November Articles 2011

The Articulate CEO

November

How To Deliver A Great Introduction

Introductions are so important that professional speakers usually provide their own. They know what it is like to be on the receiving end of a bad introduction – they spend the first ten minutes of their speech desperately trying to win their audience back.

The worst experiences are when you have provided an introduction but the MC (normally some bumbling employee because the organisation are yet to learn the value of a real MC) decides not to use it and instead provide their own moment of genius.

The Truth About Graphology – Another Communication Con

Graphology is the study of handwriting, especially when employed as a means of analyzing character and personality traits. The people who practise it will often claim to be handwriting experts. They are not.

Real handwriting experts are actually known as forensic document examiners, not as graphologists.

Forensic document examiners consider loops, dotted “i’s” and crossed “t’s,” letter spacing, slants, heights, ending strokes and so on. They examine handwriting to detect authenticity or forgery i.e. is that a real signature on a document?

Subliminal Messaging – You Can’t Hear What Ain’t There!

Let’s tackle an oldie but a goodie – subliminal messaging. Now to quickly put everyone in the picture the subliminal is below the liminal (the smallest detectable sensation).

Obviously anything truly below the level of detectable sensation could not, by definition, be perceived.

However, when people talk about subliminal messaging they generally mean messages that are below the threshold of conscious perception. There is a widespread belief, not strongly supported by empirical research, that without being aware of its presence or content, a person’s behavior can be significantly affected by subliminal messages.

Part II: The Myers Briggs Type Indicator – Does It Work?

In a word… no. Firstly, a common misconception about the MBTI is that helps determine the kinds of things that people will be good at by showing their aptitude. That way you can use it to figure out career and industry suitability in the workforce for example.

Unfortunately it doesn’t do that. What it actually does is try to show your preferences. So Myers-Briggs isn’t about figuring out your ability but rather determining your comfort zone.

It identifies the types of activities you’ll like and be most content with; not necessarily those at which you’ll be particularly good at.