekly message), please connect to this link or send your email address to info@lanartco.com.

If I Think Enthusiastic...

When I was 17, I was in the Junior Miss Connecticut competition (please don't bring it up again.) Aside from meeting some great girls and having an overall learning experience, my father told me something important that he was taught in a Dale Carnegie course. "If you think enthusiastic, you will be enthusiastic!" This quote, when said repeatedly before going out on stage, sent my energy levels off the charts. It is somehing I have carried with me through the years and it helps me put on my game face. To be added to Lanartco's Communication Performance Tip of the Week (a separate weekly message), please connect to this link or send your email address to info@lanartco.com.

The Blind Are Happy?

Have you ever seen two blind people walking down a city street arm in arm leading each other with their respective walking sticks? Doot da doo...off we go to work, to Starbucks, to the subway, to a concert. You know the expression: The blind leading the blind. Well, they actually do this. How about a blind person walking down the street with her newly trained Labrador puppy? The smile of the blind woman couldn't be wider than the Grand Canyon. What is that about? How is that possible? What is she so happy about? I figured it out. Disposition. A positive attitude goes as far as you feel positive. Our moods bring us down AND, guess what, they bring us up. And not only do they bring US up or down, but they bring those around us up or down too. Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project says you have to "act the way you want to feel." I know I want to feel good. Great even. And I want to be sure I bring my positive attitude into my communication. How about you? To be added to Lanartco's Communication Performance Tip of the Week, please connect to this link or send your email address to info@lanartco.com.