"...The Best Of Us Are Geniuses of Compression..."*
“Starry Night Over The Rhone,” by Vincent Van Gogh, Musee D’Orsay in Paris. Photo by Kevin Jordan.
Greetings -
I hope you, your family and friends are all well and enjoying the start of summer!
As of this writing, our family unit is now ensconced in our fully furnished rental home in the lovely, sunny and toasty warm confines of Healdsburg, CA, in the heart of the Sonoma County wine country. We arrived last week and will be here for the foreseeable future, as we consider our home purchase options in town. We are finding our groove and meeting new locals each day.
In other housing news, we just completed the sale of our lovely home in Alameda. In a bit of cosmic symmetry, the sale was complete almost 20 years to the day we bought it, with that transaction finalizing as we returned from a previous trip to Paris! And to boot, the new owner is moving from Sonoma County as we have just moved to it.
The last month has been a wild and incredibly fun ride, to say the least. We had a fantabulous vacation, enjoying ourselves in Chicago, Paris and Portland respectively. The time was relaxing and rejuvenating and, as always, it was a treat and a gift to connect with family and friends.
As I re-engage with my practice and look forward to a summer consisting of an exciting and eclectic blend of coaching, facilitation and training work across an array of superb clients, I have been focusing on effective communication: word choice, narrative arcs, delivery touch and tone. With that in mind, I am dedicating a significant portion of this edition to all things communication: active listening, thoughtful questioning, efficient and effective narrative development and delivery, etc. In addition to Jonah Berger's recent work noted in the Spotlight section, I also want to call out the excellent work of and book by Richard Butterfield: "It's Showtime! Richard Butterfield's Power of Persuasion." I had the very good fortune to receive excellent training and consultation from Dick in my previous career. His tools, observations and insights continue to serve me and hopefully, they will serve you too.
I am also including an array of other reading and listening. Diverse in content and sourcing, these pieces offer a variety of perspectives that piqued my curiosity and desire to learn more. In particular, there are thoughtful approaches and tools to increase our effectiveness when difficult decisions need to be made, as well as analyses and insights on the state of work and what the future may hold.
Spotlight Book:
Jonah Berger's latest book, "Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way," is rich in research, analysis and insights on how to increase our communication effectiveness in both our professional and personal lives. He distills his "magic words" into 6 types:
1) Activate Identity and Agency
2) Convey Confidence
3) Ask the Right Questions
4) Leverage Concreteness
5) Employ Emotion
6) Harness Similarity (and Difference)
Within this framework, he offers an array of practical, actionable advice and tools to increase the impact of not just what we say, but how we say it. Ultimately, we have the opportunity to forge stronger connections, meaningfully persuade and tell our stories in ways that resonate more deeply with others.
"Because being a great writer or orator isn't something you're born with, it's something you can learn to do. Words have an amazing impact, and by understanding when, why, and how they work, we can use them to increase ours."
As always, happy reading and listening! I am moving from a 2x/monthly publication schedule to a 1x/monthly one for the summer months. More in July!
Be well, take good care of your families and community.
-kj
Articles
Harvard Business Review: To Coach Leaders, Ask the Right Questions. "The added challenge for leaders is that showing up as strong and confident – even invulnerable – has long been considered necessary in their roles, and core to their identity. Too often, this persona becomes just another way to defend themselves from discomfort and pain. Today’s leaders need to understand that openness, humility, and the desire to grow are critical to running a modern organization."
Harvard Business Review: 3 Timeless Rules for Making Tough Decisions. "We spend an inordinate amount of time, and a tremendous amount of energy, making choices between equally attractive options in everyday situations. The problem is, that while they may be equally attractive, they are also differently attractive, with tradeoffs that require compromise."
The New York Times: Why Some Companies Are Saying ‘Diversity and Belonging’ Instead of ‘Diversity and Inclusion.' "The changing terminology reflects new thinking among some consultants, who say traditional D.E.I. strategies haven’t worked out as planned."
The New York Times: The Future of Work: The R.T.O. Whisperers Have a Plan. "A niche group of consultants is trying to get you back to the office. It’s not going too well."
Harvard Business Review: Redesigning How We Work. "We now know the postpandemic transition will take years. Leaders should acknowledge that—and start making plans for how to cope."
Blog Posts & Opinions
Farnam Street: Carl Braun’s Writing Lessons for Clear Thinking and Productive Communication. "Industrial genius Carl Braun believed that clear thinking and clear communication go hand in hand. Here is the guide on writing productively to get things done."
PwC: Strategy + Business: The leader’s secret weapon: Listening. "Great leaders are invariably intent listeners, but they still need to make the practice a priority."
The New York Times: I Don’t Have the Secret to Making Hard Decisions, but I Do Have a Yellow Note Pad. "The need for a sound decision-making approach in the face of uncertainty is greater now than ever before."
Podcasts
TED: The One Question Every Aspiring Leader Needs To Ask. "What does inclusive leadership look like? Artist and TED Fellow Constance Hockaday shares how the captain of a trans-Atlantic community raft taught her how to voice her hopes and desires, inspiring a vision of possibility for the future. Hockaday calls for mentors everywhere to step up and invites aspiring leaders to answer one crucial question in order to unlock their agency and power."
Reboot Podcast: Women’s Conversations: Your Personal Leadership Style. "Sally Helgesen describes how women leaders have a different perception, or way of being and seeing, that can make for a markedly different leadership style."
Arts, Music, Culture & Humor Corner
The New York Times: The Mystery of the Disappearing van Gogh. "After a painting by the Dutch artist sold at auction, a movie producer claimed to be the owner. It later vanished from sight, with a trail leading to Caribbean tax havens and a jailed Chinese billionaire."
The New Yorker: Annals of Rock and Roll:The Sad Dads of The National. "For two decades, the band has written music about the kind of sadness that feels quotidian and incremental—the slow accumulation of ordinary losses." [KJ note - I had the good fortune to see The National recently with two outstanding high school buddies at the beautiful Edgefield Winery just outside of my hometown, Portland, OR.]
Psychology Today: The Art and Science of Great Conversations. "Why you should speak up, and 6 ways it can go wrong."
McSweeney's: Hemingway Or My Mother's Email?
Reflections
"Learn to listen. Opportunity sometimes knocks very softly." - H. Jackson Brown Jr.
"Our earth is round, and, among other things, that means that you and I can hold completely different points of view and both be right. The difference of our positions will show stars in your window I cannot even imagine. Your sky may burn with light, while mine, at the same moment, spreads beautiful to darkness. Still we must choose how we separately corner the circling universe of our experience. Once chosen, our cornering will determine the message of any star and darkness we encounter." - June Jordan (no relation)
*excerpted from the U2 song: "Cedars of Lebanon" on the album No Line On the Horizon.