Each communicative act should have a purpose. In interviews, in meetings or in everyday conversation, what is the purpose of the questions you ask?

Here are some questions and their corresponding purposes:

1. Are you saying…?
Identifies someone’s language patterns.

2. Are you willing to…?
Tests someone’s limits.

3. Can you give me…?
Encourages examples and specifics.

4. Can you remember…?
Taps into someone’s memory.

5. Did you ask…?
Questions someone’s questions.

6. Have you considered…?
Non-threatening proposal of options.

7. Have you given any thought to…?
Suggestive, yet doesn’t sound like advice.

8. Have you thought about…?
Forces someone to think!

9. How are you constantly…?
Promotes consistency of action.

10. How are you creating…?
Proves that someone has a choice.

11. How can you become…?
Future oriented, motivational.

12. How can you make…?
Enlists someone’s creativity.

13. How could you have…?
Focused on past performance improvement.

There are 63 questions and why they work here.

Two professors, two journalists and a CEO make up the top five of the list.

POINT ONE: Presentations are about IDEAS, not TEXT.

POINT TWO: READING from SLIDES is a heinous crime.

POINT THREE: PEOPLE cannot COPE without some kind of visual STIMULATION.

Presenting the abstract pointillist powerpoint toolkit. 20 slides that can be used for any presentation. Cut, paste, copy, crop the slides to create an abstract of your ideas that you can then talk to and through.

(thanks)

The movie The Insider (1999) chronicles Dr. Jeffrey Wingad’s real-life case of whistle-blowing.

Below are three sources that can be used in the classroom for debate and analysis: the movie’s trailer, Wingad’s testimony before congress, and an interview with the movie director and Wingad himself.

The movie’s trailer (2′32″)

Jeffrey Wigand testifies about his experience as a whistleblower at a Workforce Protections (9′59″)

The Charlie Rose interview with Michael Mann (the movie’s director) and Jeffrey Wingad (56′54″)

(grazie)

I discuss in class the five ways in which people will react when faced with an ethical dilemma:

• Exit
• Voice
• “Loyalty”
• Neglect/Sabotage
• Whistle-blowing.

The first three I paraphrase from a book by Albert Hirschman. The other two I picked up from research sources, as well as, sadly, my own experience.

The challenge for managers is to identify the behaviors and events that are symptomatic of these reactions, and to establish that said reactions are their cause.

Dear [Interviewer's Name]:

Thank you for your letter of [date of rejection letter].

After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me employment with your firm.  This year I have had been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of candidates, it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.

Despite [Firm's Name]’s outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet with my needs at this time.  Therefore, I will initiate employment with your firm immediately following graduation.  I look forward to seeing you then.

Best of luck in rejecting future candidates.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]

–

(thanks, Mikey)

The web today is driven by novelty and recency. In order for content companies to survive, they must produce fresh content at an incredible pace. The result, is articles that are more designed to get you clicking than to get you thinking. When you are forced to write a lot, the quality will inevitably go down.

So, over the past two years or so, my blog reading has declined. As the average intellectual quality of blog content decreased, and the average person began reading blogs, I decided to find a new source of inspiration, so I turned back to books.

When you read what everyone else reads, you will think like everyone else thinks. The best way to be original and creative is to have a different set of inputs. Cut your feed reader. Pick the 10 blogs that you like the most, and don’t waste your time with the rest. All you have to lose is those “me too” thinking patterns that social media promotes. (coconut headsets)

See also:

When readers become viewers

Blog defined