There is a great divide over whether or not to incorporate humor into presentations. This is especially true of serious talks, pitches or even eulogies. The physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson discusses public speaking and the use of humor in his Master Class online program. Tyson...
The recent Academy Awards were uninspiring. So, we watched one of our favorite films, The King’s Speech. It isn’t surprising that two speech coaches would gravitate to a film about a speech therapist who coached the King of England to overcome his stutter. Yet this 2010...
What is the dominant emotion for 2021? Languishing, says Organizational Psychologist Adam Grant in a recent NY Times article. It’s a sense of stagnation and emptiness which makes one feel joyless and aimless. After a difficult election, multiple mass shootings and no definitive end to the...
If you love great documentaries, watch Ken Burns’ three-part series on Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was a complicated human who changed the landscape of American fiction. He was masterful at getting to the heart of a character or relationship through simple, unadorned writing. One of the...
Bob Ross was recently featured in a piece on CBS Sunday Morning. Ross hosted The Joy of Painting, a PBS television series that ran from 1983-1994 for 403 episodes. How did a show about learning to paint become so successful?Interestingly enough, 90% of Ross’ audience...
A recent episode of “60 Minutes” featured Boston Dynamics. They build mobile robots that do complex tasks. Their robots can even dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn3KWM1kuAw (We dare you not to laugh!) Will they rule humanity in a dystopian future? “No,” says Marc Raibert, Founder of Boston Dynamics...
Many of us have been dragging our feet in the Zoom/Teams/WebEx world, hoping it would pass. Our clients, from physicians to CEOs, have expressed an aversion to speaking or trying to connect through a camera. (Tip. Imagine the lens is a supportive friend or colleague.)...
Born on a Minnesota farm in the early 1900’s, the DeZurik Sisters shared uncanny powers of observation. Their skill was remarkable. Imitating the birds on their farm in perfect harmony, Mary Jane and Carolyn produced sounds of whistles and trills. They incorporated these birdsongs into...
Adam Grant, an Organizational Psychologist and Professor at the Wharton School delivered a TED talk in 2016. It’s particularly relevant now as many professionals feel they’ve lost precious time in their careers and wish to regain their momentum. Grant’s talk, “The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers” reveals...
The recently aired Golden Globes had the smallest audience since 1996. Success was difficult because the two hosts, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were on different coasts and there were no celebrities in the live audience. But we believe the real reason for the declining...