5 Tips for Better Communication

"Half the world is composed of people who have something to say but can't, and the other half who have nothing to say but keep on saying it."

(ROBERT FROST)

“If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues and one ear.”

(MARK TWAIN)

  

Because I am married and I fly often, the following story is near and dear to my heart; 

A man and his wife had been arguing all night, and as bedtime approached neither was speaking to the other. It was not unusual for the pair to continue this war of silence for two or three days, however, on this occasion the man was concerned; he needed to be awake at 4:30am the next morning to catch an important flight, and being a very heavy sleeper he normally relied on his wife to wake him.

Cleverly, so he thought, while his wife was in the bathroom, he wrote on a piece of paper: 'Please wake me at 4:30am - I have an important flight to catch'.

He put the note on his wife's pillow, then turned over and went to sleep.

The man awoke the next morning and looked at the clock. It was 8:00am. Enraged that he'd missed his flight, he was about to go in search of his errant wife to give her a piece of his mind, when he spotted a hand-written note on his bedside cabinet.

The note said: 'It's 4:30am - get up'. 

Our communication with others may not be as dysfunctional as the couple in the previous story, but we all probably have room to improve in this area.

11 Interview Tips to Give you an Edge

“How would I describe myself? 

Three words: hard working, alpha male, jackhammer … merciless … insatiable“ 

(Dwight K. Schrute at an interview)

 

In a previous post, I talked about the do's and do not's of applying for jobs.  Today, I'll give you some ideas on how to give yourself an edge during the interview process.  I'll try not to give you the normal advice that you can find anywhere on the internet.  In my career, I have been on 11 interviews for coaching positions at 4-year universities.  Of those 11 interviews, I have been blessed to have nine job offers.  Through my personal experience, as well as being a member of search committees, I am going to present a few tips that may put you in a slightly different frame of mind from the other candidates.  An additional resource for you is the article "15 things I look for when I interview people".  Anyway, follow my 11 tips and you'll be guaranteed to get the job.  No, not really.  Actually the only thing I can guarantee is that doing these things will give yourself a better than average chance to get the job.   Every job and every interviewer is different but with these tips, who knows, maybe they'll be just the difference you need to set yourself apart from the crowd and give you an edge.  Why 11 tips?  It's because ten is normal but we want to always do a little extra.  Also, if you truly want to dive into all of this stuff, I suggest you check out any of Harvey MacKay's books ("Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt", "How to Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive", etc...).  

(1)  Research and Be Prepared.  Seriously...do your homework!  If this job is important to you then act like it.  It's not enough to know that the boss used to work at such and such company or that he belongs to a certain civic organization.  Find out as much as possible about the person(s) that will be making the hiring decisions.    Use your contacts.  Talk to people who know people.  Do more than just look at the first page of Google to find information.  You can't always control the interview.  If you know 3 or 4 key things, you might not be able to tailor the conversation to include those facts.  The more you know, the more likely you'll be able to work some of that into the interview.

DON'T BE A TWIT ... twitter rules to live by

I am fairly new to the world of social media, especially twitter.  I have an account and have composed some tweets.  However, don't expect me to twit anyone back.  I also just learned in the last week that "dm" isn't short for "you da man".  "Direct Message" makes more sense. I kind of thought that it was strange when people would keep asking me to "dm" them.  Okay, whatever dawg...u da man!  Anyway, I believe the twitter universe is here for the long haul and I must get used to it.  More importantly, my players have embraced it so I guess I need to learn a little something about it.  I came across two great articles about tweeting.  The first is "100 Twitter Rules To Live By", which was written by Darren Rovell (a sports business expert for CNBC).   The second "50 Twitter Tips for Division I Student Athletes" was written by Tom Satkowiak, who works in the athletic media relations off at the University of Tennessee, is a good read for anyone but especially college athletes.  Some of my favorites are: