Communication
Communication is a critically important factor in living life in general, but is very often over-looked and taken for granted. I think your communication ability, or at least your awareness of the importance of good and accurate communication, is a mark of maturity.
Good communication is two-way. Your transmitter should be transmitting and your receiver should be receiving. Pretty basic huh? Yes, but this is a lot easier said than done! It’s all too easy (and common) to walk into a conversation or situation “knowing” that you are right and that you need to convince the other person of your viewpoint so you can go on with your day.
Stop!
Collaborate and listen.
Ice is back with a brand new invention…
Sorry. What can I say, I got caught up in some Vanilla Ice.
Where was I? Oh, instead of just vomiting out your idea with no thought of what is running through the other persons head. LISTEN to them! There have been so many times where I’ve made a fool out of myself, assuming that I knew all the details of a situation or what someone else was thinking that it finally sunk in: Maybe I should listen to what other people say!
As with most of these topics in general, they are good principles for life and for business. As applied to the business realm, communication includes everything from returning a phone call or email promptly, to your body language and tone of voice when you meet face to face with a client. Especially in our end of the tech-universe the way we communicate through Twitter, Facebook and other social networks is very important. Once you post something on the ol’ interweb, consider it there for all time.
I think that good communication is a vital skill to have. Both in listening and in speaking. Whether you’re quiet or the life of the party, timid or “Type-A”, you can still have good communication skills. Keep working on it. I know I will.
Until next time,
Cory
PS – I don’t really like Vanilla Ice. I’m more of a Cherry Coke type of guy.
