26 01, 2012

Is Your Listening Tuned to the Right Station?

2019-04-01T21:05:50+00:00By |Comments Off on Is Your Listening Tuned to the Right Station?

“There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for.”
—James Nathan Miller, Author

Many people think effective communication is simply choosing the right words to say. I submit, however, that poor listening skills create the biggest barrier to good communication.

Effective communicators listen attentively, but even attentive listeners can go astray. If a radio is not finely tuned to the right station, the reception gets garbled. Similarly, to fully understand a speaker’s message, a listener must properly tune in to the purpose of the speaking.

By way of illustration, most of us have whined about a frustrating problem at some point. We often know what to do about our problem, but we want to complain first in the hope of garnering some sympathy. Our frustration increases when listeners respond with suggested solutions to the problem. That wasn’t the kind of listening we wanted.

Many listeners miscue about the appropriate kind of listening required because most of us have a preferred approach that we use until we understand that something else is needed. We need to switch listening approaches to fit various situations. […] «Is Your Listening Tuned to the Right Station?»

12 01, 2012

Electronic Briefs: Hyperlinking Your Way to A Positive Outcome

2019-03-19T23:13:52+00:00By |1 Comment

by Cathy L. Ribble

A few months ago, one of my attorney clients called on his way home from a hearing to discuss the briefing schedule the judge had outlined for our case.  The judge had also clearly indicated his preference for electronic briefs with hyperlinks to the cited legal authorities.  I docketed the briefing deadline and began to research the additional steps required to provide the judge exactly what he wanted.

The first step for any litigation project is […] «Electronic Briefs: Hyperlinking Your Way to A Positive Outcome»

11 01, 2012

Texas Hoof-in-Mouth Disease

2019-03-19T23:15:19+00:00By |Comments Off on Texas Hoof-in-Mouth Disease

I have long suffered from Texas Hoof-in-Mouth Disease. Susceptibility to the illness is a genetic trait passed down from generation to generation in my family. Some people may confuse our illness with the cattle disease, but I am speaking of a more virulent strain of the common foot-in-mouth disease.

Texas Hoof-in-Mouth Disease has caused me such pain and embarrassment in the United States that I simply will not describe all of its horrors. However, I don’t mind giving you an example of its tragic effect on another family member.

My mother’s manifestation of the disease sometimes resembles the symptoms of Turret’s Syndrome, causing words to come flying out of her mouth before she has a chance to consider them. For example, once when she looked at the protruding belly of a woman at church, the disease caused the words “I thought you had that baby already!” to leap out of her mouth. Just before walking off, the woman responded, “I did.” […] «Texas Hoof-in-Mouth Disease»

3 01, 2012

Looking Back for Fun and Profit

2019-03-19T23:17:45+00:00By |Comments Off on Looking Back for Fun and Profit

Journalist Samuel Rubenfeld posted his personal 2011 year in review on Tumblr.  Someone with the username “rofgile” posted his review of his 2011 investment picks on The Motley Fool forum. Bonnie Beckham posted in her blog for Boston.com some fun and interesting questions that her family answers as their year-end review each December. Yahoo! has a way to review your personal year of Facebook posts alongside events of the year.

There are many different focuses and many different ways to take stock of the old year as we launch the new year. The groundbreaking civil rights attorney, law school professor and first African-American federal judge, William Hastie reminded us why we need to do a review now and then. He said, […] «Looking Back for Fun and Profit»

 

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