Leadership is most often associated with traits such as vision, decisiveness, and charisma. But it is listening skills that sets a good leader apart from the rest of the pack. The best leaders use listening skills to create an environment of trust, collaboration and innovation. They also use them to build understanding and clarity, instead …
Continue reading “Listening Skills! The Hot Sauce for More Influence!”
The best speakers pause more. In turn, they look much more confident and conversational. Speakers who fail to pause are simply not as relatable and compelling as those who build in this natural cadence element. Over the years we have coached tens of thousands of people and have discovered this is one of the key …
Continue reading “Pause More When You Speak: 3 Top Reasons!”
Impact of negative words on daily influence.
Storytelling is one of the most effective ways to connect with people, influence audiences and advance your career. People love stories because the brain is wired for stories! One of our passions is helping people become effective storytellers so they can be their best… and have some fun! A few years ago, we helped an executive …
Continue reading “A Whale of a Tale: How to Master Storytelling”
Each year people deliver more than 30 million presentations and speeches as part of their work. The most effective presenters and speakers know how to match messages to their audience. In turn, they build trust with their audience. This is important because trust opens doors to opportunities. But a new worldwide poll shows building trust …
Continue reading “How Effective Presenters Match Messages to Audience”
News reporters are spewing out COVID-19 crisis stories around the clock. There is another virus worthy of your full attention as you help lead your organization through this time of testing. It is a communication virus that our team at Benchmark Communications calls a Thought Virus. This virus contaminates your daily messaging and communications. It …
Continue reading “The Virus that Contaminates Your Communications”
If Forrest Gump were a reputation management consultant he would say that crisis response is like a box of chocolates! You never know what you might get – when your crisis plans sit unused and untested. How do you know if your crisis response will be like a box of chocolates? According to PR studies, 62% …
Continue reading “10 Signs Your CRISIS RESPONSE is Like a Box of Chocolates”
Effective Messages People who know how to create and deliver sticky messages have more influence! How many times this year will you try to get someone to understand your ideas? How many times will you succeed in making your ideas stick so that others accept and act on your advice? Creating and delivering Sticky Messages …
Continue reading “Sticky Messages: How to Influence Decisions”
There is a new habit you can choose in the new year to transform your career; showing more gratitude has the power to increase your happiness and those around you! It is so simple, yet studies show it is one of the most powerful daily habits you can build into your life. Whether you choose …
Continue reading “The #1 Career-Boosting Habit for 2020: Gratitude”
HOW GOOD ARE YOU AT READING TRUST? Trust is the foundation of building strong teams at work, so how good are you at judging who is trustworthy? Do you sometimes pick up cues and ignore them – only to realize later the cues told you someone was not worthy of your trust? If you were …
Continue reading “Trust On Teams: How To Tell If You Can Trust Someone”