Blog

If you have the power to advocate for the things you believe in… If you can make the compelling case for the idea… If you can influence the decisions and behaviors of others… If you can build consensus and persuade… You have competitive advantage. Period. Full stop. In the 21st century business world — where […]

Managing Change is Constant

Posted On January 23, 2025 BY

As a business community, we spend a lot of time and money talking about and studying the concept of “change management.” And I understand why. It is an important concept, and organizations and their leaders need to be able to navigate the way through those major moments of change. Get it right, and lots of […]

Leaders Are Also Allowed to Grow

Posted On January 21, 2025 BY

I spend a lot of my time coaching business leaders, emerging and established ones, on their leadership and communication skills. And the best versions of these conversations occur when the leader is willing to make themselves vulnerable and share with me what keeps them “up at night.” The list of things that cause sleeplessness for […]

This post was written by Jay Prewitt-Cruz, Director of Coaching and Facilitation at The Latimer Group. At The Latimer Group, our recent winter retreat brought us back to square one on revisiting company norms and agreements for our meeting culture. At first glance, this might seem like a setback. But to us, it’s a significant win. As […]

Leaders, mentors and people in positions of authority have enormous power. The power to make decisions, set rules and regulations, run the P&L. Many forms of power. But today our topic is not about the typical, top-of-mind forms of power. Today our topic is the power of the leader’s voice. And in particular the power […]

I am going to date myself here, and refer to one of my favorite moments in movie history. In the movie Wall Street, the central character Bud Fox says as he is about to enter Gordon Gekko’s office that “life comes down to a few moments… this is one of them.” (And my references to […]

Power Up Your Career

Posted On December 19, 2024 BY

Think about where you want to go in your career. Think about the things you want to achieve, the position you want to have, the control you want to have over your progression. Now think about the skills that are going to help you get there. What’s on your list? It’s your list, and entirely […]

Communication clarity is really hard in the 21st century… a mantra I have recited over and over in this space. Why is it hard? Because there is so much “noise,” competition for mind share, distractions, news flashes, posts, texts and alerts, emails… all of it conspiring to pull our attentions spans in many directions all at once. […]

Make Yourself Essential

Posted On December 9, 2024 BY

Do you want to be seen as “essential” by your manager, leader or executive? I will assume for a moment that your answer is “yes.” So let’s talk about what that will require. First, let’s start with the “table stakes” part of being essential: you have to do your job well, treat your clients or […]

How often do you sit in meetings and think to yourself “wow… this is a colossal waste of time“? My guess is your answer is some version of “far too often.” The next time you are feeling that way, do some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations. Make an estimate of what you get paid by the hour. […]

A book about change

The Latimer Group’s CEO Dean Brenner is a noted keynote speaker and author on the subject of persuasive communication. He has written three books, including Persuaded, in which he details how communication can transform organizations into highly effective, creative, transparent environments that succeed at every level.