On a hot summer day in 1999, I was driving to a meeting that my boss asked me to attend in his stead. Traffic was bad. I was late and frustrated that I would not be showing up on time. I’m speeding along the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia and someone cuts me off. Annoyed, I flipped her the bird.
Some people view TED and TEDx events to be inspired, to learn and to connect with other seekers and skeptics. This year’s TEDx Mid-Atlantic – with the theme of Superpowers – certainly had all of those components. But as a communications professional who works with executives and their teams on how to be understood to drive value and positive change, I listened to the talks with a different ear.
I don't know about you but I am tired of a black and white world that squeezes out the shades of gray. We live in a culture where everything seems to be “either/or.” It is us vs. them. For or against. My way or the highway. Fragmentation and confrontation occurs in every aspect of our lives.
Messaging is critical to getting your point across. While executives and their teams talk about the importance of powerful messaging, many people don’t really understand what messages are.
Most enterprises approach communication from a “Prism of Me,” as opposed to a “Prism of Value.” Think of it this way. A prism takes white light and refracts it to create Technicolor rays.
A few years ago, I heard an NPR story about a man who had translated Herman Melville’s Moby Dick into emoji. It seemed yet another cruel assault on the English language and, for that matter, on language in general.
No matter what our endeavor, whether we are making mobile phones or enhancing the mobility of someone with a disability, we all seek to create value for those we serve.
Two experiences with service providers on the same night reminded me of a key tenet of value creation: mutual trust between your enterprise and your clients, customers, donors or partners.
The California drought brings into sharp focus the value and fragility of a vital natural resource. After four years of little rain, the state is so parched and the situation so dire that the governor imposed severe restrictions on water usage, and those who appear to defy those limits find themselves in the headlines.
As an avid runner and supporter of various nonprofit causes, springtime means deciding, which 5Ks and 10Ks? Until 2012, the Komen 5K in Washington, DC, was always at the top of my list. It was a positive and powerful brand that I admired. For more than 15 years, I ran that race until they so bitterly disappointed me with their decision to withhold funding from Planned Parenthood, which I wrote about in this post.
