Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Vocabulary Enhancement Words: New Edition of “Words of the Month”

The latest edition of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, will be online tomorrow. The six featured words, all of which lie within the conversational vocabulary of America’s most articulate (as is the case with all of the words featured in my book, “The Articulate Professional-3rd Edition”):

1. insuperable
2. locus
3. portentous
4. teetering
5. disconsolate
6. execrable

Female Attire: A "Low Contrast Woman" Does NOT Have to Avoid Wearing Contrasting Colors; Key is to Keep the Level of Contrast Low to Moderate

This is in continuation of my last post—that of July 22. The video clip below shows Consuelo Mack’s scarf helping add a nice touch of color to her low contrast attire comprising a plain light blue/grey jacket. It’s a perfect illustration of how a low contrast woman can indeed wear clothes that have a light to moderate color contrast without her face being overwhelmed by it.

© Copyright 2012 V. J. Singal

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Female Attire: For “Low Contrast Women," A High Contrast Attire is a No-No!

In my last post on the subject of female attire (December 11, 2011), I tried to establish--with the help of some video clips--why a low contrast woman (such as a light-skinned blonde) should assiduously avoid wearing a dress that is almost identical in color to her face and hair because it will make her look flat and boring. And in the opening lines of that post, I had also stated that, as is the case with low contrast men, the face of a low contrast woman will be overwhelmed if she were to wear high contrast attire.

I now have a good video clip to prove my assertion that a low contrast woman should strictly avoid high contrast clothes. [Yes, this clip too features Ms. Consuelo Mack, whom I strongly admire because of the great public service she is providing through her “Wealthtrack” television program on PBS.] As the clip gets into motion, notice how your gaze is constantly pulled down to an area below Ms. Mack’s face, thanks to the extremely attention getting attire sharply lowering the center of gravity of her overall physical image.

BTW, does the above paragraph imply that a low contrast woman should avoid wearing something with contrasting colors? Hardly! Just visit my next post.

© Copyright 2012 V. J. Singal

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Disarming and Neutralizing One’s Critics and Detractors: Jamie Dimon’s Repeated use of the word “Company” Instead of "Bank" in recent Interviews

Ever since that huge trading loss at JP Morgan first came to light some couple of months ago, every word uttered publicly by CEO Jamie Dimon with regard to that misstep has gotten enormous coverage in the media. No surprise there. But here is something instructive: In every interview/ public statement on that subject, Mr. Dimon has tried assiduously to avoid using the term “bank” when referring to JP Morgan, uttering the word “company” instead. See for yourself by clicking on the following which is a link to the May 13, 2012, “Meet the Press” transcript—his first interview on this financial disaster.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47403362/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/t/may-reince-priebus-martin-omalley-gavin-newsom-al-cardenas-kathleen-parker-jonathan-capehart-chris-matthews-jamie-dimon/

By preferring the word “company” over “bank,” Mr. Dimon is doing exactly what I would have done had I been in his situation. The term “bank” has been in bad odor ever since that massive and highly unpopular federal government bailout of the banking industry during the financial crisis. So, by avoiding mention of “bank” when referring to the multi-billion-dollar loss is one smart tactic to help disarm and neutralize critics of “big banks” and thus minimize the public’s adverse reaction to JP Morgan’s misadventure.

BTW, I will be presenting a seminar on this topic (i.e., on “How to Disarm and Neutralize Your Critics and Detractors without being Offensive or Disrespectful”) at a Houston-based unit of Subsea 7 later this week.

© Copyright 2012 V. J. Singal