timing – Surprised By Joy

“Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Twenty-five years ago, long before there was MailChimp, one of my projects for Microsoft was to email out their program offers to their 60,000 partners on a quarterly basis. I remember it as one of the most nerve-racking tasks of my job at the time. Not because of the technology, which was no problem, but because if something was wrong with the message we sent out, it had such visibility.

It really is amazing to think about the potential impact that technology has given us. But it also puts a lot of stress on how we share to a wider audience. Whether it’s work-related, part of volunteering on a committee, or a personal appeal to friends to join a cause, we have the ability to reach a broad group. Like my email project, that puts a lot of pressure on how we do it.

That’s why I love this latest episode of the How To Share podcast with corporate communications professional, Brian Hannon.

Brian and I talk about the nuances of professional communication. We explore the importance of understanding the audience, the timing of messages, and the need for authenticity in sharing information. Brian shares insights from his 30 years in corporate communications and journalism, emphasizing the significance of clarity, repetition, and empathy in effective messaging. The conversation highlights the evolution of communication formats and the challenges of simplifying messages for better understanding.

Here are some key takeaways:

Understanding your audience is crucial for effective communication.
Timing can significantly impact how messages are received.
Repetition helps ensure that important messages are not lost.
Segmenting your audience allows for more targeted communication.
Authenticity builds trust in corporate messaging.
Clear and concise messaging is essential in today’s fast-paced environment.
Empathy plays a key role in understanding how messages are perceived.
Feedback loops enhance the effectiveness of communication.
The evolution of communication formats requires adaptation in messaging strategies.
Effective communication is about sharing ideas, not just delivering information.

And a short clip from the episode to whet your appetite:

I’d be honored if you’d listen, watch, provide feedback and subscribe. Here are some ways you can listen and watch to the full episode:

The podcast player embedded below
Click this link to watch in a browser: How To Share Personal Stories
Subscribe to How To Share on Spotify, Amazon Music, or Apple Podcasts
Subscribing to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@howtosharepodcast

Barbara Nickless on A Voice In The Dark, Online Gaming and The Power of Story – The Life of Try: Personal growth, one try at a time.

In this episode of The Life of Try, host Wynne Leon talks with Wall Street Journal bestselling author Barbara Nickless about her new psychological suspense novel, A Voice in the Dark. Their conversation moves from the dark corners of online gaming and internet manipulation to the real-world vulnerabilities of teenagers, families, and people searching for belonging. Barbara shares how deep research, FBI consultants, and her own curiosity shape her fiction, especially as she writes about FBI profiler Helen Belle, criminal humanist Benedict Hoffman, addiction, trauma, and the question of what draws people toward danger.This thoughtful author interview explores how storytelling can help us understand complicated human experiences, including moral injury, PTSD, addiction, grief, law enforcement, cybercrime, and the healing power of writing. Barbara also reflects on teaching writing to military veterans and civilians, researching dangerous places and difficult subjects, and using narrative to “de-other” people we might otherwise misunderstand. Key Takeaways:→A Voice in the Dark explores the dangers young people can face in online communities, especially when vulnerable teens and young adults are targeted by manipulative influencers.→Storytelling can help us “de-other” people by taking us inside their motivations, histories, and struggles in ways that facts and news stories alone often cannot.→Curiosity is at the heart of Barbara Nickless’s writing process. Her research into online gaming, FBI investigations, addiction, trauma, and moral injury helps make her fiction vivid, compassionate, and grounded in real human experience.→Researching modern crime fiction requires balancing accuracy with readability, particularly when writing about cybercrime, AI, online manipulation, and evolving law enforcement tools.→The conversation highlights a core Life of Try theme: trying begins with curiosity, openness, and a willingness to enter unfamiliar worlds in order to understand ourselves and one another more deeply.If you love conversations about books, personal growth, curiosity, crime fiction, psychological thrillers, resilience, and what it means to keep trying, this episode offers a rich and compassionate look at the stories that help us make sense of ourselves and one another.📘 Order A Voice In the Dark: https://www.amazon.com/Voice-Benedict-Hoffman-Helen-Belle-ebook/dp/B0FTGGHSWL/🌐 Show notes and more inspiration: https://wynneleon.com🔔 Subscribe for more: Subscribe to The Life of Try for more conversations on: personal growth, creativity, reinvention, resilience, writing, and mindset.ABOUT MEHi, I’m Wynne Leon — host of The Life of Try, a personal growth and self-improvement podcast exploring resilience, reinvention, uncertainty, and the courage to keep trying.Through thoughtful interviews, reflective conversations, and real-life stories, I share insights to help you navigate change, get unstuck, and move forward with more intention.🌍 Website: https://wynneleon.com🎥 Watch Next➡️ Letting Go Of Outcomes: The Mindset That Keeps You Moving➡️ 48: How to Get Unstuck: Michael Yang on Saying Yes, Resilience and Coming Alive➡️ How to Finally Write That Book You've Been Dreaming About | Writing Motivation

Links for this episode:

Brian’s blog: Writing from the heart with Brian

Brian Hannon on LinkedIn

Next up!

Stay tuned for next week’s episode when we get great guidance from Dr. Vicki Atkinson on how to receive when others share. A fantastic episode that comes with many great tips about how to deepen our ability to listen.