Articles

Bill Belichick is well known for developing and implementing a precise game plan for his media news briefings. The New England Patriots head coach will only “talk football” as he engages the media during his weekly briefings that precede his team’s next game. Recently, Belichick was confronted with questions about Antonio Brown, the wide receiver...

Here at The Ammerman Experience, we advise our clients to stay focused on their messages during press briefings. You don’t want to be distracted by anything or anybody. But every rule has its exceptions. Once in a great while you must improvise or, in football terms, call an audible. Earlier this year, and Australian police detective was briefing...

Can an expert in his or her field, armed with solid credentials and decades of experience, fail to deliver a clear, confident message during a press briefing or interview? It happens all the time. Take Barbara Borden, chief horse racing steward for the state of Kentucky. Borden started in racing in the 1970’s as a groom and exercise rider and...

The best managers are great communicators. That’s not surprising, because great management is about bringing employees and teams together, motivating through big picture thinking, and then organizing logistics and roles to achieve objectives. Naturally, doing that well takes great communication skills. Just as naturally, poor communications...

Layoffs. Benefit cuts. Slumping sales and earnings. Accidents. Communicating bad news isn’t easy. Which is why some companies avoid doing it, or do it in an untimely or ineffective manner. On the other hand, communicating good news is a “no brainer,” right? Wrong. Sharing positive information can be just as tricky. And some companies fail at it...

Should CEOs be vulnerable? Let’s get it out of the way: the answer to that question is a resounding yes. In the words of Dr. Brené Brown, “Vulnerability is the absolute heartbeat of innovation and creativity.” If that’s true (and we believe it is), vulnerability is essential. But practicing vulnerability is also hard. It doesn’t come naturally....

Chances are you’ve participated in a webinar. If not, it’s almost certain you’ve been invited to participate in one. The growing popularity of these web-based seminars is no surprise. Business people have limited time, so travel to a nearby, out-of-state or even international location to attend a seminar may not be ideal. There’s also a financial...

Like most companies, Starbucks, which operates some 27,000 locations worldwide, has had its share of problems and crises. For example: ▪ Its iconic logo (an image of a twin-tailed mermaid or siren) has undergone a number of changes over the years. But when the company temporarily reintroduced a vintage version of that logo in 2006, controversy...

Practice Makes Perfect . . . Presentations (Or at Least Helps Improve Them)   When we work with clients on their presentation skills, we usually ask this question at the beginning of the session: Do you practice your presentation before you deliver it, and if so, what does that practice entail? Here are the most frequent responses:   ▪...

Earlier this month, Mark Zuckerberg spent nearly ten hours over two days responding to questions from almost 100 Senate and House lawmakers. The issue was whether his social network company was doing enough to protect user privacy in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. So how did the 33-year-old founder and current CEO of Facebook do?...