"You know" is what speech experts call a discourse marker. A discourse marker signals a key part of the discussion for the speaker, such as the beginning of a new topic or the expression of a response. Other discourse markers include "I mean," "well," "like," and "let's see."

The reliance on discourse markers is a problem in modern speech. As with poor diction, it is difficult to take seriously a person who uses "you know" and its siblings too often in conversation.

There is a solution to the discourse marker dilemma -- a pause. Just one or two seconds of pause is plenty of time for your brain to complete an idea before you say it or to formulate a new line of discussion.

Pause for effect and, you know, the listener will thank you.

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Stories are a dime a dozen; everybody has one. Great stories are a rare gem; you know immediately when you hear one.

The most effective media relations starts with great stories. Great stories interest reporters and, more importantly, allow them to serve the interests of their readers or viewers. Great media stories have some common elements:

1. People
2. Emotion
3. Timeliness
4. Impact

Great media stories are incomplete without people. The story is not technology; it's about the lives that the technology saves. It's not about the corporate strategy; it's about the people involved and the decisions they struggled with while formulating and adopting the strategy.

Likewise, nothing of consequence happens when people are satisfied. Emotion -- anger, inspiration, intuition, daring, etc. -- allows people to break with the status quo and provides the fuel that drives a story forward. Audiences also need emotion to form a bond with the story and the people involved.

Timeliness puts the story in the present so that people in similar situations can relate. Timeliness can be a milestone (e.g. new, first, last, record, etc.), or it can provide local perspective for a national trend that is affecting many people's lives (e.g. living wills, personal technology, health advances, etc.)

Lastly, impact is the change that happens as a result of the story. Noted screenwriting expert Robert McKee put it best: "Essentially, a story expresses how and why life changes." Great stories are about people moving from point A to point B and the difference that movement made in their lives.

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Next time you are writing about your organization's products and services, try this phrase -- "What this means to me is…" -- to help make the transition from feature to benefit.

Here's an example: "An iPod can store 5,000 songs (feature). What this means to me is that I can listen to any song in my CD collection anywhere I am -- whether in my car, at the office, or at the gym (benefit)."

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The percentage of executives who want to be chief executive officer is today half of what it was in 2001 -- down to 27 percent from 60 percent, respectively. Burson-Marsteller discovered this trend as part of its annual "CEO Capital" research.

Shortened CEO tenure, intense media scrutiny, and greater government oversight (e.g. Sarbanes-Oxley) are likely drivers of this new reality.

This trend creates a quandary for corporate America. CEOs are vital to the vision and direction of their organizations. In fact, research has show that CEO reputations account for more than half of their companies' reputations. And, CEOs provide leadership and inspire confidence in times of crisis.

For years, great leaders have shied away from politics because of the intense scrutiny. Let's hope we can reverse this CEO trend before great leaders start eschewing the corner office for middle-management obscurity.

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http://www.jugglezine.com

Herman Miller is a furniture pioneer. The company's Aeron and Eames chairs are legendary for their comfort. The company is also on the cutting edge of customer communications thanks to Jugglezine, its website about balancing life and work. The site features topics on lifestyle, technology, time management, working from home, and more. We highly recommend two articles: "The Zen of Desktop Management" and "E-Talking Essentials." Jugglezine is, in its own words, "pleasantly uncommercial" and, at the same time, a perfect extension of the Herman Miller brand.

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Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Flow is the feeling of complete engagement and concentration on a task or an activity. When you have flow, achieving tasks and getting results seem almost effortless -- as if you were born for that specific purpose. It's the same feeling that athletes refer to as "being in the zone."

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a world-renowned researcher and author on flow. Finding Flow is his least technical and, therefore, most approachable book on the subject.

Finding Flow focuses on how to live life to its fullest. Csikszentmihalyi puts it this way: "To live means to experience -- through doing, feeling, thinking. Experience takes place in time, so time is the ultimate scarce resource we have. Over the years, the content of experience will determine the quality of life."

Flow is the result of setting goals and doing things that maximize happiness, motivation, and concentration at the same time. Csikszentmihalyi offers principles and tools that everybody can use to examine their lives and make changes that increase the likelihood of achieving flow.

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