Just Saying - The BRIEF Lab

Thanksgiving in the U.S. is one of my favorite holidays of the year. To keep up with the tradition, I’d like to share how gratitude is a powerful way to ground me and lower the noise in my personal and professional life. In this episode, I also share a short list (in no specific order) of what I am grateful for this year.

The post Ep. 358 – Why gratitude is so grounding appeared first on Just Saying.

You may want to start a podcast, go to be a guest on one, or are just curious about how people prepare for them. After eight seasons doing this podcast and numerous guest appearances on other shows, I thought it might be helpful to provide some behind-the-scenes insights on how I do this podcast to shed some light on the production process.

The post Ep. 357 – How I prepare for a podcast appeared first on Just Saying.

Almost everybody does it and nobody likes it. The adage is when you’re early, you’re on time; and when you’re on time, you’re late. In this episode, I share some simple, yet practical advice on how to be early, be quiet, and be ready – and avoid the domino-effect of being late.

The post Ep. 356 – Showing up late and unprepared appeared first on Just Saying.

Can you imagine being on a flight and nobody gave any notice that you were going to land? After hitting the runway unprepared, many passengers would feel it. In meetings, getting ready to wrap it up is as important as getting started and setting the tone up front. In this episode, I provide a short list of best practices that meeting owners, leaders and participants need to follow to end every meeting on point and on time.

The post Ep. 355 – How to end a meeting like you meant it appeared first on Just Saying.

To me, clarity is what matters, not selling books, doing a podcast, or making appearances. After a decade publishing books on brevity and clarity, I want to remind listeners that communication is mostly about preparation (not delivery), that your audience has a voice (and we need to hear it more), and noise is the real villain that we need to face (and defeat) every day.

The post Ep. 354 – Why it’s not all about books appeared first on Just Saying.

If change is the only constant, why aren’t professionals, teams and organizations keeping their message up to date? Whether it’s economic, political, technical or strategic change, organizations must keep their messaging current, yet many keep falling far behind. In this episode, I provide some guidance on how to stay current and avoid having their mission frequently miss the mark.

The post Ep. 353 – When your mission changes, why doesn’t your message? appeared first on Just Saying.

As the release of my third book “Quiet Works: Make silence the secret ingredient of the workday” approaches, I take time to field some questions on each chapter.  In this episode, I focus specifically on Part Four: Quiet Places and Programs (chapters 14-17) and Part Five: Quiet Challenges (chapters 21-22).

The post Ep. 352 – Q&A on the book “Quiet Works” (part 3) appeared first on Just Saying.

As the release of my third book “Quiet Works: Make silence the secret ingredient of the workday” approaches, I take time to field some questions on each chapter.  In this episode, I focus specifically on Part Three: Quiet Practices at Work (chapters 9-13).

The post Ep. 351 – Q&A on the Book “Quiet Works” (part 2) appeared first on Just Saying.

As the release of my third book “Quiet Works: Make silence the secret ingredient of the workday” approaches, I take time to field some questions on each chapter.  In this episode, I focus specifically on Part One: Our Noisy World Just Gets Noisier (chapters 1-5) and Part Two: Quiet Isn’t What You Think” (chapters 6-8).

The post Ep. 350 – Q&A on the Book “Quiet Works” (part 1) appeared first on Just Saying.

A recent “ice cream” incident at a restaurant got me thinking about my immediate reaction when I first saw Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. Spoiler alert: my two words were, “that’s it?” In this episode, I talk about managing expectations as a deliberate communicator.

The post Ep. 349 – Managing Expectations (Two Words When I Saw Plymouth Rock) appeared first on Just Saying.