The BOLD (Get at It) Everyone seems to have settled back in now. My friend, Shanna Kabatznick, pointed out that Monday was the real New Year’s Day because it was when everyone returned—from time off, from holiday brain, from travel. Welcome to the New New Year. Our society tends to celebrate Friday and dread Monday (though distributed […]
The Annual Word: Setting a Theme for the Next Season
The BOLD (In a Word) This month our theme is Speak, Think and Create. This is the second principle of the Prospects of Possibility™, the framework for change that I help my clients navigate as they design their clarity. Language is generative—it is the tool we use to build new possibilities. The language that we use to think […]
An NPR Lesson in the Power of Impromptu Communication
The BOLD (Wait, Wait…Say That Again) A recent experience has me thinking about the role of scripted and impromptu communication in our lives. Sometimes we have the luxury of preparation. Sometimes, we must flow in the moment and rally our words to serve an opportunity that, once past, will not come again. How can we prepare to communicate […]
Tell a Story That Establishes Trust
The BOLD (Once Upon a Time) It is often the third question. First, they will ask, “What do you do?” When that is answered, the next question is usually asked to establish just how you do what you do. Question three, though, prompts the answer that they wanted in the first place. They ask, “Who are you?” and the […]
Tell It Well–The Power of Story
The BOLD (In Days of Old) Once Upon A Time… There is a reason that we tell children stories. A story delivers the message in a palatable chunk rich with relatable characters, familiar conflict, and satisfying resolution. The story may be clad in the fantastical, taking place in an impossible land but it runs on an engine […]
Part 3: Shift Your Perspective: Your Most Important Conversation is with You
THE BOLD (The Power of Words) It’s in our stories. Words are powerful. In Judeo-Christian teaching, God speaks the world into being. In 1001 Arabian Nights, Shahrazad uses tales of adventure and wit to save her own life. Often, we forget the power of words to create new realities. We sit, trapped in the words we’ve accepted and loose […]
Prepare for the Unexpected: Part 2–Design Clarity
The BOLD (By Design) I’m excited about this topic, which is part two in a three part series about preparing for the unexpected. We are going to explore designing clarity—setting ourselves up for success by building capacity before the surprise arrives so that we can make a different choice in the space between stimulus and response. […]
Yes, And or No, But: It Will Probably Work in Your Favor
The BOLD (Cultivate and Expectation of Good Things) It happens. An obstacle arrives. A disappointing outcome follows our efforts. How we approach such challenges has a lot to do with what we expect the results will be. By adopting a “Yes, and…” attitude and by assuming that things will probably work in our favor, we […]
What Have We Done To The Word Priority: How to Find the Important Thing
The BOLD (In 1943, There Were No Priorities) We’ve only been speaking about the word priority as plural since 1944. Of course, the word priorities existed before that date, but no one used it. Not really. How can we set our priority for each level of our planning in a way that builds on and […]