How do you feel when you’re reading an article, listening to a speaker, or in a conversation, and someone makes a reference to something that flies over your head? I still vividly remember a conversation I had with one of my congregation’s matriarchs decades ago when I was a new Christian and had attended [...]
When your listeners pay more attention to your speech patterns than your content, they’re not hearing you. Uptalk. Vocal fries. T-glottalization. Excessive buzzwords and slang. Incorrect pronunciation. Mumbling. Repeated words. Filler sounds. Incoherent sentences. If your speech habits include any of the above, your ability to communicate is likely compromised. And if you can’t [...]
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that Gen Z (those born between the mid-1990s and mid-2010s) will make up about 30 percent of the U.S. civilian workforce by 2030, filling nearly 50 million jobs. That 30 percent estimate is likely to apply globally. Every generation uses slang unique to its time and place. [...]
Why I’d love to have you join our email list I have thousands of social media connections, and many of them are people I interact with often. While I appreciate that, I’d be much happier if those folks would join my email list. Here’s why: A while back, I made a Facebook post sharing [...]
Writing Tip for Opinion Essays Make Your Point and Stay on Point To persuade your readers, stay focused I enjoy reading opinion essays—and there’s no shortage of them these days. But whether you’re a nationally syndicated columnist or an amateur blogger, you need to do these two things to create an effective opinion piece: [...]
When you think about the prodigals in your life, what comes to mind? Most of us are familiar with the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The story, told in Luke 15:11-32, is about a man with two sons whose younger son asked for his inheritance, moved away, and squandered all his money while the [...]
Sometimes it’s better to not say anything One of my favorite advice columns is Miss Manners. I enjoy Judith Martin’s wit and style, and I’m fascinated by the questions people ask. I’m especially intrigued by the “What should I say when …” type of question. We’ve all been in situations where we didn’t know [...]
Are you making it hard for people to respond to your message? QR codes are everywhere these days. And they’re great for smartphone users to respond instantly to a promotional message. But what if your customer doesn’t want to use a QR code? Assuming that everyone else prefers the same communication method they do [...]
What’s the leading cause of death among black men in the United States? If you support Black Lives Matter, do you think it’s important to know the answer to that question and be supporting efforts to address the problem? On a recent episode of The Crossman Conversation, Mark Salmon, president of Appliance Direct in Orlando, [...]
Four Words Can Open Up Communication or Shut It Down Ask the magic question Years ago, in one of my sales training sessions when I was working in the freight industry, I learned to never answer a question without knowing why it was asked. Instead of immediately answering a question, we were taught to say [...]
