2013 has gone by fast and it certainly has been interesting. I expect the same next year.
Here’s hoping that 2014 is your best year ever and that you find joy in Christmas or whatever holiday you might celebrate.
Godec
The Difference Between an Introverted & Extroverted Engineer?
An extroverted engineer stares at your shoes when he’s talking to you. I know…it’s an oldie but a goodie. More importantly, it leads to two thoughts on the theme of eye contact and nonverbal communication skill-building. Eyeball these:
Don’t Argue with Me…
Or with anyone else, for that matter. I’ve spent a lot of space in this newsletter harping about not getting defensive and finding the middle ground of two-sided discussions. And, I’m glad to say that Harvard agrees:
You Talked Me Into It
Much of the time I work as a neutral mediator and facilitator whose job isn’t to talk anyone into anything….sort of. The fact is that persuasion is always in play even if just involves convincing someone that we’re not trying to convince them of anything.
We all have a natural inclination to avoid being persuaded. Here are some ways to help you get around that:
What’s News, Young People?
I don’t know…what’s news with you?
For “Millennials” — people who fall into that 14-to-30 age bracket — credible news comes from places that many other people would never have considered. And while we’re on the subject of Millennials, the second link is a story about that demographic that worries a lot of bosses and managers that I deal with. What do you think?
When Will This Meeting Ever End?
When people start asking for details, that’s when. If you’ve ever contemplated that question while stuck in a room with a group of people that you don’t like very much, take heart in knowing that the good folks at MIT have done the research and have found the answer.
This is actually helpful for facilitators, it’ll help you read the clues:
You Can Stop Twerking Now
Although twerk has now been added to the Oxford English dictionary, the only person other than Hannah Montana that actually uses it is Randall, but he’s pretty “afternoonified” anyway. Here are two lists of old school slang that I propose we resurrect:
The Best Tongue Twister
So if your kid goes to MIT, you’ll be glad to know that when she’s not sitting around wondering when meetings are going to end. She’s busy thinking up the best tongue twisters on the planet.
This will be useful after she graduates and moves into your basement. But with this piece of information, I just know you’ll be the life of this year’s New Year’s Eve party:
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Remember…Randall wastes his time surfing the Internet so you don’t have to.