Are You Listening?
It was Raquel Welch who said, “You can’t fake listening. It shows.” [1] Being a good listener has always been a challenge but never more so than in the age of digital distraction. Many of us are bombarded with a continual stream of social media updates, text messages, email notifications, and news alerts that have […]
Go Ahead and Ask
Last Halloween was unseasonably cold and windy in Nashville, so we had fewer trick-or-treaters than usual. I was ready to call it a night when a young Cinderella—about six years old—strolled up the driveway. I tossed a handful of candy in her bag and told her she looked stunning. She politely thanked me and gazed […]
Why Your Suffering Isn’t Wasted
One of the first things a journalism student learns is to start with a good lead. In his well-known book, On Writing Well, author and writing professor William Zinsser wrote, “The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn’t induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article […]
A Powerful Introduction
In American culture, when we meet someone new, the conversation is comically predictable. Attend any social gathering where you’ll be introduced to new people, and you’ll undoubtedly be asked what you do for a living, if you’re married or single, whether or not you have children, and where you live. Maybe these questions are simply […]