Matthew Arnold Stern's Blog, page 50
October 11, 2015
Sixty things I learned at Reseda High School
This year, Reseda High School is celebrating its 60th anniversary. On my website, I’ve shared a number of the lessons I’ve learned at this school. For this list, I picked the 60 most important. Although they pertain to my time there in the late 1970s, they apply equally to high school students today and to all of us throughout our lives. …
October 5, 2015
How to become important
We all want to feel important. Part of it is a human need to matter and to feel like we’re doing something of value with our lives. Another part of it is our media-driven culture where some believe that if you’re not famous, you don’t exist. That part has led people to do terrible things to gain notoriety. If you …
October 2, 2015
Anatomy of a hoax
Recently, a hoax went viral on Facebook telling people to copy and paste text into their status to protect the privacy of their photos and posts. I responded by giving my own version of the text showing why it was a hoax. Here is what I posted. Here’s a popular copy-and-paste post corrected… Now it’s …
September 27, 2015
Sonic bust: How bad design ruins the user experience
I have a theory about rental cars: Rental car companies fill their lots with the most uninspiring, unenjoyable, and unsellable fleet vehicles imaginable so that you are motivated to return them. It doesn’t matter how old or dumpy the car you own is. You will love it like the day you bought it after you’ve spent several days …
September 13, 2015
The Apple Watch and how customers “get to yes”
As I wrote earlier, I didn’t rush out and buy an Apple Watch when they first came out. I waited four and a half months. What made me go from “It may be best to wait” to “Here’s my credit card”? Although good technology is useful technology, one has to see the usefulness. It took a combination of the experiences …
September 6, 2015
Star Wars: When villains are more likable than the heroes
(Spoilers ahead.) The first set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys hit the shelves in the United States, and I already see a problem. The villains seem more likable than the heroes. Have you seen the new Stormtrooper action figures and Rylo Ken with his dual exhaust lightsaber? With the exception of that beach ball BB-8 droid, …
August 29, 2015
What Shark Tank can teach you about public speaking
Shark Tank is a popular TV show where entrepreneurs pitch their businesses to a panel of successful investors (called the Sharks) to encourage them to invest their money in exchange for a share of equity. The entrepreneurs give a brief presentation and must then endure a tough Q & A session with the Sharks as they determine if their business …
August 19, 2015
Announcing Mastering Table Topics – Second Edition (and more writing news)
Yes, that is a new front cover for Mastering Table Topics. And that’s not the only new thing about it. I am releasing a second edition of this best-selling guide to impromptu public speaking, and it has a number of new features: 250 new questions Updated questions in several topics Tips on eye contact, vocal …
August 5, 2015
Body language, vocal variety, and The Great Dictator
You’ll find it on YouTube as “The Greatest Speech Ever Made.” Technically, it is the greatest fictional speech ever made. Regardless of how you look at it, Charlie Chaplin’s final speech in The Great Dictator is powerful for its message and how it turned the evil rhetoric of the movie’s target, Adolf Hitler, on its head to …
July 26, 2015
What Donald Trump can teach you about communication (updated)
Let’s talk about Donald Trump. Everyone is, and that’s what he intended. Whether or not you agree with his views — and I don’t — he clearly knows how to get attention. In a crowded field of Republican presidential candidates who mostly have the same views, he has been able to stand out and overshadow the rest. He has …
