Success Tweet 105: How to Successfully Begin a Conversation

I’m proud to say that my latest career success coach book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less is about to go into its third printing.  The other day, I got a big order from Toastmasters International.  You can pick up a copy of Success Tweets at your local bookstore or at Amazon.com.  Better yet, you can download it for free at www.SuccessTweets.com. 

I’m in the home stretch of a series of blog posts that further explain the career advice in Success Tweets.  Today’s career advice comes from Success Tweet 105…

Conversation tips: be warm, pleasant, gracious and sensitive to the interpersonal needs and anxieties of others.

How you start conversation is very important if you want to be seen as warm, pleasant, gracious and sensitive to others.  Several years ago I read an eBook by Dennis Rivers, called Cooperative Communication Skills for Success at Home and at Work.  I came across the eBook in my files the other day.  Chapter 2 really caught my attention.  It is entitled “Explaining Your Conversational Intent and Inviting Consent.”  Dennis makes some common sense, but seldom seen, points about conversation skills in it.  In summary, he says, “Make sure that you tell the other person what type of conversation you want to have.  Ask him or her if he or she is ready to have this type of conversation at that time.”

Check out some of what he has to say…

“In order to help your conversation partner cooperate with you and to reduce possible misunderstandings, start important conversations by inviting your conversation partner to join you in the specific kind of conversation you want to have. The more the conversation is going to mean to you, the more important it is for your conversation partner to understand the big picture. If you need to have a long, complex, or emotion-laden conversation with someone, it will make a big difference if you briefly explain your conversational intention first and then invite the consent of your intended conversation partner.

“Why explain? Some conversations require a lot more time, effort and involvement than others. If you want to have a conversation that will require a significant amount of effort from the other person, it will go better if that person understands what he or she is getting into and consents to participate. Of course, in giving up the varying amounts of coercion and surprise that are at work when we just launch into whatever we want to talk about, we are more vulnerable to being turned down. But, when people agree to talk with us, they will be more present in the conversation and more able to either meet our needs or explain why they can’t (and perhaps suggest alternatives we had not thought of).  Many good communicators do this explaining intent/inviting consent without giving it any thought. They start important conversations by saying things such as: ‘Hi, Steve. I need to ask for your help on my project. Got a minute to talk about it?’ ‘Maria, do you have a minute? Right now I’d like to talk to you about… Is that OK?’

“When we offer such combined explanations of intent and invitations-to-consent we can help our conversations along in four important ways:

“First, we give our listeners a chance to consent to or decline the offer of a specific conversation. A person who has agreed to participate will participate more fully.

“Second, we help our listeners to understand the big picture, the overall goal of the conversation-to-come. Many scholars in linguistics and communication studies now agree that understanding a person’s overall conversational intention is crucial for understanding that person’s message in words and gestures.

“Third, we allow our listeners to get ready for what is coming, especially if the topic is emotionally charged. (If we surprise people by launching into emotional conversations, they may respond by avoiding further conversations with us or by being permanently on guard.)

“And fourth, we help our listeners understand the role that we want them to play in the conversation: fellow problem solver, employee receiving instructions, giver of emotional support, and so on. These are very different roles to play. Our conversations will go better if we ask people to play only one conversational role at a time.

“To be invited into a conversation is an act of respect. A consciously consenting participant is much more likely to pay attention and cooperate than someone who feels pushed into an undefined conversation by the force of another person’s talking.

“It’s not universal, but to assume without asking that a person is available to talk may be interpreted by many people as lack of respect. When we begin a conversation by respecting the wishes of the other person, we start to generate some of the goodwill (trust that their wishes will be considered) needed for creative problem solving. I believe that the empathy we get will be more genuine and the agreements we reach will be more reliable if we give people a choice about talking with us.”

The common sense career success coach point here is simple.  Successful people are dynamic communicators.  Dynamic communicators follow the career advice in Tweet 105 in Success Tweets.  “Conversation tips: be warm, pleasant, gracious and sensitive to the interpersonal needs and anxieties of others.”  Inviting people to participate in a conversation and getting their agreement before jumping in is an important, but often overlooked conversation skill.  People who are invited to join a conversation, and choose to do so, are more likely to be better participants.  If you want to become an excellent conversationalist, take a few minutes to explain why you want to have a conversation.  Ask the other person if he or she has the time and is willing to participate in a conversation on that topic.  Your conversations will be better and more productive if you follow this simple common sense career advice.

That’s my take on the career advice in Success Tweet 105 and on how to begin important conversations.  What’s yours?  Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

Success Tweet 104: The Fine Art of Small Talk

My latest career success coach book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less is about to go into its third printing.  The other day, I got a big order from Toastmasters International.  You can pick up a copy of Success Tweets at your local bookstore or at Amazon.com.  Better yet, you can download it for free at www.SuccessTweets.com. 

Today’s career advice comes from Success Tweet 104…

Learn to handle yourself in conversation.  A brief conversation with the right person can greatly help – or hinder—your career.

I’ve been looking over the transcripts of my old internet radio show.  I had some pretty interesting guests who said some pretty interesting things.  Debra Fine, author of the best seller The Fine Art of Small Talk was one of my guests.  We discussed how to become a good conversationalist.  
 
Here is part of what Debra had to say… 

Bud: What are some icebreakers or conversation starters that shy people – or anyone—can use to get a conversation going?

Debra:  Don’t be afraid to dig deeper.  When you say to them “how’s work” they’re going to say “pretty good” or “good” or “great” or whatever.  Dig in deeper, let them know you’re sincere with one more question, “So, what’s been going on with work, Bud, since the last time we talked”, or if you say to somebody “how were your holidays” and they say “great”, “well, what did you do over the holidays that you enjoyed the most?”  Let them know you are sincere, when you are sincere, when you have the time. 
 
We say to our friends, “how are you Bud?”, “great”, you got to follow up with something like “Bud, bring me up to date – what’s been going on in your life since the last time I saw you?”  Now Bud knows I really want to know how he is, otherwise “how are you” means “hello”.  That’s all it means.  My own husband will walk into the house and say “how was your day” and I’ll say “pretty good” because my guess is my husband doesn’t really want to know how my day is and this is my second husband, Bud, okay?  And he doesn’t want to know.  But if he digs in deeper, I’ll know that he was interested. 
 
Okay, so that’s just one tip.  We don’t want to become FBI agents, that’s why that one following question is important, but no more after that.  You don’t want to do one of these numbers, “Bud, what do you do?”  So, what’s your answer to that, Bud? 
 
Bud:  Well, I’m a career success coach, speaker, author, blogger and right now, an internet radio show host.
 
Debra:  And, Bud, it sounds like you have an accent from back east, so what part of the country are you from?
 
Bud:  Pittsburgh.

Debra: Look at what just happened.  I said “what do you do, Bud” and you said career success coach, etc. and I said it sounds like you have an accent, like you’re from back east or something and you responded to that.  I became an FBI agent.  That was the point of that little shtick.  If you’re going to start with “what do you do,” stay on topic.
 
Bud:  You make a great point here.  People get uncomfortable if you jump around in conversations because it gets them off balance, they don’t know what’s coming next.  So if you begin a conversation by asking somebody about their job or career, ask a follow up question about their job or career.  I think this is tremendous career advice — making sure that you follow up with a question that’s on target, not something that goes off in another direction.
 
Debra:  And I’m saying to you to make it an open-ended question.  “Tell me about it, describe that for me, how was that like for you, how did you come up with that idea?”  Everybody’s got to use an open-ended question if at all possible so you can open up the conversation.  Do we have a couple more minutes for another tip?
 
Bud:  Yes we do.
 
Debra:  Okay, let’s talk about the most common response to the question, “what’s been going on in your life?” Do you know what most of us say to “what’s been going on?” 

Bud:  Not much.
 
Debra:  Exactly.  That’s exactly right.  We say “not much” or “nothing.”  And I bet you would have said “not much” if I asked you that question because that’s what first came out of your mouth just now when I asked that, and yet you told me before we started this interview that you’re going to New York tomorrow.  
 
I think there’s a lot going on and “not much” is just a bunch of bologna, right?  And that’s how it is for all of us.  We’ve all said “not much” and what we really mean is “there’s so much going on, I can’t possibly think of what it is so I’ll just say not much.”  That’s what we mean.  There’s just too much going on to think of what to say.  
 
Now, if you’re just walking down the hall and don’t have time to stop and chat, a one-word answer like that is fine and dandy.  But, if you’d like to connect at an annual conference when someone says to you “what’s been going on?”  Please have an answer.  It doesn’t have to be an elevator speech, just an answer, “well, we just introduced flex time at our company and that’s been a huge burden, but I feel like we’ve seen the worst of it, and we’re going to get through it.” 
 
Now I have something to talk about with you, flex time.  Like, how did you set it up, how does that impact you?  Do you get three days off a week?  I mean, give me something, it doesn’t have to be mooshy, it doesn’t have to be about your divorce.  Just give me something.  
 
If you said to me “Debra, how have you been?” I might say “well, I became an empty-nester this year and it’s really been a whole new experience, and not a sad one, a good one and I’ve really enjoyed it.”  Now, did I brag about my kids, no.  Did I go on and on about how perfect and gorgeous and wonderful they are?  Absolutely not.  I just let you know something about myself that I’m willing to talk about.  If you’re not interested, you’ll go “oh, Debra, good for you, let’s talk about that contract…what do you think…?”  You don’t want to chit-chat, that’s fine.  Let’s get down to the business at hand.
 
Bud:  I think that’s really great career advice and that you’re absolutely right.  The point you’re making here is that if you go to an event and you’re somebody who is not naturally able to roll things off the tip of your tongue, be prepared, because somebody’s probably going to say to you, “what’s going on, what’s happening?”
 
Debra: Yes, and you get something else when you do this Bud.  You become a three-dimensional person.  If you sell insurance, then you’re a sales person who sells insurance.  But if I ask you “how was our weekend?” and you say “it was pretty good, we went to the theater and saw Dr. Doolittle and it wasn’t as bad as all the reviews said,” you just became more than an insurance salesman, you became a human being in my mind.  By saying that you went to a musical you became three dimensional.  You are not just a sales person, you are now a human being.  Human beings go to shows called Dr. Doolittle.  

Does that make sense?  “How was your weekend?”  “I worked in the garden, I played on my volleyball league, I finished a good book, I’m finishing my basement.”  That’s all you have to say.  You don’t go on and on about it.  Just give me a sentence.
 
Bud:  So what you’re saying is that a small bit of self-disclosure can be helpful and make it easy to engage you in conversation.  Let me try to summarize… (A) When you enter a networking situation, put yourself out, introduce yourself to somebody. (B) When somebody introduces themselves to you, be three-dimensional.  Do a little bit of self-disclosure.  Be willing to say something about yourself.
 
Debra:  Right.
 
Bud:  One last thing, what do you do when all of a sudden there’s dead silence in a conversation?
 
Debra:  Well, you better be prepared.  The worst time to think about something to talk about, Bud, is when there’s nothing to talk about.  So my rule for myself, and I wrote a book about it, is if I’m going to take you out to lunch and you’re a customer or client, I’ve got two to three things in the back of my head ready to go just in case we have nothing to talk about.  Maybe it’s current events.  Maybe it’s something I already know about you.  You have a wife, her name is Cathy, she used to be a flight attendant.  Do you understand?  Have some questions in the back of your head, to be able to keep conversations moving when there’s that huge awkward silence.  You’ve got to be prepared.  It’s not a big deal to be prepared.  It takes one whole minute.  It’s not like a Yoga class.  
 

That’s some great common sense career advice on becoming a great conversationalist from Debra Fine, author of The Fine Art of Small Talk.
 
The common sense career success coach point here is clear.  Successful people are dynamic communicators.  Dynamic communicators are great conversationalists.  Great conversationalists know how to begin conversations and keep them going.  They follow the career advice in Tweet 104 in Success Tweets.  “Learn how to handle yourself in conversation.  A brief conversation with the right person can greatly help – or hinder – your career.”  Questions are a great way to open conversations.   Use open ended, not yes or no, questions.  Follow up with a comment or a question that follows in the same vein.  When someone asks you a question, become three dimensional by being willing to disclose something about yourself as a person.  If you know who you are going to be seeing, think back to the last time you saw that person.  Think about what you discussed.  Keep these things in the back of your mind.  They can help you prevent awkward silences in your conversation.
 
That’s my take on the career advice in Success Tweet 104.  What do you think?  Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.
 
Bud

Success Tweet 103: Speak From Your Heart

I’m proud to say that my latest career success coach book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less is about to go into its third printing.  The other day, I got a big order from Toastmasters International.  You can pick up a copy of Success Tweets at your local bookstore or at Amazon.com.  Better yet, you can download it for free at www.SuccessTweets.com. 

I’m in the home stretch of a series of blog posts that further explain the career advice in Success Tweets.  Today’s career advice comes from Success Tweet 103…

Speak from your heart.  Show that you care about yourself and the people with whom you are speaking.

Occasionally I see a presentation that is really great.  That was the case a while back.  I was at a meeting at a very large pharmaceutical company.  This company is working hard to adapt to its changing business environment.  They are in the midst of massive organizational change. 

Nat Ricciardi is a senior leader at this company.  He embodies all of the five keys to success that I discuss in my book Straight Talk for Success.  He is self confident.  He creates positive personal impact.  He has been an outstanding performer over his entire 38 year career.  He is a dynamic communicator and one of the most interpersonally competent people I know.

That day, Nat was the last person on a very busy agenda.  He took the stage and immediately won over a tired audience.  He had to stop because he ran into the dinner hour.  But he stayed at the venue, eating dinner with the meeting participants.  After dinner, he continued with a Q&A session.  He didn’t finish until he made sure that he answered every last question.

Nat delivered a dynamic presentation for a variety of reasons.  He knew his material.  He knew his audience.  He was able to present his thoughts in a manner that addressed the audience’s concerns.  It helped that he was a senior executive presenting to a group of employees in a company that is in the midst of massive change.

However, there was one thing that put Nat’s presentation over the top.  He spoke from his heart.

It was clear to everybody in the audience that Nat not only knew his material, but that he really cared about what he was saying and how what he was saying impacted them.  He told personal stories about his life and career.  The strength of his talk was his willingness to share his humanity with the audience.

Nat Ricciardi is a great speaker and a dynamic communicator because he always speaks from his heart – whether he is speaking to one person or an audience of several hundred.  He is truly genuine.  You can’t fake his type of genuineness.  When you are in his presence, you know that you are with somebody who cares about what he does, and who cares about the people around him. 

And that’s the common sense career success coach point here.  If you want to become a dynamic communicator, follow the career advice in Tweet 103 in Success Tweets.  “Speak from your heart.  Show that you care about yourself and the people with whom you are speaking.”  Make sure that the person with whom you are in conversation or the audience to whom you are speaking knows that you care about them as much as you care about what you are discussing or the information you are presenting.  Here’s some important career advice.  Give people more than a glimpse of you as a person.  Let them see who you are.  Share your stories; your triumphs and failures, as well as your thoughts and feelings on your topic.  Show that you care – about yourself, your material and the people to who you are speaking — and other people will hang on your every word.

That’s my take on the career advice in Success Tweet 103, and the importance of speaking from your heart.  What’s yours?  Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts.  Also, please tell us about the best conversationalist you know or the best presentation you’ve ever seen – and what made it so.  As always, thanks for reading – and writing.

Bud

Success Tweet 102: We’re All In Sales

I’m proud to say that my latest career success coach book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less is about to go into its third printing.  The other day, I got a big order from Toastmasters International.  You can pick up a copy of Success Tweets at your local bookstore or at Amazon.com.  Better yet, you can download it for free at www.SuccessTweets.com. 

I’m in the home stretch of a series of blog posts that further explain the career advice in Success Tweets.  Today’s career advice comes from Success Tweet 102…

We’re all in sales.  You have to sell yourself every day.  You need to become a dynamic communicator to sell your ideas.

In a post I did on lifelong learning in mid 2009, I stressed the idea that successful people pay attention to information that may seem as if it has little relevance to them – they know that they  might learn something that will help them create the career success they deserve.

The career advice in today’s post comes from a book that you might be tempted to overlook if you’re not a sales professional – or if you haven’t read the post on lifelong learning I mentioned above.

How to Win a Pitch, a very interesting book by Joey Asher, might seem like a book meant only for sales professionals.  But it’s not.  Some of my best career advice is “we’re all in sales, we have to sell ourselves every day.”  If you want the life and career success you deserve, you have to create positive personal impact – get people interested in you.  Then you have to be a good communicators to sell your ideas.

Joey Asher presents five common sense fundamental ideas for becoming a persuasive communicator…

1. Focus your message on the business problem.
2. Organize your message around three memorable points.
3. Show passion.
4. Involve your audience in your presentation.
5. Rehearse…Rehearse…And Rehearse Again.

I like Joey’s points – even if he has listed five instead of three.  Just kidding.  The important career advice is to focus on a minimal number of points. 

Joey Asher has five fundamentals for becoming a persuasive communicator.  I have four keys to career and life success: Clarity, Commitment, Confidence and Competence.  The fact that my four keys begin with the letter “C” makes it even easier for people to remember them.  In my case, this was a happy coincidence.  I don’t suggest trying to force alliterations or acronyms.  If your subject matter lends itself to them – great go with it.  If not, don’t force it.

I love Joey’s career advice about passion.  He is 100% correct when he says that your voice is your first key to passion.  It’s OK to sound as if you’re excited – you should be excited about creating your life and career success.

I learned this the hard way.  I once lost a job I really wanted because I didn’t let my passion show through in the interview.  Ironically, I made a conscious decision to act in a laid back manner in the interview.  You know, “We’re both professionals here.  I’m calm.  I know myself.  I can do this job.  No sense in over hyping it.” 

As it turns out, I was one of two finalists for the job.  The recruiter told me that the hiring manager liked my skills and experience more than the other guy, but he hired the other guy because he showed more passion and drive.  I’ve never made the mistake of not letting my passion show through again.

By nature, I am a passionate guy.  I care about what I do.  After that hard lesson, I let this passion show through, when I’m selling and when I’m doing my work.  I have found that it’s hard to care too much.  And, if I’m going to fail, I’m going to fail showing how much, not how little, I care.  Joey Asher and I urge you to do the same.

I also agree with Joey on the importance of rehearsals.  As I often say — only half jokingly — “Preparation makes up for a lack of talent.  That’s how I’ve gotten as far as I have in my life and career.”  Prepare, prepare, prepare and you’ll become a better communicator, and be on your way to career success.

The common sense career success coach point here is simple.  Successful people are dynamic communicators.  Dynamic communicators have mastered three critical skills: conversation, writing and presenting.  They follow the career advice in Tweet 102 in Success Tweets.  “We’re all in sales.  You have to sell yourself every day.  You need to become a dynamic communicator to sell your ideas.”  Dynamic communication hinges on your ability to sell yourself.  Once you realize that regardless of your job title, you are a salesperson and that you need to constantly sell yourself and your ideas you’ll be ahead of the game.  In How to Win a Pitch, Joey Asher suggests that successful sales people have mastered five fundamental skills: 1) Focus your message on the business problem. 2) Organize your message around three memorable points.  3) Show passion. 4) Involve your audience in your presentation.  5) Rehearse…Rehearse…And Rehearse Again.  This is great career advice.  Become an expert in these five fundamental skills, and you’ll be on your way to creating the life and career success you want and that you deserve.

That’s my take on the career advice in Success Tweet 102 and what Joey Asher has to say about successful selling.  What’s yours?  Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

Success Tweet 101: Dynamic Communication

Today is Labor Day in the USA; the holiday that marks the end of Summer and the beginning of Autumn.  It’s back to school for kids and a time for success seekers to refocus on their career success goals.  Today also marks the 101st post in my series of posts about the career advice in my latest book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less.  You can pick up a copy on amazon.com or at your local bookstore.  Better yet, you can download Success Tweets for free at http://www.successtweets.com.

I have been writing this series for the past 20 weeks.  I have eight more weeks to go before it is complete.  This post is the beginning of 20 posts that deal with an important career success skills, dynamic communication.

Today’s career advice comes from Success Tweet 101…

All dynamic communicators have mastered three basic communication skills: conversation, writing and presenting.

The life of a business traveler, especially one like me who travels to New York City regularly, appears glamorous at first glance. People always ask me if I’ve eaten at famous restaurants like “21” or the latest hot spot they’ve read about in Travel and Leisure. 

Most often when I’m in New York and don’t have a business dinner, I dine on Chinese food delivered to my hotel room from a local take out place.  Recently my fortune cookie read, “Your talents will be recognized and suitably rewarded.” I was happy with this fortune, but it made me think.

My talents, your talents, everyone’s talents will be recognized and rewarded if we develop and use our communication skills. There are three types of communication skills critically important for career and life success: 1) Conversation skills; 2) Writing skills; and 3) Presentation skills. 

You need to develop each of these skills if you want to have your talents recognized and beocme the life and career success you deserve to be.  There are a few common sense career success coach points associated with becoming a dynamic communicator.

Become a good conversationalist by listening.  Take an active interest in other people and what they’re saying.  Show them you’re listening by asking appropriate follow up questions to what they say. 

Conversation skills enhance your networking ability.  Networking is an important but often overlooked communication skill. It is helpful when you are looking for a job, but it is even more important when you are happy with your situation. All people who are a career success build and nurture strong networks. 

Networking is an important skill. Successful people have large networks. They have people they can call to help them. They know they can call on these people because these people know they can call on them.  That’s the real secret of networking – look to help others, not just to find out how they can help you.

Write in a manner that communicates well.  In general, this means, being clear, concise and easily readable.  The best way to make sure your writing is readable is to read it aloud before sending it. 

When I was in high school, I was the editor of my yearbook. To raise funds to cover the cost of our yearbook, we sold ads. There were a lot of factories in the town where I grew up. In the past, the yearbook staff had never approached these factories to place ads in the yearbook. I wrote sales letters to all of the plant managers. We got several full page ads from those letters.

One of the plant managers wrote back, asking if I would come to see him. When I walked in to his office and introduced myself, he was surprised. He told me that my sales letter was so well written that he thought I was the teacher who was the yearbook sponsor.  Two years later, I was looking for a summer job after my first year of college. The market was tight. I called this man. He remembered me, and I got a job.

Preparation is the most important key to good presentations.  You have to analyze your audience, prepare a talk that gives them what they want, and practice your talk out loud if you want to be a great presenter.

Presentation skills may present the biggest opportunity for getting your talents noticed and becoming a life and career success. A couple of years ago, I did a talk for a local chamber of commerce. As it so happens, the Sheriff’s department is a member of this chamber. The Sheriff himself happened to be there that day. He liked my talk. About a week later, I got a call from his training office. The Sheriff asked him to get in touch with me to conduct some supervisory training for their sergeants. I never would have gotten this business if it weren’t for the notice I received from a talk at that chamber meeting.

The Dilbert cartoons often focus on poor communication.  I cut out the ones I really like.  Here’s one from a Sunday paper… 

Dilbert approaches his boss (you know, the one with the tufts of hair that look like devil’s horns) and says, “The security audit accidentally locked all developers out of the system.”  The boss says, “Well, it is what it is.”

Dilbert says, “How does that help?”  The boss replies, “You don’t know what you don’t know.”  Dilbert, obviously frustrated, says, “Congratulations you’re the first human to fail the Turing test.”  The boss says, “What does that mean?”  Dilbert replies, “It is what it is;” to which the boss says, “Why didn’t you say so in the first place?”

There really is such a thing as a Turing test.  Dictionary.com defines it as follows: “A test proposed by British mathematician Alan Turing, and often used as a test of whether a computer has humanlike intelligence. If a panel of human beings conversing with an unknown entity (via keyboard, for example) believes that that entity is human, and if the entity is actually a computer, then the computer is said to have passed the Turing test.”

This is pretty funny.  It is also kind of sad as it is indicative of the lack of communication in today’s business world.  Scott Adams, Dilbert’s creator, really gets it when it comes to workplace communication problems. 

Beyond Bullsh*t, by UCLA Anderson School of Management Professor, Samuel Culbert is an interesting little book.  Professor Culbert defines bullsh*t in the following way.

“It is telling people what you think they need to hear.  It may involve finessing the truth or outright lying, but the purpose is always self serving.  And while I appreciate the role of some b.s. in keeping the corporate peace, it makes people feel beaten up, deceived – even dirty.  When people talk straight at work, companies make out better because the best idea usually wins.  In contrast, when people are bullsh*tting, they hide their mistakes and the company suffers. Straight talk is the product or relationships built on trust.”

Phrases like “it is what it is” are not straight talk.  They are part of the inexplicable jargon that has overtaken us.  Dynamic communicators say what they mean, in an easily understood manner.  Effective communicators don’t show off their large vocabularies.  Instead, they choose words that are the most easily understood and still get across their point.

Dynamic communicators eschew, I mean don’t use, jargon.  They avoid meaningless phrases like “it is what it is” to explain something.  They use the simplest words possible to get across their ideas.  And they don’t bullsh*it.  They say what they mean.  Follow these rules in conversation, writing and presenting and you’ll become known as a dynamic communicator.

The common sense career success coach point here is simple.  Successful people are dynamic communicators.  If you want to become a dynamic communicator, follow the career advice in Tweet 101 in Success Tweets.  “All dynamic communicators have mastered three basic communication skills: conversation, writing and presenting.”  You don’t have to be a career success coach to know that if you’re a great conversationalist, a good writer and an outstanding performer you will reach your career success goals.  Successful people communicate well.  The career advice here is simple.  Develop your communication skills if you want to create the life and career success you want and deserve.

That’s my take on the career advice in Success Tweet 101.  What’s yours?  Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading.  If you’re in the US, I hope you’re enjoying this last holiday of the summer.

Bud