By Joan Acocella, writing in The New Yorker… Sara Solovitch, in “Playing Scared: A History and Memoir of Stage Fright” (Bloomsbury), says that while she was a good pianist as a child, she fell apart—sweating, trembling—when she had to play for an audience. She got through the Eastman School of Music’s preparatory program. Then she […]
By Jason Aten, writing for Inc… Communicating is easily the single most important job of leaders. If leadership is mostly about influence–and it is–then the ability to communicate a vision and motivate people to move toward that vision is the single most important characteristic a leader can have. The problem is, communication is hard. Sometimes […]
From the archives, and still powerful, Deborah Tannen, writing in The Harvard Business Review… The head of a large division of a multinational corporation was running a meeting devoted to performance assessment. Each senior manager stood up, reviewed the individuals in his group, and evaluated them for promotion. Although there were women in every group, […]
From Devin Partida, writing for Worth… The tragic condominium collapse that occurred recently in Surfside, Fla., has shed light on the importance of crisis management. Identifying threats before they arise can be a challenge. Emergencies can be difficult, if not impossible, to anticipate, but how to respond to them can be thought out beforehand. Proper planning […]
Filippo Menczer, Luddy Distinguished Professor of Informatics and Computer Science at Indiana University, writes… Facebook has been quietly experimenting with reducing the amount of political content it puts in users’ news feeds. The move is a tacit acknowledgment that the way the company’s algorithms work can be a problem. The heart of the matter is the distinction between […]
By Howard Fencl/Hennes Communications Fact: The COVID-19 vaccine will make you glow in the dark. Fact: Migrants crossing the southern border are causing the latest U.S. outbreak. Fact: Dr. Anthony Fauci is covering up U.S. support of research that unleashed COVID. Fact is, none of these allegations are fact. They’re nonsense. And none of […]
From Stephanie Scotti, writing for SmartBrief… When you are about to step up to deliver a presentation, you may feel like the audience is an adversary. If so, you may be surprised to learn that, with rare exceptions, your audience is really cheering for you; they want you to succeed. Whether listening by choice or […]
By Sophie Maerowitz, writing for PR News… As the climate changes and severe weather events become more frequent, all PR pros have a relatively new discipline to master: emergency weather communications. While public notices around dangerous weather conditions were once solely the realm of local governments and first responders, just about every type of organization […]
By Evan Nierman, writing for PR News… The swift downfall of “Jeopardy!” host Mike Richards is the latest example of the jeopardy that surrounds us in today’s lightning-fast unforgiving age of social media. Whether you make a wrong move, say something offensive, or have ugly skeletons in your closet, the career-ending rush to judgement can be fast […]
National Preparedness Month (NPM) is an observance each September to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that could happen at any time. The 2021 theme is “Prepare to Protect. Preparing for disasters is protecting everyone you love.” Week 1 September 1-4: Make A Plan Talk to your friends and family about […]