Tag Archives: communication

A book for resolve: Change or Die

By Steve | Published: January 1, 2010
Change or Die by Alan Deutschman was referred to me by a physician who is using its ideas to help her patients make life changes (thanks, Deb). It was an ideal read to usher in a new year, a new decade and a new phase in my career. Many of the change ideas were familiar to [...]
Posted in Book reviews, Leadership, Life, Organizational communication, Organizational culture | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Poet brings vision statement to life

By Steve | Published: December 23, 2009
Tears of pride welled up yesterday as I watched a corporate video. A corporate video! Diane Gage-Lofgren, our national VP of communications and PR, had asked a poet/performance artist  to bring life to our communication team’s new vision statement. A stroke of genius. I will forever have a visual and resonant image to add soul [...]
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Filmmaker’s advice for great business storytelling

By Steve | Published: December 18, 2009
Filmmaker Peter Guber (Rainman, Batman, The Color Purple) once used storytelling to win Fidel Castro’s support for filming in Havana Harbor. The official application form had been torpedoed, but El Presidente enthusiastically endorsed the project once he heard Guber tell of the harbor’s historic significance and Castro’s responsibility to the world to share that piece of [...]
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Stories trump facts: The mammography lesson

By Steve | Published: November 21, 2009
The facts are clear: You have to give 1,900 women mammograms before you save one life. Along the way are hundreds of false positives, needless worry and unnecessary procedures. The stories are more compelling: We all know someone whose breast cancer was caught early. That one life is real to us. The hundreds of false-positives [...]
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Put the “public” back in PR

By Steve | Published: November 15, 2009
Review: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge Key idea: Public Relations today means attending to relationships. Good PR starts with listening to the desires, needs and pain points of our customers and potential customers. It also starts with an excellent understanding of what our organization can offer to [...]
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My responsibility as a white guy

By Steve | Published: October 14, 2009
A sharp Metro State College student asked me about my earlier post on racism during my guest lecture yesterday. He seemed to get the gist of  my story, but I could tell he was confused. I think I was too cute in that post, and I liked my answer I gave him better: As a [...]
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Why the flame is eternal

By Steve | Published: August 31, 2009
The Chicago Tribune’s John Kass writes that with the death of Teddy Kennedy, perhaps we can now put the Kennedy / Camelot myth to rest. Sorry, Mr. Kass. Myths don’t work that way. Did Jacqueline Kennedy and a fawning press create the myth? Kass makes a pretty good case for that. But no matter how [...]
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Great ideas for improving meetings

By Steve | Published: March 24, 2009
Lencioni, P. (2004). Death by Meeting. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. When you stop to think of the resources an organization invests in meetings, you realize what a tremendous return is needed to justify them. Unfortunately, very little attention is paid to the conduct of a meeting and this valuable tool is largely wasted. Lencioni’s fictional leadership [...]
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Quantum physics meets dialogue

By Steve | Published: March 24, 2009
Bohm, D. & Nichol, L. (Ed). (1996). On Dialogue. New York: Routledge. During his career as a theoretical physicist, David Bohm’s writings and lectures took side trips into dialogue and collective thought. In this book, editor Lee Nichol compiles Bohm’s ideas to suggest a coherent theory of co-creation of meaning. There is a flavor of [...]
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My favorite org comm book

By Steve | Published: March 24, 2009
Clampitt, P.G. (2004). Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage. Clampitt suggests that effective communication is like dance, with partners passing messages back and forth, learning about each other and co-creating meaning. It is an ongoing process, rather than definitive episodes of message transmission and receiving. If a leader understands communication in this way, [...]
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