I recently heard Actor John Lithgow read an excerpt of his new nonfiction novel, Drama, on the Diane Rehm show. What a delivery. I’m pretty darn sure the writing was exceptional, but it was the delivery of those few pages in Lithgow’s lovely, perfectly paced vocals that sold me. If you are familiar with Lithgow’s …
Are you abstract or linear, and does it matter?
I’m going to step out on a limb here. I’m guessing that generally most information gathered online these days is best delivered in a linear format (you click here, to go here, to go here). Web sites are clean, neat and easy to navigate. However, things are changing. Some Web sites have become more abstract, …
When do visuals just get in the way?
I recently read a Fast Company article entiteld, “How Bing’s Editors Use Sexy Images to Seduce You Away from Google.” The gist—The big, bold, unique images on Bing’s search engine site are a big draw. Bing’s images are indeed often gorgeous, but I find it to be a distraction when I’m looking to use a …
What makes your company or organization unique?
In a recent NPR interview, photographer/author Peter McBride said of the Colorado River, “It’s not the longest or largest river in the U.S., it’s the seventh, but it’s definitely the most loved and litigated.” He continued, talking about his recent book, The Colorado River: Flowing Through Conflict. Now, I hope that conflict is not what makes …
Learning from the high jump “industry”
The Harvard Business Review recently printed a short sidebar about the evolution of the high jump. The gist: Only the innovative jumpers, who designed new methods of jumping, made large gains in their high jump, leaving the rest in the dust. To us, this is the mark of a true professional. One who is consistently …
Cliffs Notes on Your Company
What caught my eye in a recent Harvard Business Review was not one of the thought-provoking articles, rather an advertisement for getAbstract, a service that “condenses critical knowledge from the most important business books, summarized into easily digestible five-page summaries.” What a “novel” idea. Wink Wink, nudge nudge. We read many business books at Kinghorn …
The King’s Cinematography
I just finished watching the Oscar-winning movie, The King’s Speech. Yes, I know I was late to the game, but we have a baby in the house and I wanted to wait until I had some uninterrupted time to be “wowed.” (Still, we had to watch the movie over two nights.) Besides being quite charmed …
It’s all about you
Recently, we’ve been asked to boost the effectiveness of several PowerPoint decks through reducing text and strengthening the visual messaging—to make them more of a visual aid rather than a book on the projector. In doing so, we followed a few simple guidelines. Here are some tips to assist in creating your own presentations. It’s …
Storytelling: For adults too
Lately, my dog comes inside from the backyard with dirt-covered paws. Today, I followed her outside to see where she was digging and caught her “in the act.” I knelt over the freshly dug hole and to my horror saw the unmistakable shape of a human skull. Did this story introduction pique your interest? Do …
