One of the most botched business ventures is the casting and performance of a pitch team. When everything is riding on the outcome, how your team delivers is critical.First, cast off the time-worn model of “Enter the room, engage in brief small talk, do introductions,...
You may be surprised to learn that one of the fastest-growing sports in U.S. high schools is girls’ wrestling*. CBS Sunday Morning featured wrestler Skylar Little Soldier, from Minnesota. She’s ranked as one of the Top 10 Girl’s High School Wrestlers in the country. But...
In Ray Bradbury’s 1953 science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature that ignites books. Americans could almost feel that heat, especially anyone experiencing summer in the Midwest. But what if Bradbury had named his novel Celsius 232.778? Not as gripping? Why? Because most American...
The fall of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the unsteadiness in the banking industry has created a palpable danger to the world’s economy. A major component of the painful and potentially unnecessary damage is a failure of communication. We called upon Eden Gillott of Gillott Communications...
There are so many outstanding women we could have celebrated during Women’s History Month. With the Academy Awards later tonight, we chose Jessica Chastain, who just won a SAG Best Actress award to add to her Oscar and Golden Globe trophies.In addition, Chastain is a...
Maybe it’s coming out of the pandemic, a long winter, or endless Zoom sessions, but recently we’ve encountered a number of long-winded talkers. These are folks who start with “This is an interesting/funny story…” and then proceed to bore the crap out of us, focusing...
William Henry Harrison, the ninth U.S. President, gave a killer speech at his inauguration. It was freezing rain, but Harrison spoke for two hours without a coat or hat. He developed pneumonia and died thirty-one days later, registering the longest speech and shortest time in...
Stage actors face an ironic challenge. They spend almost a month learning their lines, but once the show opens, they have to make eight performances a week sound fresh and spontaneous. Coming across as rote, memorized or pro forma is death on stage. It is...
Bonnie Raitt is an American Treasure. She taught herself to sing and play the guitar, specializing in gritty blues and American roots music. Raitt recently won two Grammys, for Song of the Year and Best American Roots Song, beating Adele, Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Harry...
While skiing on Santa Fe peak with friends, David was describing his favorite run. He said “Get off the quad, hop on chair seven, and take Sunset to Alpine.” It would have been inefficient for David to draw a detailed map without words. Homo Sapiens developed...