Let's Welcome Another Prominent U.S. Senator to my List of “Today’s New Breed of Holocaust Deniers”

The purpose of the video clip below, which is from the Sunday, March 23, 2015, edition of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” is twofold: 

1. To inform you about another high-profile U.S. senator--and that too a 2016 presidential aspirant--who rejects climate change (because it serves his political ends) and is fit to be inducted into my honor roll of “Today’s New Breed of Holocaust Deniers.”  

2. California Gov. Jerry Brown’s strongly worded denunciation of this senator. In fact, Gov. Brown’s criticism is so well articulated and forceful that I am likely to use some of his verbal expression in my future speeches on the subject. I believe you, too, will find it inspiring.

© Copyright 2015  V. J. Singal

 

 

Vital Negotiating Tip from Negotiator Par Excellence George Mitchell, former Senate Majority Leader and Principal Architect of the 1998 Peace Deal in Northern Ireland

In this half-minute clip, from a Rita Braver interview on CBS “Sunday Morning” (one of my three most favorite programs on television), we hear Sen. George Mitchell outline a key ingredient of his highly successful approach to negotiations.
 

© Copyright 2015  V. J. Singal

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

Have you looked at the latest edition of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, which has been online since the end of February? Here are 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-3rdEdition”): 

1. stentorian

2. excrescence

3. quiescent

4. anodyne

5. incongruity

6. ensconce

A Pathetic First Impression! 10-second Video Clip of 2016 Presidential Aspirant Who Doesn’t Have a Clue How to Look Pleasing and “Connect” Instantly

First, the comments below are not fueled by any political ideology: My criticism would have been equally vigorous, equally scathing, had the subject been a Democrat.

Now, click on the 10-second video clip below, which is from a very recent edition (Sunday, March 1) of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and you’ll observe a miserable first impression created by the guest. 
 

Why do I say "miserable"? For two reasons: First, the guest (Ben Carson, a Republican presidential aspirant for 2016) appears statue-like and inanimate--what I describe in my seminars and coaching as the “Egyptian Sphinx model.”  Second, his expression is abjectly cheerless, even funereal! 

Just two of the numerous things Carson could have done in the opening seconds to create a favorable first impression: a big, warm smile and at least a modicum of physical movement--say, leaning in momentarily. And I’m not even getting into aspects of his attire, such as his poor choice of tie. For a fuller discussion on that, please visit my posts on “men’s attire,” where I discuss the principle of matching contrasts. 

Ben Carson’s has to be one of the worst first impressions I have ever seen from a person who is trying to market himself or herself, let alone someone who wants to be elected America’s next leader.

© Copyright 2015  V. J. Singal

 

My Recent Interview on Russ Capper’s “The BusinessMakers Show”

Click here to view the video version of my recent interview with Russ Capper, a prominent Houstonian and host of “The BusinessMakers Show.” [For an alternate link, click here and scroll down to the middle of the page.] I believe you will be most interested in the following three segments from that conversation:

·         The opening minute: I describe the singular purpose of my company, “The Articulate Professional,” which has been in existence for over 22 years!

·         5 minutes 43 seconds into the interview: The William F. Buckley vs. William Bennett distinction--Why you should emulate the latter when wanting to speak with impact + the vital role of “spontaneous pauses.” Here, I discuss how to use--for impact and indelibility--fresh, evocative, and high caliber words without losing your audience or creating resentment, i.e., how to employ such words without coming across as pompous or pretentious. 

·         11 minutes 50 seconds into the interview: Three brief stories of spectacular communication failures by corporate titans and other luminaries. I briefly cite three anecdotes involving such failures, each of which was a powerful lesson and helped spawn one of the most popular offerings in my repertoire. [The three communication seminars/ coaching topics that were thus created: (i) Conquering the Pervasive Disease of Rambling: How to emphasize your point in Just Three Sentences; (ii) Creating a highly favorable first impression: Some simple verbal and nonverbal techniques; (iii) How to disarm and neutralize your critics and detractors without being offensive or disrespectful.]

 

Call me at 281-463-2500 or email me at vjsingal@verbalenergy.com if you’d like a clarification on any of the above. 

© Copyright 2015  V. J. Singal

 

Another Tip for my Caucasian Readers on How to Create a High-Impact Attire: Capitalizing on One of the LIGHTER Colors in Your Facial Skin

In my post of February 4, 2014, I showed Sen. Bob Corker, arguably the best dressed of all our current male U.S. senators, donning a tie whose color was at the dark end of the range of natural hues in his face. Well, the clip below, from a recent interview on CBS “Face the Nation” (still my favorite among all the Sunday morning television talk shows), has the senator wearing a tie whose dominant color is somewhere at the mid-point of all the colors visible on his face. And he looks good, just as in all of my previous posts featuring him. 

 

The objective of this post, along with that of last February, is to demonstrate that when picking a tie, a typical Caucasian man has a very wide choice of colors that are (i) intrinsically pleasing, and (ii) will make the person look splendid because that entire range of colors is in keeping with the principle of matching contrasts discussed in my previous posts. Alas, the situation is far less favorable or “colorful” for people of color--men like me--whose relatively dark facial skin seriously limits their choice of neck ties.

© Copyright 2015  V. J. Singal

 

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

Have you looked at the latest edition of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, which has been online since end-December?  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-3^rd Edition”) are:

1. sui generis

2. lucre

3. emasculate

4. catalytic

5. rumination

6. placid

How to Rebut & Disarm Your Critics and Detractors: Exemplary Disarming & Neutralizing by Gen. Michael Hayden in Wake of the “Torture Report”

Over the past few years, few top executives, be they in the private sector or in the government, have impressed me as much as has former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden. In fact, I recently “awarded” him my personal “medal of honor” by including him in the select few Americans named in the welcome paragraph on my website’s homepage as being among the most effective communicators in the land. 

As you can see in the two video clips below, Michael Hayden skillfully uses several communication tactics to disarm or at least reduce the vehemence of those who began denouncing the CIA soon after the release of the “torture report” last week--on Tuesday, December 9.  Specifically, by providing a rich and compelling perspective (within just half a minute in each video clip), Michael Hayden very adroitly reframes the issue and employs cognitive dissonance to put his critics on the defensive.

 

You can bet that these clips will be excellent source material for case study and exercises during (i) future renditions of my popular seminar on “How to Disarm and Neutralize your Critics and Detractors without being Offensive or Disrespectful” and (ii) my executive coaching sessions. [For a sampling of participant comments when this topic was presented to a standing-room-only audience of about 100 project managers at a recent PMI conference, click here and scroll toward the bottom of the Web page.]

© Copyright 2014  V. J. Singal
 

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A “Call to Arms” to Combat Climate Change; Kerry’s Visual and Evocative Analogy for Emphasis

Climate change--or rather, the fecklessness of governments around the world (including the U.S.) with regard to combating  global warming--has been in the news lately because of the just concluded U.N. climate summit in Lima, Peru.  So, I felt it’s a good time to reproduce a couple of short segments from a forceful and stirring speech by Secretary of State John Kerry in Jakarta, Indonesia, this past February during which he issued a “call to arms” (to quote PBS NewsHour) to confront climate change.

Excerpt One -- Kerry’s visual and evocative expression:

“The science of climate change is leaping out at us like a scene from a 3-D movie.”

Excerpt Two -- His exemplary censure of climate change deniers:

“We should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists and extreme ideologues to compete with scientific fact, nor should we allow any room for those who think the costs associated with doing the right thing outweigh the benefits.”

Very well said, Mr. Kerry. Now, if only others fighting for urgent action on this issue would begin using similarly strong and hard-hitting language to denounce climate change deniers. [See my May 18 post “some choice words to lambaste politicians who reject the scientific consensus on climate change.” In that post, which was triggered by famous Princeton scientist Michael Oppenheimer’s warning that “the millennials will have hell to pay,” I described climate change deniers as “today’s new breed of Holocaust Deniers.”]

© Copyright 2014  V. J. Singal

Raising Your Profile in the Workplace: 12 Juicy and Bite-sized Tips from Harvey Mackay on How to be More Visible and Thus “Stand Out at Work”

Harvey Mackay, author of numerous New York Times bestselling books, is spot-on when he writes “Doing a good job isn’t enough to succeed at work. You’ve got to be visible to make a real impact.” [Italics for emphasis mine.]  Click here to read his 12 juicy and really easy-to-digest tips featured in a recent edition of the Houston Business Journal:

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/how-to/growth-strategies/2014/11/12-ways-to-stand-out-at-work.html?page=all

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

Have you looked at the latest edition of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, which has been online since early October? 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-3^rd Edition”):

1. métier

2. valorize

3. puerile

4. citadel

5. verbosity

6. winsome

Executive Communication Skills: Video Clips Showing a Top Exec Looking Feeble & Uninspiring Thanks to Abysmal Body Language; Sample Solution

Click on the two short video clips below (43 seconds and 7 seconds respectively) which are excerpts from NBC interviews with former 4-star Gen. Shinseki a few weeks before he resigned as head of the Veterans Administration. Facing a big-time crisis of confidence in his leadership, the general should have come across as highly determined and confident when replying to questions such as “Are you willing to accept full responsibility” and “Do you completely understand why there is…?” Instead, you see responses that are weak and uninspiring thanks to body language that borders on the pathetic.

In my opinion, the singular reason why Shinseki appears so lackluster and diffident in the clips is that during all of his leadership training in the Army, he never got to appreciate the extraordinary significance of nonverbal skills at key moments, especially when an executive’s image and projection of leadership are of paramount importance. Indeed, as an executive communication coach here in Houston, I am unfailing in stressing with my clients the vital role of body language.

Sample Solution: So, what could Shinseki have done differently? In the interest of brevity, let’s examine the shorter clip in which, after being asked “Do you completely understand why there is that level of outrage right now,” the general’s feeble and somewhat equivocal response is: “Oh, I think I do--I'm a veteran myself.” Out of the dozens of different combinations of word choice, vocal variety, facial expression, and other body language, here is just one specific example of how Shinseki could have responded much more inspiringly and projected gravitas:

1. choice of words: something like “I absolutely do—I too am a veteran” or “There is no question that I do—I too am a veteran”

2. body language:

(i) with reference to the words in Italics: uttering them slowly, giving weight to each syllable, followed by a split-second pregnant pause in the case of "no question";
(ii) saying the word “too” loudly;

(iii) a more serious or intense facial expression;

(iv) torso leaning forward;

(v) gesticulating with right index finger pointing down during the first half of the sentence;

(vi) pointing toward his chest and displaying a disarming smile while saying “I too am a veteran.”

© Copyright 2014  V. J. Singal

Answer to the last Quick Quiz (of Sept. 25)

To make sense of this post, you need to first read the previous one, which asks you to identify the mispronounced word in a 26-second video clip.

Next, my customary declaration for posts on “mispronounced words”: The objective is NOT to denigrate or ridicule someone. Instead, I feature such posts in the belief that if a highly educated or sophisticated person is mispronouncing or misusing a particular word, there is a high probability that at least a few of my blog readers are making the same error. In other words, these posts are meant to serve as “pronunciation/ usage alerts!” And the reason why I name the radio or TV program and identify the speaker is solely to make this feature credible.

Answer: The mispronounced word is vigilantism which, in the video clip, Hari Sreenivasan is heard pronouncing as vij-uh-lan-tee-iz-um. The correct pronunciation: vij-uh-lan-tiz-um.

© Copyright 2014  V. J. Singal

Quick Quiz: Identify the Mispronounced Word

Click on the 26-second video clip below, which is an excerpt from the September 3, 2014, edition of PBS NewsHour. Can you identify the mispronunciation by Hari Sreenivasan?

Here's a transcript: “Hackers who self-organize under the collective name Anonymous have been involved in cyber-attacks on everything from corporations to intelligence agencies to local governments, even at one point the ‘NewsHour’ website. In this week’s issue of ‘The New Yorker,’ David Kushner takes a close look at Anonymous in an article, ‘How Anonymous Incited Online Vigilantism from Tunisia to Ferguson.’ He joins me now. So, Anonymous has a slogan--says ‘We are legion.’”

Answer in my next post. 

© Copyright 2014  V. J. Singal

“A Real Colonoscopy at the NFL” -- Norah O’Donnell’s Brilliantly Evocative and Humorous Analogy for Emphasis

About two weeks ago, on “CBS This Morning,” Norah O’Donnell used a really evocative and humorous analogy to depict the disquiet in NFL’s executive suite ever since the Ray Rice domestic violence controversy suddenly intensified (after it became known that a videotape showing the Baltimore Ravens running back slugging his then-girlfriend--and now wife--Janay Palmer in the face had been sent to an NFL female exec several months ago).

During the show, when Charlie Rose commented “So, Mueller (former director of the FBI) will probably be seeking that person--the female executive--who received and watched it five months ago,” here is how Norah O’Donnell responded:

“The NFL promises the investigation will be independent. Mueller will have access to all NFL personnel and records; but I think they want to do a real colonoscopy at the NFL--I mean finally some real discovery about what everyone knew, i.e., who is it who got the tape and who all knew what’s on the tape.”

[Quick background for those who have not kept abreast with all the twists and turns in the Rice saga:  Reports of Rice’s domestic abuse had been making news for several weeks following wide circulation of a video clip that showed the NFL star dragging an unconscious Janary Palmer out of an elevator. Then, early this month, the controversy suddenly became red-hot when it became known that a videotape of Rice punching Palmer in the face while they were in that elevator, which is what rendered her unconscious, had been mailed to a top NFL female exec several months ago and that the latter had acknowledged receiving and viewing the tape.

News of the second video clip--the one showing Rice slugging Palmer-- set off a prairie fire, with an indignant public asking: If at least one NFL exec has known about it all along, how can NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell be telling the truth in claiming that, until this month, he had no knowledge of what happened in that elevator prior to Rice dragging out Palmer’s body. The public outcry led to the NFL hiring former FBI Director Robert Mueller to investigate and determine (i) the identity of that female exec who had received the tape, and (ii) who all had subsequently gotten to know of its contents.]

© Copyright 2014  V. J. Singal

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

The latest edition of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, has been online since this past Monday. 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-3^rd Edition”):

1. hydra-headed

2. perspicacity

3. quietude

4. derring-do

5. handmaiden

6. electric

The Highly Acclaimed Kenneth Branagh on “Why Shakespeare?” – “His Words Trigger Explosions in the Human Imagination…”

Earlier this summer, in coordination with the opening of his “Macbeth” in New York, Kenneth Branagh appeared on “Charlie Rose.” During the interview, the host put his customary question “Why Shakespeare?” to Branagh – a question which Charlie Rose has asked of every previous Shakespeare-related guest. Result, a most thoughtful and graphic response:

“He consistently entertains, by which I mean he stimulates, and provokes, and makes us laugh and cry, and goes beyond words. There is an atmosphere in the play that is evoked and conjured in the presence of the words which are, after all, only words on a page--that’s all they are--but they trigger these explosions in the human imagination and in the human spirit…”

I can’t recall any previous guest on “Charlie Rose” giving such an analytical and vivid explanation of what makes Shakespeare’s plays so unique and rewarding.

© Copyright 2014  V. J. Singal

Visual, Evocative Expression to Emphasize Something: Gov. Jerry Brown Analogizes Today’s California to the 1848 Gold Rush

I’m thrilled to share with you an extraordinarily brilliant analogy used by Gov. Jerry Brown to praise his beloved California during a BBC interview earlier this month (July 1). His metaphorical language, no doubt in reference to brainy Silicon Valley, was so striking, and so original, that my jaw dropped in wonderment; for several seconds after the interview was over, I sat motionless, staring at the TV screen in stupefaction. Here’s what he said and the context.

BBC interviewer: “He (Gov. Brown) supports gay marriage but has vetoed gun control. He is an environmentalist but supports fracking.  What kind of a Democrat are you?”

Brown: “I’m a thinking Democrat, and an independent. California itself is full of opportunities and, one might say, even contradictions. So, to govern that and to lead that takes a certain empathy for different points of view.

“This is the place of the original gold rush back in 1848, and it’s essentially never stopped!  Only now, instead of taking gold out of the ground, we are taking great ideas out of the minds of some of the most brilliant people in the world. That is California!”  

© Copyright 2014  V. J. Singal

Executive Communication Skills: At Key Moment, Abysmal Body Language can Render an Exec Utterly Uninspiring!

Please click here: http://thearticulateprofessional.blogspot.com/2014/10/executive-communication-skills-video.html

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

The latest edition of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, has been online since May 20. 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-3^rd Edition”):

1. pièce de résistance

2. defrock

3. vassal

4. importune

5. muzzle

6. crescendo