Less is more

Yes, I am a communications coach. I help people deliver great messages to all sorts of audiences. But sometimes silence is the most powerful form of communication.

More often than not, the best way to position yourself in an email battle is not to participate at all. When someone says something nasty that’s orthogonal to the real issue, the power move is to ignore it.

In my last day job, I worked at a public relations agency overseeing local teams in 75 countries. There was always something going wrong in at least one (or five) of those countries. It was my job to solve those problems!! I was always on the phone, on email, creating so much activity and attention. I was so busy. So frustrated. So tired.

My colleague down the hall managed the agency’s other huge global account. He had many of the same problems that I did, but he took an entirely different approach. He starved his problems, paying almost no attention to the drama people were trying to stir up. He did not respond to emails. He did not hold calls.

It took me months to look up from my frenzied email production. When I did, I saw that he and I had the same success rate – I solved about 75% of my problems through tons of actions and angst. About 75% of his problems just went away on their own. Oh, I said to myself. I get it. I stepped away from the keyboard.

Sometimes silence is the best strategy. This holiday season, you can practice ignoring things that don’t merit your intervention and see what happens. You might be amazed!