Tag Archives: platinum rule

Communicating with Millennials

By Phil Stella | Published: April 8, 2020

While Millennials have some generation-specific communication preferences, they have a lot more in common with other generations than differences, except for their use of technology. If communicating with them in your workplace presents a challenge, here are five ways to resonate with your 30-somethings readers or listeners. Read More »

Become a ‘Platinum Rule’ Workplace Communicator!

By Phil Stella | Published: June 1, 2019

Many business professionals diligently attempt to practice the ‘Golden Rule’ at work that we all learned as youngsters. A workplace communication version of that philosophy would be ‘Communicate with other people the way you want them to communicate with you.’  While a nice warm and fuzzy concept, a quick reality check indicates two serious flaws in the logic: the ‘Golden Rule’ assumes ‘everyone is the same and that ‘everyone is the same as you.’ Read More »

Why I Love Customer Centricity

By Phil Stella | Published: April 2, 2019

People have different preferences about how they communicate. Some people would rather talk than write. Others would rather write than talk. Yet others have very high response rate to text. No surprises there! Read More »

Resistance is Futile

By Phil Stella | Published: August 6, 2018

(For your reading pleasure … my most recent piece from the COSE ‘Mind Your Business’ eLetter.)

In his still frightening classic dystopian novel, ‘1984’, George Orwell invented ‘NewSpeak’, the official language of Oceania, used to control communication and thought.

So, let me pay homage to Orwell by inventing ‘CuSpeak’ in his honor, the official language we should always use when speaking to customers and prospects and not nearly as creepy as ‘NewSpeak’. While it’s much harder to learn than ‘SAE’ (Standard American English), it’s much more effective in influencing how they understand and view us. Read More »

Social Media vs. Face-to-Face

By Phil Stella | Published: June 6, 2017

A business reporter asked me about Social Media and how the using it, texting and email negatively impact sales professionals’ ability to communicate face-to-face. My response … for your reading pleasure: Read More »

Networking with Class & Style

By Phil Stella | Published: October 6, 2015

Professional association events can really fill up your days and nights with networking opportunities this time of year. You could easily attend several breakfast, lunch, dinner or happy hour events every week, gain 100 pounds and pick up lots of business cards. Read More »

Audience Centricity

By Phil Stella | Published: January 18, 2011

This article is first in a series on audience-centric presentations.

How do you get to the Presenters’ Hall of Fame? Before you all chime in with ‘Practice, man, practice’, consider this – practice doesn’t make perfect, it only makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect.

So, Best-in-Class Presenters got in the Hall of Fame by perfect practice. They also got in there by harnessing the power of audience-centricity, the art and science of crafting and delivering audience-centered messages. What follows is a brief summary of Best Practices learned from those presentation pros.

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