COMMUNICATION:

Ø A busy blacksmith was one day annoyed by the presence of the village nitwit. So he tried to frighten him away by holding a red-hot piece of iron near his face.

The simpleton smiled. “If you will give me fifty paise I’ll lick it” he said calmly.

The blacksmith, eager to make a fool of the boy, at once handed him a fifty paise coin and stretching out the red-hot iron, said, “Go ahead and lick it!”

To the astonishment of the blacksmith and the merriment of the bystanders, the boy ignored the red-hot iron. Instead, he held the coin up and slowly licked it. Then he hurried away merrily. To the blacksmith, ‘It’ was a red-hot piece of iron, and to the boy ‘It’ was a fifty paise coin.

“The law of communications

The quality of your relationships will be determined by the quality and quantity of your communication with other people.”

Always remember the key principle that the quality of your life is the quality of your communication. This means the way you communicate with others and, more importantly, the way you communicate with yourself. What you focus on is what you get. If you look for the positive this is what you get. This is a fundamental law of Nature.

Communication is perfect and complete, when the meaning meant to be conveyed is the same, as the meaning understood.

One should take care to communicate in the receiver’s language. Communication is a very important skill aiding in attaining success. Communication facilitates the decisions to be carried out. Persuading others requires very effective communication skills. Hence effective communicators become the leaders. Otherwise communication gaps and misunderstanding will occur. Even silence sometimes is very effective communication.

A good written communication should have 7 ‘Cs’:

1. Completeness: stating all essential facts

2. Courtesy: pleasantly worded

3. Consideration: for readers’ interest and level of understanding

4. Clarity: using familiar/ simple words, short sentences, avoiding technical jargon

5. Conciseness: avoiding superfluous and redundant expressions

6. Concreteness: saying directly leaving little room to imagine

7. Correctness: with numbers, dates and references

Ø Effective communication.

Jack and Jill were walking from a religious service.

Jack wonders whether it would be alright to smoke, while praying.

Jill replies, "Why don't you ask the Priest?"

So Jack goes up to the priest and asks, "Priest, may I smoke while I pray?"

But the priest says, "No my son, you may not. That's utter disrespect to our religion."

Jack goes back to his friend and tells him what the good priest told him.

Jill says, "I am not surprised. You asked him the wrong question.

Let me try".

And so, Jill goes up to the Priest and asks, "Priest, may I pray while I smoke?"

To which the priest eagerly replies, "By all means, my son. By all means."

The reply you get depends up on the question you ask!

GEMS:

ü Communication started with speech, improved with writing, graduated with the invention of paper, matured with the advent of printing press and information technology is the fifth of its kind in the communication evolution.

ü To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.

ü Communication is the ability to affect other people with words.

ü The finest eloquence is that which gets things done.

ü Don’t be afraid to ask dumb questions; they are more easily handled than dumb mistakes.

ü Improve your vocabulary. Adding to your vocabulary helps you grasp immediately what the world is communicating.

ü Speak clearly and deliberately/ distinctly.

ü Manners reveal family, speech reveals education.

ü Define the terms and deflate the disputes.

ü Leadership usually gravitates to the man who can get up and say what he thinks.

ü The ability to speak well is a short cut to distinction.

ü You may have worlds best ideas, but if you do not communicate them…. Or you are unable to communicate them.. those ideas are not ideas.

ü You will get good attention and people will be more inclined to listen to you if you can make a statement whereby their response is, "No Shit!" or at least, "No kidding!"

ü Simplify. Simple = Effective.

ü A speech is like a pencil; it has to have a point.

ü A good lecture should be like a girl’s miniskirt. Long enough to cover the SUBJECT and short enough to create INTEREST.

ü If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time- a tremendous whack.

ü Use soft words in hard arguments.

ü Speeches, like babies, are easy to conceive but hard to deliver.

ü Speech is the index of the mind.

ü The face is the image of mind, the eyes its informers.

ü Think all you speak, but speak not what you think.

ü Exhaust neither the topic nor the audience.

ü Speak when you are angry and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret.

ü A speech is a solemn responsibility. The man who makes a bad thirty-minute speech to two hundred people wastes only a half hour of his own time. But he wastes one hundred hours of the audience’s time- more than four days- which should be hanging offence.

ü Birds are entangled by their feet and men by their tongues.

ü Don’t speak without thinking. Don’t act without reflecting.

ü Caution: Do not open mouth until brain is in gear.

ü Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.

ü If you don’t have sense of humour you don’t have any sense at all.

ü A good listener is not only popular but after a while he knows something.

ü Smart people speak, but smarter people listen.

ü Learn to express rather than impress. Expressing evokes a "me too" attitude while impressing evokes a "so what" attitude.

ü Writing is thinking on paper.

ü Learning to write is learning to think.

ü To write in a clear style, first be clear in your thoughts.

ü Good writing is clear thinking made visible.

ü Good sentences are not just written; they are re-written.

ü When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.

ü Put before them briefly, so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it, and above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.

ü The best leaders …. Almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories and symbols.

ü People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first.

ü The difference between the right word and the wrong word is like the difference between the lightning and the lightning bug.

ü If I had more time I would write a shorter letter.

ü Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.

ü You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.

ü Words are the most powerful drugs used by mankind.
-------------------------------

YOU DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH, YOU SPEAK AMERICAN.

In the USA....
U don't open conversation (on telephone) with a Hello but with a "Hi"
The telephone is never "engaged", it's always "busy".
U don't "disconnect" a phone, U simply "hang-up".
U never "mess-up" things, U only "screw them up".
U never have a "residence" tel. no., U have a "home" no.
U never have a "office" tel. no., U have a "work" no.
U don't stop at the "signals", but halt at the "lights".
U don't "accelerate", U "step on the gas".
Your tyre never "punctures", U may have a "flat".
The trains have "coaches" or "boggies' .,.no more! but "carriages" or "boxes".
There R no "petrol pumps", but "gas stations".
"I don't know nothing", 2 negatives don't make a positive here.
U no longer meet a "wonderful" person, U meet a "cool" guy
U don't pull the switch down to light a bulb, rather flick it up.
U don't "turn on the heat", U "turn on the juice".
There's no "Business Area" ... only "business districts", and no "districts" but "counties".
No one stays "a stone's throw away", rather "a few blocks away".
There's no "Town Side", it's "Down Town".
In hotel U no longer ask for "bill" and pay by "cheque", rather ask for "check" and pay with "bill’s (dollar).
There R no "soft drinks", only "sodas".
Life's no longer "miserable" it "stinks".
U don't have a "great" time, U have a "ball".
U don't "sweat it out", U "work U'r butt off".
Never "post" a letter, always "mail" it and "glue" the stamps, don't "stick" them.
U no longer live in "flats”, U live in "apartment".
U don't stand in a "queue", you are in a "line".
U no longer "like" something, U "appreciate" it.
"#" is not "hash", it's "pound".
U R not "deaf", U have "impaired hearing".
U R not "lunatic", U are just "mentally challenged".
U R not "disgusting" U R "sick".
U can't get "surprised" U get "zapped".
U don't "schedule" a meeting, U "skejule" it.
U never "joke", U just "kid".
U never "increase" the pressure, U always "crank" it up.
U don't try to find a lift... U find an elevator.
U no more ask for a route but for a "RAUT"
U don't ask somebody "How r u ?", U say "What's up dude?" or U say " How U DOIN "
U never go to see a game U go to watch a game.

If U see "World" champions (or Series), read "USA" champions (or Series).
There's no "zero" but "O", no "Z" but "zee".
There's no FULL STOP after a statement, there's a PERIOD.
If someone gets angry at U, U get "flamed".
U Drive Ur car on Parkways and always park your car in the Drive-Way!
You do not ask for brinjal ... ask for Egg-Plant...also there are no lady's finger...its Okra!
You do not say “He is a trouble creator "... rather u say "He's a pain in my ass"!
U do not say... Its a trivial job... U say it’s a seat of the pants work.
Well u don't say life is boring u say LIFE SUCKS!!!!!

In short U don't speak English, U speak American.
(from my book "10 Fundamental Rules of Success", Publishers: PUSTAK MAHAL, New Delhi)

--------------------------------------------------