"They'll never forget how you made them feel."
Vol.1, No. 1

Welcome to the first issue of our free e-zine, "People Skills for Skilled People!"

In this, and following issues, we'll be addressing many challenging topics of communication that professionals face every working day. We'll explore techniques that can help make the way you communicate even more effective. We'll look at attitudes and ideas that can shape your impact on others for the better. And we'll look at the emotions that communication involves—both pleasant and sometimes not-so-pleasant.

In a recent team-building, one of the participants made a powerful statement that put everyone in the room, including Jan and me, in a totally blazing state of insight. It went like this:

"People might forget what you said. They may even forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel."

This brief intense capsule of wisdom struck at the heart of everything we know about human relations, communication, and leadership in today's professional workplace. We as leaders bear a special responsibility toward others because of the powerful impact we have on them. Leaders have the power to motivate, uplift, and develop those who follow them, or the power to intimidate, overwhelm, or belittle them. We are the "skilled people" who make a big difference.

The success path all leaders take is marked by their style and means of communication. And not just verbal—the words of encouragement or discouragement—but nonverbal—a supportive glance or a disapproving shrug. These gestures carry power in everyone who uses them, but much more so with leaders.

We at CEI are enlisting a cadre of ambassadors and practitioners of good communication. We believe that good communication in the workplace is the key to raising processes and people to higher levels of performance and service. We're hoping that by sending you "People Skills for Skilled People," we will offer you new ideas and methods for improving communication in your entire work life.

We're planning to change the way people communicate with each other in the workplace, but we need to do it one professional at a time. Please let us know your reactions to our articles. What matters to you in communication? What would you like to see explored?

And that's our tip on People Skills for Skilled People for today!

In the weeks ahead, we'll be sending you more practical tips and ideas on communication that you can put to use right away.

We hope you'll enjoy and benefit from People Skills for Skilled People. If you want to opt-out, please click on this button: