Just Saying - The BRIEF Lab

Is active listening one of your superpowers? Do you bail when you are in conversations that don’t interest or connect with you? Are some people easy for you to tune out? Are you easily distracted in conversations? Fundamentally, listening is a choice, not a feeling. And it stands as one of the skills that sets professionals apart. The post Ep. 405 – The things we hear (aren’t always right) appeared first on Just Saying.

Getting to the root cause is something many people struggle with when they communicate. They spend inordinate amounts of time talking about symptoms, not the underlying condition. In this episode, I share some practical perspectives and a simple mind mapping tool that will help frame the core issue and help you avoid talking endlessly around it. The post Ep. 404 – What’s the problem? appeared first on Just Saying.

Every leader is going to get tossed a tough question. The question is whether you’ll be ready to respond with clarity, courage and conviction, or fumble with a long and careless response. In this episode, I will get you ready to field a host of hot topics in a way that makes you communicate like a pro. The post Ep. 403 – Answering tough questions appeared first on Just Saying.

A colleague of mine, Grace Foster, wrote an insightful article for Forbes magazine this summer about the value of English majors in an age of AI. Specifically, she shares the value of “close reading” as a skill that we all should have: slow down, be critical, and understand how to turn good writing into something great. In this episode, I share her perspectives and mine to make this one of your core communication skills. https://www.forbes.com/sites/gracefoster/2026/07/14/english-majors-can-tea

There’s a risk of letting AI tools communicate for you. In the business world, it’s being referred to as “AI slop” and leaders are increasingly concerned that their people are succumbing to the allure and ease of AI doing the thinking and communicating for them. This week, I suggest assuming a critical role as editor-in-chief to ensure that your hard, deliberate work of revision will translate into messages that are always authentically yours. The post Ep. 401 – AI and becoming the editor-in-ch

As communicators, where do we fit in a world that is being transformed by artificial intelligence (AI) tools and technologies? Will the technology race beyond the need for our insight and input? Do we factor in at all? In this episode, I propose a humanity-first philosophy and announce the development of BriefBot AI, a digital brevity and clarity companion to help maintain our role as primary communicators. The post Ep. 400 – My “humanity first” AI philosophy appeared first on Just Saying.