Before we could discuss approaches he should take [and he had an outline of what to say], I asked, “Norm which idea exactly did he claim as yours?”

“Aahh”, my brother replied, “He was really clever in what he said. He never directly claimed the idea was his; he strongly implied it by saying “I’ve used this for several teams and…..” If one didn’t know better, they would think he came up with the idea. In fact, when I told my boss (his boss, too) about it, my boss said “He’s always presented the information that way”. Unfortunately for my colleague, there are 2 years worth of his reports with a different way (that no one understands) of presenting the information. So, when my boss and I looked (together) at his previous presentations, my boss saw that I was correct…So, because of what this guy actually said, I can’t say that he claimed the idea as his – that is a false statement. He did imply it, though.”

So my brother’s coworker never came right out and said “This is my idea”, “This isn’t my idea” or “This is Norm’s idea” ….. he bypassed that piece of information.

It isn’t what you said; it’s what they think they heard.

Tell me, what did you hear?

[Look for part 2 … the solution … in a future blog posting.]

I was watching an episode of Night Gallery entitled “Make Me Laugh”. It’s the story of a has-been comic [Godfrey Cambridge] who, in a bar, meets up with a gentleman professing to be able to work miracles. Unfortunately, the miracle worker does not always give the wish-ee exactly what they want … he ‘misses’ so to speak.

The comic presses for his miracle. “I want to make people laugh” he demands. He gets his miracle. In fact, no matter what he says, and even when he only stands on stage, people laugh. And laugh hysterically. Of course this is not what the comic really wants … and he changes his miracle demand to “I want to touch people, I want to make them cry.” He then gets hit by a cab and indeed makes people cry.

The comic knew what he wanted, knew what he meant. The ‘miracle worker’ gave the comic exactly what he asked for.

Let me ask you, are you clear in your requests?

It isn’t what you said, it’s what they think they heard”

Scientists say that Henrikje van Andel-Schipper’s mind was probably as good as it seemed: a post-mortem analysis of her brain revealed few signs of Alzheimer’s or other diseases commonly associated with a decline in mental ability in old age…

Asked what advice she would give to people who want to live a long time, she once quipped: “Keep breathing.”

You have a long time to learn how to communicate effectively …. Begin now!

Your left brain is your logical brain, your analytical and logical thought,

along with your math and science skills reside here.  Your left brain works most efficiently when it is naming and categorizing, or when dealing with the 3 R’s [reading, writing, arithmetic].  Information is managed in sequential manner.

Your right brain is your creative brain, your intuition, creativity and art and music sensors come from this side.  Your right brain whirls when it encounters opportunities to use imagination and non-verbal information.  Information does not have to be in any sort of pattern.

When you are left-brained overwhelmed [too much work to do in too little time], you are spinning in a logical quagmire.  The best thing to do is to unleash your creative side:  color [outside the lines], sing, dance, exercise …. any activity that you don’t really have to ‘think’ to do.

When you are right-brained overwhelmed, review multiplication tables in your head!  That’ll quickly get your left brain engaged so your right brain can take a breather.

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