Communication

The Present of Presence & Listening

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I think the phenomenon of being quiet is valuable in business as part of cooperative communication, one of the arms of cooperative intelligence. In my fields of research and competitive intelligence, knowing when to be silent is a great gift, since there aren’t enough listening ears, especially these days with all the downsizing in America. Sometimes, people just need us to listen to them, and not offer any advice. This practice also builds incredible trust and connection between two people since you think enough of the other person to stay quiet and listen.

Christmas, A Season for Gratitude

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One of the purest ways to communicate is to express gratitude which is one of the practices of cooperative communication. There are so many way to express gratitude. A thank-you when someone does something nice is a good start, especially to those people in our lives who are often unseen as we go rushing through our lives. This Christmas is bittersweet for me as I mourn the loss of my Dad who was such a warm and giving man. I am grateful to have been influenced by such a good man.

Are We Losing the Art of Conversation?

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What is ‘social’? I find that the connections I make and the blogs that I read through social networking are shallow in comparison to the connections and knowledge I gain and exchange in conversation. Social networks provide snippets and tidbits of information. As a society are we losing our ability and culture of conversation?

Introduction to Competitive Intelligence

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Over the years very little has changed in the competitive intelligence (CI) process, while the execution of the collection phase has changed remarkably over the 20+ years I have been in the business with the advent of the Internet in all its iterations, e-mail, text messaging and more recently through social networks. This also affects counterintelligence, since it is easier for your competitors—or anyone who is interested enough—to dig up information about your company that you consider proprietary.

Meet August Jackson, Competitive Intelligence Podcast King!

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August Jackson is one of the competitive intelligence profession’s leading edge users of social media, which he openly shares. I was honored earlier this month when he interviewed me for a podcast on cooperative intelligence. As August was interviewing me I had the feeling that he had done a lot of podcasts! Check out his podcast postings http://www.cipodcast.com/ which go back to 2005!

Real-time Collaborative Architectural Modeling Enhances Complex Product Development

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Bryan Moser spoke to our Denver PDMA group about the value of models such as the one his company, Global Project Design developed to forecast, optimize, allocate and measure coordination in complex product development projects. The key takeaway is that coordination is often way underestimated in these complex product development projects across multiple countries. It’s better to run the model earlier in the process, so as to re-schedule or re-work pieces to reduce the less productive coordination time. Choosing the best coordination architecture can lead to a 20% improvement in time/cost performance.

Are Associations Going the Way of Print Media?: Part II

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This post focuses association chapters, the grass roots of associations, which are often the step-children in the association world since they don’t product revenue, and many don’t even break even. We are adapting our chapter meeting venue to the reality of today’s dispersed and busy workforce. We are co-hosting a meeting with the Denver APMP chapter on Sept. 25 at 3 p.m. where people will have 3 choices for connection. http://www.scip.org/Training/EventsDetail.cfm?itemnumber=8540 for details.

Key Insights to Be a Better Leader in Today’s World

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Here are my takeaways from this leadership session sponsored by Sustainable Business Group. We all have a tendency towards a particular leadership style. A good manager is flexible and uses the right style to be effective at the appropriate time. It’s also good to employ people whose styles you lack to keep balance in the workplace. Empathy is the foundation of emotional intelligence regardless of your culture. “Nobody cares what you know until they know you care.”

Tips on Setting up a Competitive Intelligence Process

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I was recently asked by a prospective client to summarize how I could help his company develop and implement a competitive intelligence process. While I tend to follow certain steps in setting up a CI process, I was taken aback since this company’s industry is such a specialized niche within financial services, and I am not a “one size fits all” consultant. Here are some of the takeaways that apply to any industry.

Honoring Edward “Ted” Kennedy: Cooperative Statesman

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“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!” While this quote came from his older, brother, former President John F. Kennedy, I believe Ted Kennedy lived this quote for at least the 47 years that he was a senator from Massachusetts.

© 2026 Ellen Naylor