beckysue 
When I tell business people they need to bring out their inner actor in order to connect with customers and employees, someone (usually a lawyer) will inevitably ask, “What do you mean you want us to act? You want us to fake it? To pretend?” Absolutely not. That is not what acting is about. Not modern … Read more
It’s been said that people buy on emotion and justify with logic. I don’t have any facts to back up that assertion, but I believe it in my heart. Actually there’s been study after study showing how emotion often trumps reason when it comes to decision-making. So tapping into emotion is an important way to connect with audiences … Read more
I went to see the Book of Mormon on Sunday and it was as hilarious as everyone has said. But I was just as struck by something I saw in the program. It’s no secret that the church takes a lot of heat in this show. And this was their response: a series of full-page … Read more
Sunday is Oscar Night and there’s only one thing more predictable than Daniel Day Lewis taking home the Best Actor award: it’s the sight of multiple presenters flubbing their lines, mangling their scripted “ad-libs” and exiting the stage in the wrong direction. And these are professional performers! What chance does an everyday person have to … Read more
Last week I urged people to do less quoting and more original thinking. So this is me taking my own advice. I always write best in the morning. I feel like as the day goes on we get steadily beaten down by life’s many petty annoyances and obstacles, and it limits our creativity. The morning is … Read more
The Internet has ruined quotations for me. I love inspirational quotes as much as the next guy. I even collected a bunch of them on the subject of communications and put them in a video. But enough is enough. Some people’s Twitter and Facebook feeds consist of nothing but famous quotations, often pasted over stirring … Read more
Stories can do amazing things for you. Telling the right story can help you nail a job interview, win over a customer, rally a team, motivate employees and many other things. But what exactly is a story? A colleague of mine went searching for a definition of story for a book he was writing. He … Read more
Sometimes you get passed over for a job or a project and you regret it. Other times you realize it was the best thing that could have ever happened to you. The other day I got an email from a company unveiling its brand new website. I quickly realized it was a project I bid … Read more
On this day of speeches, I’m reminded of something I wrote a couple of years ago about how Martin Luther King essentially winged major parts of his I Have a Dream Speech: When Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, it electrified the audience gathered on Washington’s mall and inspired the nation. Almost … Read more
Whenever I’m involved in a big conference with multiple speakers I make the point that “it’s all one speech.” That is, it’s one big message and each speaker is telling a different part of the story. In real life, of course, that doesn’t always work out. But for any company that’s serious about reaching an … Read more