I’m breaking my silence. I haven’t written in a while because the only subject that inspires me now is politics, and some years ago I decided not to talk about politics. It was a practical decision. I made everyone mad when I talked about politics and I need friends.
People who know me might think I haven’t really sworn off the subject of politics. I do join in on occasion. But I never really say what I honestly think. Or better, I throw out some simple statements to get a feel for the climate and take it from there. The exception is with those friends who see things the way I do. Then the real me comes out.
When I’m not thinking about the elections in the States, I am typically writing lessons about communication. How’s that for irony? My lessons are for business people around the world learning English and the goals are very different.
In these business communication lessons I teach people to analyze their audience, to pace (that is, to match the audience’s expectations in terms of delivery speed, word choice, nonverbal communication, etc.), to use positive emphasis (point out the good side), and to reserve emotions.
I may have been teaching this so long that I’ve become a business communicator all the time. When there is conflict, I know I need to listen carefully and reserve judgment. I’m aware that my view is not everyone else’s view and that people rarely hear a message the same way the sender intended it to be heard. I teach that as we listen, we delete the information that doesn’t match our own views and then distort the rest of the information so that it does.
So I think I’ve become a walking business communication puppet. And it’s driving me absolutely nuts.
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