What Professors LeBron James and Dan Gilbert Are Teaching Us About Communication
by Charlotte Purvis
LeBron James & Dan Gilbert are offering a free communication course. As a former Business Communication instructor, I give this course high ratings and recommend that you enroll just as I have done.
What a great opportunity to have two professors of this caliber teaching a class with such candor and humility. It’s a non-traditional class, so it’s okay to share class notes. I’m happy to share mine here.
MY CLASS NOTES:
1. Recall this rule – Communicate when you’re cool: When you’re heated, it’s likely that you’ll say something that you don’t mean and that doesn’t represent who you really are. It’s also likely that your message will get lost while the bitterness will long be remembered. So when communicating, a cool “temper”-ature is best.
2. Be like Oprah and OWN it: It’s easy to see the other person’s role in the situation, while our blind spots often prevent us from seeing our own. This is where one of your trusted advisors can help you. Ask for specific feedback about how you might have contributed to the communication collision. Take the lessons learned to heart so you can avoid the next potential collision.
3. Write away: Yes, writing is a great way to express your feelings when you’re heated. Write in your journal and then put it in a safe place. If using social media, here’s one of my favorite tips of all: Remember that once you release something, you’ve essentially granted co-ownerhsip to everyone else on the Internet — for life.
4. Right away: Let’s say that you’ve had a communication collision and have delayed in clearing away the wreckage. Professors James and Gilbert have demonstrated that it’s not as hard as you think it is to clear things up. Reportedly, it took them less than half an hour for the initial conversation. And there’s no need to worry about having all the right words to say — when you take ownership of your role in the collision, speak from the heart, and seek to understand, you’re positioning yourself for a positive outcome.
5. Control your Privacy Settings: Remember that if you share your private relationship challenges with others — whether a few, a few thousand, or a few million — those people will then get in the mix, take sides, and create their own drama within your drama. Even after you’ve cleared the wreckage, they may or may not share your resolve. In fact, they might even switch their loyalty when you move forward. Invite them to enroll in the class taught by Professors James and Gilbert where they will learn that to win in the game of life, letting go and moving on are two of the best plays to master.
