Cut Your Tether and Move
Baby elephant trainers teach their elephants to “stay” by clasping their ankles to a thick chain attached to a big stake in the ground. A year later they use a light chain tied to a small stake, and...
View ArticleBehavior Reigns – Lessons from the Debate Front
“We don’t ‘know’ our presidents. We imagine them. We watch them intermittently and from afar, inferring from only a relatively few gestures and reactions what kind of people they are and whether they...
View ArticleThe VP Debate: A Draw, but… Behavior Still Reigns
If you were a democrat, you liked the debate. If you were a republican, you liked the debate. Issues were pretty well debated actually. And both VP candidates Biden and Ryan were energetic and...
View ArticleWhere’s the Vision? – The Second Presidential Debate
First thoughts – they both came to play. President Obama and Governor Romney were contentious, confrontive, strong, and articulate. If you favored one guy, he won. But the audience lost. Messaging...
View ArticleThe Last Debate – Creating An Experience
We’ve always said that “Behavior Reigns” in these debates. This last critical Presidential Debate of this important election is no different. Obama won – but why? And did Romney really lose? What will...
View ArticleChanging the world, one meeting at a time
Until a few weeks ago, my husband (let’s just call him Mr. McCormick) had a standing appointment with boredom every Tuesday at 9am. Seventeen people would gather around a conference room table taking...
View ArticleAn Unexpected Safety Announcement
I just spent 4:27 at my desk watching an in-flight safety commercial. More than four minutes to watch the same material I don’t pay attention to when I’m actually on a plane! True story. Why would I...
View ArticleUse emotion like Frank Warren
Watch this 11 minute video. I dare you not to feel anything. You can’t help it. It’s visceral. In just 11 minutes Frank Warren gets you to feel fear, insecurity, esteem, thrill, surprise, sadness,...
View ArticleLet people see your face!
Comparing the phone call to email above seems like an easy, efficiency-based decision, right? If only that were the way we made decisions. Alas. As Baratunde Thurston beautifully describes in Fast...
View ArticleThe Top Ten Best (and Worst) Communicators of 2012
The Annual Top Ten Communicators List features noteworthy successes and failures – reminding us that strong communication skills are essential. Punctuated by the summer Olympics and the election, 2012...
View ArticleWhat If Everybody is Cursed By Knowledge?
Anytime you’re presenting something – say, the ins and outs of cloud computing – and are so entrenched in that world you forget it’s possible for someone to not know all about it, you’re suffering...
View ArticleAudience Analysis: Nonverbal Cues & Clues
You’re out to dinner with friends, and one of them is in the midst of telling a great story. She’s gesturing wildly, her intonation ebbing and flowing, her energy rising as the story builds. Just as...
View ArticleAchieving Leadership and Collaboration
We launched Decker Communications to transform people’s lives – a mission that remains the same today. Having held CEO leadership since founding the company in 1979, I take pride in the fact that we...
View ArticleFocusing on Continuous Improvement
When you love what you do, it isn’t considered a job – right? I continue to be amazed by the people I get to work with and the changes we see every day. It was truly an honor to be elected by our...
View ArticleEmotion and Story Rule
You’ve heard us say it before, and we’ll say it again: People buy on emotion and justify with fact. There’s no better place to watch emotions unfold than on the Super Bowl, and it’s no surprise to us...
View ArticlePower to the Pause
Imagine opening a book with no commas, no periods, no paragraph breaks. Or better yet, read this: Say youre speaking to a room full of tech savvy folks you could say our network is secure everyone in...
View ArticleUse the Human Scale
My friend Jason is a genius. Like many parents across the country, Jason had struggled to explain the price of college to his daughter. Seventeen-year-old Rachel had fallen in love with a school whose...
View ArticleWe’re Exci-TED.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: TED Conference Time. As participants in #TED2013 Live, we’ve been privy to this year’s ideas worth spreading. With so many ideas (over 84 different talks in 4...
View ArticleFake It Till You Become It
Several of our program leaders use the phrase, “Fake it till you make it” when they are coaching. I prefer to raise the bar on that challenge. Do as social psychologist and HBS Professor Amy Cuddy...
View ArticleListen Up: It’s Time for The Big Dance
Ever give instructions to a group and the voice in the back of your head says, “they’ll know what I mean”? Well, that doesn’t always work. Even when you’re working with the best people. It happened in...
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