September 30, 2009 by Jerry
In two previous blogs you read how Barack Obama deployed the persuasive word, “you” to great rhetorical effect during his presidential campaign, in his historic Inaugural Address, and in his first formal address to a joint session of congress. “You” is persuasive because it makes a direct connection between the speaker and the audience. Many corporations, in their desire to connect with their customers, deploy the word in their slogans: Burger King’s “Have it your way” The U.S. Army’s “Be all that you can be.” (See prior blog for fuller discussion) Cisco Systems’ “Are you ready?” Microsoft’s “Where
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September 28, 2009 by admin
A123 Systems, an electric-car battery maker soared more than 50% on its first day of trading as a public company. Demand was so strong that underwriters boosted the number of shares sold by more than 50%. The Wall Street Journal reported that “underwriters substantially marked up the price at which those shares were initially sold to the public. A123’s stock had been expected to come to market somewhere between $8 and $9.50 a share and was instead priced at $13.50, for a total deal value of $380 million. Shares ended the day at $20.29.” Jerry coached the road show presentation.
September 25, 2009 by Pearl
Libya’s leader, Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, gave a rambling speech at the United Nations that ran for 90 minutes instead of the allotted 15. The speech drew strong reactions ranging from approval by his supporters to rebuke by his critics to satire from a comic. Neil MacFarquhar of The New York Times wrote, “At one point in his speech, Colonel Qaddafi waved aloft a copy of the United Nations charter and seemed to tear it, saying he did not recognize the authority of the document.” On BorowitzReport.com, Comedian Andy Borowitz wrote: An escaped mental patient broke into the United Nations
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September 18, 2009 by Jerry
The “Aha!” Moment. Dr. John Kounios, a psychologist at Drexel University in Philadelphia, defined the moment in a Wall Street Journal article as “any sudden comprehension that allows you to see something in a different light…It could be the solution to a problem; it could be getting a joke; or suddenly recognizing a face.” The “Aha!” Moment. According to that master etymologist, the New York Times’ William Safire, the first to express the moment was Chaucer in a fox hunt in his Canterbury Tales; Archimedes undoubtedly experienced it when he noticed the displacement of water in his bath; as
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September 16, 2009 by Jerry
After his formal address to a Joint Session of Congress last Wednesday about his health care reform proposals, President Obama went out on the stump to seek the support of the public. According to CBS News, by Saturday, when he got to Minneapolis to speak “to more than 10,000 people at the Target Center,” it was for the fifth time that week. The setting was like that of his stump speeches during his campaign for the Presidency and, as in those times, he called upon two of his familiar rhetorical devices: the human interest story and anaphora, or the
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September 14, 2009 by Jerry
In his weekly New York Times column yesterday, Frank Rich called Barack Obama’s health care speech to a joint session of Congress last Wednesday, “inspired, lucid and, in the literally and figuratively Kennedyesque finale, moving.” Mr. Rich was referring to two Kennedys, Ted and John; the latter was the figurative reference and the former the literal. Obama quoted directly from a letter Ted had written to him just before he died: He expressed confidence that this would be the year that health care reform⎯”that great unfinished business
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September 11, 2009 by Nichole
Pecha Kucha, is the Japanese term for the sound of conversation, or chit-chat, usually pronounced “pe-chak-cha”. In 2003, Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham Architecture established Pecha Kucha Night as a place for young designers to meet, network, and present their work in public. Pecha Kucha follows a simple concept. Each presenter is allowed 20 slides or images, shown for 20 seconds each, totaling 6 minutes 40 seconds. This format showcases many presenters, keeps the presentations short, and interest strong. Pecha Kucha Night has spread virally to over 100 cities worldwide. Time Magazine, Wired
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September 9, 2009 by Pearl
In his first television interview since his arrest last February for assaulting his former girlfriend, Rihanna, pop star Chris Brown told Larry King that he didn’t remember abusing her and that he is still shocked that the incident happened. When King asked Brown about his reactions upon seeing police reports, Brown replied, “I — I don’t — like, I’ll just look at it and like, wow, like, I’m in shock. Because, first of all, that’s not who I am as a person and that’s not who I promise I want to be. And so I — I just —
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September 2, 2009 by Jerry
In Monday’s post you read about how, as a writer, I learned about spaced learning—the process of reviewing multiple drafts of a document over a span of time—with my first book, a paperback novel. I carried that lesson forward through to the writing of three business books, multiple articles, and blogs. This two-part blog took about two dozen drafts. I even apply spaced learning to my electronic correspondence. When someone sends me an email with a simple query such as a confirmation of a meeting or a program, I compose a short reply and hit “Send” promptly. For any
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