The 5 Reasons Good Communication is Like Good Haiku Anyone who’s looked through my twitter feed can tell that I enjoy writing haiku. The ancient Japanese form is deceivingly simple – you can only have 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the last line. That’s it. You get 17 syllables to express a scene, a feeling, a landscape. And so, in haiku form, here are the 5 reasons that good communication is like good haiku. FOCUS Because of their length Haiku must have laser sharp Focus on topic. ESSENTIALS ONLY There is zero fluff No unnecessary words – Only essentials. DISCIPLINE Disciplined in form But flexible …Continue Reading...

Last week I started a three part blog about the things that I learned from my semester of improv class, and how these lessons can be applied to life and business. This week I’ll pick up where I left off with . . . 3. It’s not about YOU, it’s about US As my semester progressed, and as our class’ talent grew, it became evident which performers were better at what games, and who just had that natural gift for performance. However, another, less expected lesson surfaced –that regardless of the capability of some of the improvers, unless all the performers were …Continue Reading...

I believe that foresight is one of the most important traits for effective public relations. Not only designing a message and implementing it, but predicting how it will be interpreted (and misinterpreted). Especially over the last two months, foresight seems to be the watchword for business, and especially for the CEOs and spokespersons brave enough to step in front of the media. Pundits and cameras are everywhere, CEO beware. Look no further than the oil spill in the gulf and the huge amount of public anger at BP. One cannot deny that the CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, has certainly done …Continue Reading...