It’s well established that people tend to think they know a lot more than they actually do – we’re all wired to be arrogant that way. It’s called the “illusion of explanatory depth,” which is a fancy way of saying we’re biased to think we know more than ...
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Trust in government and previously trusted institutions is lower than it used to be. People’s trust in basic science and expertise is also down. COVID-19 pandemic changes and confusion exacerbated these problems and skepticism about science continues, which makes it tough for scientists and technical experts to communicate facts and ...
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For a lot of experts, especially engineering and science types, public speaking and presentations are fun – much like root canals and picking up in-laws from the airport are fun. But when you’re in the public sector business or even in a business, business that requires talking to actual human ...
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You talk too much. We all do. Culture has evolved and social media has given everyone a handheld megaphone. Fleeting thoughts take on an importance that must be immediately shared with the rest of humanity.
As a result, everyone’s talking and few people are hearing much of what they’re saying. ...
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When you started working from home during the pandemic, our training classes and public meetings moved mostly online. We, our clients and Zoom figured out how to make virtual coaching and engagement work well enough to stay in business. But we also realized that, although it was convenient and did ...
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I’m going to leave you with a touchy but interesting issue, an artificial intelligence version of an iconic piece of music. So iconic, in fact, that although the original is six and a half decades old, it was the Number One hit in the country again just a year ago! ...
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Urban cores are changing. When people started evacuating offices in favor of working in the hinterlands and exurbs, downtowns changed overnight. Although employers are trying to entice some people back into offices, nobody believes that urban cores will ever be quite what they were pre-pandemic. But what these buildings, spaces ...
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Involving the public is a lot of trouble, but often not nearly as much trouble as not involving them. The way this particular issue was handled might have been a simple oversight; it might just have been an overzealous administrator just trying to get the job done. But the perception ...
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Misinformation, which is generally defined as information that’s just wrong, and disinformation, which is information that’s deliberately false – an intentional lie designed to make you believe propaganda – are two of toughest challenges that we face. It’s a serious problem regardless of the situation, but it becomes deadly when ...
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Cookies have sometimes been the bane of my professional life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of warm, chewy, nutty, chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies, and I love almost all Christmas cookies. There are emergency Girl Scout Thin Mint sleeves and Tagalongs in my freezer, and I sometimes have ...
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