Sometimes you just want to scream that at people.  Call them out for the B.S. that they are feeding you.  You know it's bunk, but how do you confirm that?  How can you make them realize that they are not telling the truth?

Truth Is Everything

Knowing the truth is useful in all areas of your life.  Knowing when to believe the used car salesman.  Understanding when your kids are not being honest.  Detecting deception of an employee.  Seeing through the lies of politicians...

Knowing when you are being fed B.S. is a powerful skill.  Reading faces. Body language. Spotting nervousness.  These are all techniques that have been promoted as being reliable "B.S. meters", but they don't work as well as you may think.  Some people are just pros at feeding you a line of B.S.  In fact, the real pros actually believe their own B.S.  Those are the truly dangerous ones.

Is there a better way to identify a liar?

In this article from Get Pocket, The Best and Worst Ways To Spot A Liar, there is a great discussion of ways that work, and those that don't, in detecting lies.  It's worth a read, because it will quickly provide you with some easy tools to cut through the B.S. that we face everyday. 

This simple technique is very powerful and it can help you spot a liar, not just in your own conversation, but from conversations of...

I have been in committees for decades.  Yes, literally decades.  And over those years there are some interesting patterns of participation that I have observed.  Which are you?

The passive listener

...is the person who comes faithfully to the committee and listens.  Rarely if ever do they actively contribute to the content of the committee unless specifically asked a question. Then they surprise everyone with an often useful and insightful response.  My suggestion: Speak up a bit more. 

The non-engaged

,,,is the person who sits at the periphery of the meeting.  They are often seen "sneaking" a look on their phone. Texting. Or doing something else.  While they are not actively disruptive, they are passively disruptive because of the infectious quality of their non-participation.  My suggestion: Either commit to participating in the meeting for the time you are there, or ask to be excused from the meeting.  (If that means you are not fulfilling your job and responsibilities, consider that.)

The cautious contributor

...is the person who does participate in the meeting and provides periodic contributions to the content of the meeting.  This person can often be intimidated by other more active members of the committee.  My suggestion:  Look at your prior contributions and see how they have shaped the discussions and...

What is propaganda?

Is there propaganda in the USA today?

That's are very important questions today.  Why? Perhaps because we in the USA are being exposed to far more propaganda than we realize.  Propaganda about infectious diseases.  Propaganda about the economy.  Propaganda about various careers.  Propaganda about countries. Propaganda about health. Propaganda about ourselves.

What's the problem with propaganda?

It's simple. Let's first look at the purpose of propaganda. 

The spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.   - Merriam-Webster Dictionary

One way to look at propaganda is this:  If what is being stated is truth, then it's not propaganda.  If it's the promotion of an idea that isn't true, but people are trying to make it seem true, then it's propaganda.

When we are inundated with propaganda, a few things start to happen.  First, we lose the ability to distinguish reality from artificial or malevolent messaging. Repetition of the message makes the audience believe it is true.  We lose our ability to witness various view points, consider each of them,  think clearly and then make our own decisions. With propaganda, pushing a message over and over leads to a non-critical thinker to believe it is true.  Voila! ...

What Messages Are You Ignoring?

Could it be something that someone is telling you?  Perhaps that nagging pile of mail on your counter?  The email folder with hundreds of unread messages? Or is it an important message being drown out by the sea of unwanted messages pummeling your senses.

Some messages are worth ignoring.  For me, I have been purging and unsubscribing to email lists that I find myself consistently deleting without reading.  I tell myself I will save this for later when I will read it, but  I really know I won't.  So I don't deal with it.  And it piles up and festers, like a wound that won't heal. That distraction may take my attention from the email that is important. In this case, ignoring should be replaced with eliminating those unwanted messages.

Obvious Messages

Some messages are important to not ignore and are obvious.  The stop sign, an intersection traffic light or the school crossing sign are definitely messages that you should not ignore.  The consequences of error are too high.  They are there, out in the open. But distraction from the cell phone message or the radio commercial may make those obvious messages invisible to you. 

Others can be right in front of our eyes, such as helping us to be safe.  We ignore them, not because we choose to, but because they have become invisible in...

Recently I saw an article on "agile thinking".  It was written by someone who really though that they had stumbled upon something profound.  Agile Thinking.

What's Old Is New

In the article, the author described in detail how their ability to use agile thinking allowed them to navigate the complexity of their job as well as the (LOL) the planning of their child's birthday party.  

There was a description of how they created a list. Then prioritized the items on the list. Then executed them.  

Thinking

Wow!  What a novel concept.  

Creating a list. Putting it in order of importance and then doing the things on the list.

I never thought that my wife and I were practicing the futuristic concept of agile thinking. when we did these things for the past 40 years while raising our family.  Or for any number of the tasks we did at home or at work.   I didn't realize that the process of our simple thinking was so ahead of it's time.  

Why didn't I think of that?

Perhaps I could have come up with "agile thinking" and written about it if I had been practicing agile thinking.....

Maybe it's time to give credit where credit is due and not try to make something "new" out of something "old".  Putting a new name on something that already exists doesn't make it new. 

Oh, by the way, perhaps...

Meetings

Sitting in a meeting can be painful. Mentally and physically.

Often there are many droll presentations.  Sometimes to present what is happening.  Other times to present what the meeting attendees think should happen. A lot of the time for someone to tell you why something didn't happen.  

Too many people.  Too much time.  Too little impact.

Perhaps taking your meeting on a walk can help in productivity.

It's usually a lot smaller group. It's usually more personal.  It's unscripted and more honest.  And because of the fresh air...perhaps more innovative and productive.  It's time to blow the dust off meetings and get outside.

Some large meetings are necessary, but for most meetings, it's a smaller and more personal meeting that will be far more beneficial to achieve what you need to get done for your business.

Who is it that you need to get on board to get things done?

Who is it that can take the lead for new projects or initiatives?

Who is it that will provide new ideas and honest feedback?

That's who you should have a meeting with.  Invite them for a walk and get something done.  

Let's play a drinking game.  Every time you hear this in a meeting, let's have a drink:

Let's do a deep dive on this topic.

Let's be sure to stay within the rails during this project.

Did you start a dialog with the customer?

Thanks for reaching out to them.

Let's ideate together.

This will result in shifting paradigm of what we know.

Let's look for the blue ocean opportunity.

Can we circle back on that?

Let's park that idea in the parking lot.

Business Babble

I don't know about you, but business babble (which I call bisno-babble) is driving me nuts.  To me, such babble is distracting, annoying and reflects badly on the bisno-babbeler.  For Pete's sake, just say what you mean in plain language.

Using bisno-babble doesn't make me think you know more than you do.  I am more concerned about the content of what you are saying than the jargon that you use. 

Let's get back to simple language.  Let's communicate in a way that actually reflects what we are trying to say. 

Useless Babble

I don't know about you, but if bisno-babble was a drinking game, I would be hammered in most meetings after about 10 minutes.  But perhaps that would make the meetings more tolerable. 

Please don't contribute to meeting intoxication.  

Do you say what you...

Trust

A powerful word.

But what does it mean? Perhaps I know that you are acting in my best interest?  Or maybe you are working in the best interest of mankind?  It might be that I know you are telling me the truth.  And maybe it means that you are not going to do anything that will hurt me.

What does it mean to you?  What meaning does "trust" have for you?  Is it the same as I think?  Or is it different? 

What about your audience?  Your clients? Your customers?  What does trust mean to them?  Are you delivering "trust" to them in the way that they believe?

Agreed Upon Definitions Of Words

Words can be interpreted differently by different people.

Consider that when you use powerful words like "Trust".

Perhaps it's worth telling your audience, clients and customers what words like "Trust" mean to you before you use them.  

Then there is less chance for confusion.

You can trust me on that.  

Reflex Conversation

We all have our rituals that we use every day.

"Good Morning".   Reply,  "Good Morning".

"How are you today?". Reply, "Fine, thank you."

"Sorry about that...".  Reply, "No problem."

These statements, and others like them, are likely said millions of times each hour across the world (and in different languages).

It's much like talking to a wall.  Different day ... same conversation and "wall". 

It's expected.  We make the same statement and receive a predictable answer. Or, we provide a predictable answer to the rote statement from someone else.

It's like we are just talking to fill the air time.  Do we really care what the other person thinks or says?   I suspect that nearly all of the time ... we don't care.  It's no different than talking to a brick wall.

So we have two choices to stop this repetitive and inane insanity.  Stop issuing these worthless statements, or answer them in a way to break the cycle.

Either way is not that hard. 

Instead of "How are you today?", replace it with "How are you today, REALLY?". 

See what a different response you get.

Instead of answering "Fine, thank you", switch it up..."I am splendid today, thanks".   

See what that does to the conversation.

Think about everything you say.  Make your words more than sound that...

Whitespace ...

It might not have anything in it....but it's not empty.

It can have a message that can make you do something.

This whitespace made you scroll down.  

Without instructions.  Without words.  Without effort.

Do you use whitespace effectively?  Do you use it to communicate?

If not ... 

...Why not?