Sticky...But is it True

I have a uncle who likes to forward email warnings to his contact list. Here are a couple examples of "sticky" warnings I received lately:

Warning #1
While driving on a rural end of the roadway on Thursday morning, I saw an infant car seat on the side of the road with a blanket draped over it. For whatever reason, I did not stop, even though I had all kinds of thoughts running through my head. But when I got to my destination, I called the Canton PD and they were going to check it out.
But, this is what the Police advised even before they went out there to check.... "There are several things to be aware of .... gangs and thieves are now plotting different ways to get a person (mostly women) to stop their vehicle and get out of the car.
"There is a gang initiation reported by the local Police Department where gangs are placing a car seat by the road...with a fake baby in it...waiting for a woman, of course, to stop and check on the abandoned baby.
"Note that the location of this car seat is usually beside a wooded or grassy (field) area and the person -- woman -- will be dragged into the woods, beaten and raped, and usually left for dead. If it's a man, they're usually beaten and robbed and maybe left for dead, too.
Do not stop for any reason!!! Dial 9-1-1 and report what you saw, but don't even slow down.

Warning #2
If you are driving at night and eggs are thrown at your windshield, do not stop to check the car, do not operate the wiper and do not spray any water because eggs mixed with water become milky and block your vision up to 92.5%, and you are then forced to stop beside the road and become a victim of these criminals.
This is a new technique used by gangs, so please inform your friends and relatives. These are desperate times and these are unsavory individuals who will take desperate measures to get what they want.
Please talk to your loved ones about this. This is a new tactic used. Please be safe.

• Can you pick out the SUCCESs elements in these examples?
• Does their "stickiness" incline you to a particular behavior? Is there something you will or won't do as a result?
• Do you know anyone to whom either of these things has happened?
• Is it possible that a professor like me assigned students like you the task of writing an "urban legend" and sending it to their distribution list?

And once I get it out of my head...

The next challenge is picking the right words to express my thoughts.

We all tend to default to common phrases and cliches. At one time they really helped clarify thinking, but now they just turn people off.

Here is a list of "Americanisms" invading the British vocabulary... and a bit of commentary on how Brits feel about them.

What over-used terms and phrases drive you crazy?

Meetings

This week's theory lecture on communication in workgroups and teams gets very practical when applied to the most common team communication venue - meetings.

For many, meetings are the bane of organizational existence. Sometimes that is because of bad behavior at meetings. Sometimes it is poor meeting management. Sometimes is due to lack of clarity on why we are meeting, what we are supposed to accomplish and what my particular role in this situation actually is.

How would you grade your organization on the general quality of your meetings? In your experience, what makes "bad" meetings bad? What makes "good" meetings good?

False Evidence Appearing Real - FEAR

This article - Using Stories to Overcome Fear - by Peter Guber on the HBR Blog network captures some of the popular discussion around the power of story in delivering and driving business results.

Do people in any organizations to which you belong live under the power of F.E.A.R?

Getting it out of my head...

Studying communication can be like dissecting a frog to figure out how it works. In the pond, frogs jump and swim, croak and mate, eat and escape being eaten. Catch that same frog pickle it and pin it down, start poking, probing and pinching it and you may learn a lot about the frog, but in the process, the frog dies.

I hope not to kill communication in the process of studying it with you.

Communication happens when I get something out of my head into the space between our heads so that you can process it in your head and agree or disagree with me, act upon or ignore what I said.

Any one of us starts the process when we get a story, an experience, an idea, an emotion out of our head and into the space between us. None of us are mind readers. No one can really know what we are thinking unless we tell them. Telling them starts the communication process.

• How easy is it for you to get stuff out of your head so that others can interact with you?
  
• What are the hindrances you need to overcome in doing so?
• Do people regard you as a conversationalist?

“Today, communication is instant, constant, permanent and global.”

—	Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life