Remembering Steve Jobs – A Public Speaking Exemplar
By now we have all heard hundreds of technology and media experts talk about how brilliant and talented Steve Jobs was and the profound legacy he leaves behind. Quite simply, we listen to music and communicate with each other in ways no one could have imagined,...
Three Ways to Strike Out During Your Next Presentation: A Painful Lesson from the Boston Red Sox
Having been married to a die-hard Red Sox fan for over 15 years, I know how important the month of September is for Major League Baseball. It’s March Madness in the fall. And no fans were more confident on September 1st than Red Sox Nation. Nine games up and a...
The Finkler Question?, or How I Chose Resonance over Prestige
Last night, I finally put down the novel, The Finkler Question?. Winner of the 2010 Man Booker fiction prize, it is a "wry, devastating examination of the complexities of identity and belonging, love, and grief written through the lens of contemporary Judaism." I...
One More Time with Feeling: Competence, Confidence, Connection
I called my local hair salon this morning to get an appointment with Jason, the Jimi Hendrix of blow-drying. The woman who answered the phone informed me that Jason had moved to San Francisco. “Do you want to make an appointment with someone else?” she asked. I...
Broadway meets Business: “Don’t Play the Waiting Room!” and “Don’t Go Over the Net.”
This Sunday’s Corner Office column reminds me of the time I watched actor and Broadway star, Joanna Gleason, run a master class workshop for teen musical theater performers in Boston. Gleason was mesmerizing. After each teen performed their song, she led them through...
The U.S. Open, Self-Talk and Performance
I do not follow professional tennis at all during the year, but I watch the U.S. Open tournament every single August/September. I do love tennis and played enough to be an appreciative spectator. I also believe that the Open functions like a transitional object for...
Reading the Mind Through the Eyes
Here's a newsflash: Excess testosterone decreases the ability to empathize. Wo! Pump the brakes there sister, you just ran through stop sign. A recent study by researchers at Utrecht and Cambridge University found that an increase in testosterone can negatively...
You’ve Got This
We dropped our oldest child off at college yesterday. Since it was Labor Day I was reminded that, like labor, you can make all the plans you want but until the blessed event is happening to you, you have no idea what you are in for. It was sad, exciting and strange....
Weeds: The Season Seven Fiasco
For all you Weeds fans out there in cyberspace, I’m wondering if you are having a similar reaction to the one I’m having about this season’s episodes: the wheels have come off and it’s careening all over hell’s half acre – or at least Hell’s Kitchen. What happened to...
The Dark Side of the Moon
The image of two suns setting in the first STAR WARS movie planted itself firmly in my visual memory. I was entranced. Can you imagine what it would be to see two suns or moons in our sky? Needless to say, the new scientific theory suggesting that our planet once had...
The ‘Miracle Grow’ of Public Speaking
“Authenticity is the alignment of head, mouth, heart, and feet – thinking, saying, feeling, and doing the same thing – consistently." - Lance Secretan Anyone with a passing interest in the race for the Republican presidential nomination can see what’s troubling Mitt...
Sound Serendipity
Sound Serendipity Last night, after a near perfect beach day, I rolled out my yoga mat. No physical movement inspired me, so I just lay there, face down, stretched out, eyes closed. I noticed the sound of chirping crickets. As I listened, I realized that the...
News Flash: You are Always Fighting for the Attention of Your Audience
We have talked about this issue before but it bears repeating. Just because you think what you have to say is ‘off the hook’ important and maybe even life-changing, doesn’t mean your audience thinks the same. You have to give them a reason to listen, and then another,...
The Glee Project, Vulnerability and Success
I can't get 'The Glee Project' out of my mind. My kids and I have watched the entire summer series which wraps up in the next two weeks. I am hooked. Twelve talented teenage finalists are competing for a role on Season 3 of Glee. Each week the group is given a...
Make Your Audience Feel Something
I was stuck in a meeting from hell today. Boring agenda. Listless participants. Too many tangents. If that weren’t enough, the meeting leader was not on his game and had introduced the first agenda item and then the second without taking time for introductions. One...
The Paradox of Cliches
This week we are focusing on cliches, those overexposed sayings and overused metaphors that we hear everyday. As I write this I am sitting in an office reception area that itself could be a cliche: neutral colored couch and chairs, ferns and greenery (some real/some...