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This weekend, Mark Beeson read “A Letter to the President” on the eve of President Obama arriving on campus at Notre Dame amidst all the hub-bub… If you get a chance… view it here on/before May 24th.

A simple takaway… when talking to your team, employee, spouse, kids… stop and T.H.I.N.K.

• Is it True?
• Is it Helpful?
• Is it Important?
• Is it Necessary?
• Is it Kind?

The right thing said the right way at the right time has a chance of connecting… otherwise, we can expect to swing and miss. At the end of the day, we all have people in our lives we would like to influence. How can we connect/influence?

• Encouragers are influencers. Who do you like being around? People who beat you over the head or those who call out the best in you?
• Integrity Matters. Having principles that guide your discussions and actions allow you to be consistent and trustworthy to those values. Wild cards, hot heads, and unpredictability don’t make it to many circles of trust.
• Work for Other’s Success. Sure…this goes against the crowd, however… when people know you’re “for” them and celebrate their success… they may listen to constructive feedback.
• Apologize when you’re wrong or screw-up.
• Keep Casting. You’re not in control of other people. They may not respond the way you want, expect, or not at all. Keep casting your net… sometimes you end up connecting with an unexpected audience. Perhaps, that’s where you should have been all along.

“We all will have an opportunity to speak Truth to those in power…”- Mark Beeson 5/17/09

The question is…. will we connect?

I recently read “Less Clutter Less Noise” (to many people’s amazement). While it is written as a Communications/Marketing strategy, tips, and best practices using the “church” as a case study… I read it as an Operations Manager for a technology company.

Here are my top 10 favorites for the business world as I observe at our company and the hundreds of clients we consult with:

• Our people (employees) are going to have several touch points with our clients, if they don’t “get” what we’re about, trying to do, or what we’re trying to communicate…. our marketing/communications strategy is already in trouble
• Our communications strategy and a firm understanding of who we are (and aren’t) should come well before we create our first marketing piece or develop our website… (We thought we knew our’s until we encountered the principles and questions in this book…)
• We try to tell our entire story, everywhere, all the time. We need to focus on telling one or two key messages at a time and leave them wanting more.

So in light of that message, I’ll stop there…. not 10…. just 3 bullets.

This book is not for everyone. Just 8,460,000 of you.

The target? If you’re a decision-maker/influencer in ANY of the organizations you belong to and actually want your message heard... say the top 10% of the workforce…. this applies to 18 million of you.

Even hotter target? (18 million of you) x (47% regular church attendees) = 8,460,000 of you. Go get it here.

Now I’m off to learn how our clients REALLY experience us…..