You receive a call. Something’s gone horribly wrong, and everyone is demanding answers. Tiny beads of sweat form on your face. You feel a rush of heat all over your body. Time…
Tag: audience
Keep It Simple
Complexity doesn’t work. Especially when you’re trying to explain yourself. So keep it simple. Your message will be better understood — and it’ll be more persuasive. Simplicity sounds simple. But it…
The Myth That Faster Is Better
Don’t put the cart before the horse. Think before you speak or act, and you’ll be less likely to regret it later. If you rush willy-nilly to throw out words, you’ll only…
Farewell to the Wild West?
To post or not to post? Reddit & Gawker may decide for you. “A bad story can have a terrible impact on our reputation, and that affects everything we do and every…
Filling the Void
Not a lot of facts? No facts at all? Speculate. The media does it every day. In life, timeliness is important. Miss the window and you’re SOL. In dating: Meeting the right…
The Love Letters
Be prepared: Better to do and not need, than to need and not have done. Love letters. We’ve all written them. Whether they’re actually delivered is a whole other matter. Likewise, we’ve…
Belief & “Truth”
Forget about the extremes. Focus your effort on the middle. Is “truth” really knowable? Or is it a fiction we create to reaffirm our beliefs? Did Bill Cosby repeatedly have non-consensual sex…
Too Little. Too Late.
Get out in front of a crisis. Or the other side controls the story. When is “at all cost” too high a cost? The NFL is finding out. So are other…
Noise & Substance
Pick your fights carefully. Preferably ones you’ll win. Opinions, they say, are like assholes. Everybody has one. Doesn’t make them right. But people are seldom eager to back down. Sometimes it’s pride…
Savage Magic
First, define your audience. Convince them and you win. The British magazine The Economist is fond of phrases like “the savage magic of capitalism.” It’s also fond of describing itself as “Liberal”…