Tom Catalini

Communication is more than words

February 22, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

Discussions carry more information than words. Facial expressions, tone of voice, mannerisms and gestures are part of the conversation. All those things convey information and meaning. Stripping them away changes things.

That’s precisely the point of this great letter written by Mark Twain back in 1888, in which he disallows future pulitzer prize winning writer Edward Bok from publishing their interview.

“Spoken speech is one thing, written speech is quite another. Print is the proper vehicle for the latter, but it isn’t for the former. The moment ‘talk’ is put into print you recognize that it is not what it was when you heard it; you perceive that an immense something has disappeared from it. That is its soul.”

Twain goes on to explain, as only he can, the tremendous challenge of capturing spoken words accurately. It’s a great reminder that the medium matters. Translating the written word to a speech and the spoken word to text must be done with care and consideration. Communication is more than words.

Photo credit: Joel Washing

Filed Under: Communication Tagged With: interview, speech, writing

Give Your Speech, Change The World by Nick Morgan

February 21, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

In Give Your Speech, Change The World: How to move your audience to action, Nick Morgan gives a comprehensive account of what it takes to master the art of public speaking. The point of any talk, he asserts, is to change the world – to move others to act in the way you’re trying to persuade them.

To do this, you must first be heard. And that means capturing and keeping an audience’s attention. That’s not an easy task. Morgan puts this into perspective with a brief history of the craft of public speaking. He points out the tried and true elements that have been effective since the ancient Greeks used them. The challenges in the modern world are different, of course, and Morgan explains how to adjust your technique.

A good portion of the book is spent on content, the essence of any talk. Structuring it properly is critical. Incorporating the power of story and engaging the audience are essential to what Morgan calls an audience-centered presentation.

A whole section of the book is dedicated to rehearsing, and another to delivery. Once you’ve got the content nailed down, you need to be able to present it well – and to interact with the audience strategically in order to get your message across most effectively.

Each chapter is well-written and carries the weight of an experienced presenter and coach. Written in a conversational style, certain points are emphasized within each topic. Conveniently, each chapter ends with a short bullet point list of its essential elements, making it easy to go back and use the book as a reference.

I’d recommend this book for anyone who speaks publicly, for any size audience. You’ll no doubt uncover tips you can use immediately.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Nick Morgan, presentations, public speaking, speech

Presidential speech

February 20, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

A speech really can make a difference. And it can last beyond the place and time of delivery.

Most don’t. No matter the speaker, the occasion, or the audience.

But at certain crucial moments of history, many of our presidents have indeed risen to the occasion.

Take, for instance, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. While the context of the US Civil War certainly gave weight to whatever he might say, the address was unique – yet long-lasting – in several ways.

In just ten sentences Lincoln put the ceremony and the Civil War itself in context, tying the event to a rich history and an important future for the United States. He also tied the event that everyone had gathered for (the Consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg) to its larger meaning in a larger context. Ironically, he states that “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,” yet it is one of the most well-known speeches in United States history.

An economy of words, a proper and profound context, a short and humble delivery. Lessons we should all embrace for our own speeches.

Photo credit: USDAgov

Filed Under: Communication Tagged With: speech

Complex problems sometimes require a simple approach

February 17, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

Problems in technology can be difficult to resolve. Our systems today are incredibly complex and they exist in very dynamic environments. When things go wrong, it can be tricky to figure out how to fix them.

In fact, it’s hard to even figure out exactly where the problem is sometimes. And we can really paint ourselves in a corner when we dig into the nooks and crannies of these complex and dynamic systems. We look closely, examining the nuances of the system. We tweak esoteric details and look for weird anomalies in the weeds.

Often times, however, a better approach is to simplify the situation. To minimize the complexity. To break things down to their component parts and examine them from a simple and straight-forward perspective.

Sometimes the intimidatingly complex problem has a simple and obvious solution, if you look at it the right way.

Photo credit: dvs

Filed Under: Sources of Insight, Technology

“Out of the box” design thinking

February 10, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

Check out this latest design tip from John McWade of Before & After Magazine. Simple and powerful. Such a great example of a small adjustment that makes a big difference.

Can’t see the embedded video? Click here.

Filed Under: Sources of Insight Tagged With: design, less is more

Your recovery gets more attention than your mistakes

February 8, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

When you’ve promised to deliver something, you’re expected to come through. Your project is expected to be on-time, on-budget, and meet spec.

It’s expected to be what was discussed, including everything that was listed, negotiated, and agreed upon. Not only that, it’s expected that you’ll deliver all those things that were not discussed explicitly. All the things imagined in what was thought to be a complete meeting of the minds.

There’s always a grey area, and that can be the toughest part to deliver on. Which is why communication is such a crucial element in any initiative.

Things go wrong

And still, things go wrong. It’s almost inevitable. There is an unexpected challenge, a tricky problem, something that wasn’t discussed thoroughly enough, or some other snafu along the way.

The thing is, something goes wrong in almost any endeavor. As much as good intentions, clear communications, thorough checklists and best practices tries to avoid problems, they crop up. So, often, people aren’t expecting there to be an absence of problems. But when they arise, they do expect you to deal with them swiftly, adeptly, and completely.

The pivot

How you’re going to get to the goal just changed, but the goal hasn’t moved. In the parlance of startup companies, this is called the pivot. You remain focused on your mission, but evolve your strategy to find a new way to achieve it.

Chances are your setbacks won’t be that dramatic, but the lesson applies. And that’s really the thing people are watching.

What do you do in a difficult situation? Do you look for scapegoats and contract clauses and other ways to find excuses or share blame?

Or do you focus on charting a new path to success?

Do you rally others to the cause? Do you display creativity, resourcefulness, and competence? Are you honest and direct?

Those are the questions others are wondering about you when this happens, and they should serve as the guide to your response.

Photo credit: KJ Pane

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: attitude, communication, project management, strategy

Craftsmanship vs Expertise

February 6, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

Experts

Experts know everything. They’ve done it before. That knowledge and experience is what makes them expert at what they do. That’s worth a lot, in the right circumstances. When you need to embark on something new to you, something you’ve not done before but others have, something for which you can’t afford failure, you need an expert.

Craftsman

Craftsman are on a quest to know everything about something, but they know the goal itself is impossible to achieve. For them, the fun is not in knowing as much as it is in the pursuit of knowledge.

Craftsman continually hone their approach. Rather than rely on the same patterns and practices that have served them so well in the past, they build on them. They tweak them. They even abandon some and replace them with new and improved methods and ideas.

Craftsmanship is about learning. The pursuit of knowledge in a specific discipline, the quest to know, to discover, to experience.

When you’re looking to innovate, you need a craftsman.

Photo credit: Habeeb

Filed Under: Sources of Insight Tagged With: innovation, learning

Personal Automation, with “If This Then That” – ifttt.com

February 3, 2012 By Tom Catalini 5 Comments

With so many handy sites and utilities on the social web, it’s easier than ever to keep organized. But it’s also harder than ever because there is so much information and so many ways to organize it.

A little automation can go a long way. And that’s where ifttt.com comes in.

This handy site is very straight-forward and easy to use, yet extremely powerful. It’s can glue together many of the most popular utilties on the web to help you do all sorts of helpful things.

The basic construct, as the name implies, is to have the site process certain tasks based on certain triggers. Some examples might explain this better.

Examples

Here’s an example: If I favorite a tweet, email it to me. This helps when checking twitter on the run. Maybe I’m on the train or in line for a sandwich and see a tweet that links to an article I’d like to read. If I “favorite” that tweet, ifttt sees that and emails me a copy. I could also have it posted to delicious or diigo and tagged “read later” – there are many options.

Another example: I read a lot of stuff on Google Reader. It’s great for reading bunches of RSS feeds, and many times I’ll come across something that I want to share on Twitter. Unfortunately, that’s not easy to do from Google Reader. Enter ifttt. I setup a simple rule to tweet anything that I mark with a star in Google Reader. Problem solved.

The possibilities are endless

The possibilities are endless, it seems. There are dozens of services that ifttt integrates with and many tasks you can create. Also, the ifttt community shares many “recipes” that you can browse to get ideas. Recipes are tasks others have created for one purpose or another and shared with the community.

Check out ifttt.com and explore the possibilities. You’ll likely find some simple automation ideas and capabilities that can go a long way in helping you to automate tasks to save time and keep organized.

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: automation, ifttt

How to write a great email message – Clarity, Brevity, Format

February 1, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

Write to be read. Write to be understood. Write to compel action.

Here are some quick guidelines on what makes a great message, and some questions you should ask yourself about each message you send to any size audience.

Clarity

A great email message gets the point across. And to do that, you need to consider the audience. Put yourself in their shoes.

Are you using terms they understand?

Jargon kills any good message. Speak plainly.

Are you telling them something that’s interesting to them?

Know why they care about your message and incorporate that into your writing. Don’t assume they’ll interpret your message the way you intend. Be direct.

Are you asking the reader to do something?

Make that clear, and separate that call to action from the rest of your message. Don’t be shy, and don’t bury the request in a paragraph (or if you do – repeat it as a separate item at the end).

Brevity

Less is more in so many areas, and email is certainly one of them.

We’re all inundated with emails these days, and yours is likely no more welcome than any others. People appreciate brevity. And when you set that tone over the course of all your email communications, your messages will start to become more welcome than others.

Are you getting to the point?

This is a big one (probably the biggest). You need to be concise.

Get to the point quickly. Re-read your message multiple times before you send it out – and each time cut it down.

Find ways to say the same things with less words. There’s always a way to trim things down, and your readers will appreciate it.

Format

Don’t overlook this one – the way you format your message can really help serve the other objectives of clarity and brevity.

Are you writing short paragraphs?

Make only one point in each paragraph. The white space between paragraphs makes your message look less intimidating and more readable.

Are you breaking out ideas separately?

If you’ve got to convey several ideas in a single email message, use subtitles. Simply type a short phrase and bold it, as in a blog post.

Separating the ideas this way makes the message more readable and easier to skim, which is important particularly if people will need to go back and reference your message later on.

Bonus Tip!

Re-read your message several times before you send it out. Review for each of the points above, and also for the overall impression of the message. Is your point clear? Is the message as concise as possible? Is the format friendly; does the message look “readable?”

If you can, have someone else read it too and ask for honest feedback.

Photo credit: Zach Greant

Filed Under: Communication Tagged With: email, write, writing