daily inspiration

Change the conversation

“Everything that happens in an organization happens in or because of a conversation. If you want to change the culture, you’ve got to change the conversation.” ― Tanya Mann, Five Frequencies: Leadership Signals that turn Culture into Competitive Advantage

Learning new ways to communicate

I think one of the greatest gifts to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic will be learning new ways to communicate. During this time when we have not been able to gather in groups people have stepped up to reach out electronically. How have you been gathering differently during this crisis? Have you attended aContinue reading “Learning new ways to communicate”

Americans no longer talk to each other

“Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas, they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials.” ― Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Manners

“Manners are the ability to put someone else at their ease…by turning any answer into another question.” ― Tina Brown

Ideal Conversation

“Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory.” ― Emily Post

When did we stop talking?

Has someone ever told you, I don’t discuss politics and religion? That doesn’t usually mean they won’t talk about those things with anyone — just not those who disagree with them. I understand not wanting arguments and hurt feelings, but people who do not agree with us are exactly the ones we need to talkContinue reading “When did we stop talking?”

The most fruitful and natural exercise for our minds

“The most fruitful and natural exercise for our minds is, in my opinion, conversation.” ― Michel de Montaigne The Essays: A Selection

Best Conversations

“In the best conversations, you don’t even remember what you talked about, only how it felt. It felt like we were in some place your body can’t visit, some place with no ceiling and no walls and no floor and no instruments” ― John Green, Turtles All the Way Down

Meeting of minds

Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits. When minds meet, they don’t just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn’t just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards.” —Theodore Zeldin