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Shooting Diameters with Danny Hamsley

by Brooks Mendell | Oct 10, 2022 | Communication Skills, Forestry, Leading/Managing, Learning

When I missed the mark in my role as a log buyer and harvest manager in northeast Georgia in the 1990s, Danny Hamsley had a way of setting me straight. It would start with a phone call.  “Brooks, I’m riding with you in the woods tomorrow.”  Early...

Verbalize: Practice Your Presentations Out Loud

by Brooks Mendell | Sep 20, 2022 | Communication Skills

I’ve given a lot of presentations, mostly about forest finance, timber markets and communication skills. When preparing, I use current data and recent research overlaid onto basic “themes.” Then I practice with new stories or examples. Even though I may be fluent and...

Information Overload: Brains and Homo Sapiens

by Brooks Mendell | Aug 21, 2022 | Learning, Thinking/Analysis

We share the brain of our ancestors. The humans of one hundred thousand years ago, as they started migrating from Africa, toted between their ears brains similar to the ones we carry today.[1] The average homo sapiens on the street, with a comparable mental engine to...

How to Deliver an Educational and Insightful Talk

by Brooks Mendell | Jul 27, 2022 | Communication Skills, Learning

The question “how do I teach this to them” has puzzled presenters, professors, and parents since the Greco-Roman god Apollo taught Chiron, his foster son and polymathic centaur, how to throw a curveball. In this post, I share an approach for...

Ten Observations of Human Behavior and Learning

by Brooks Mendell | Jun 18, 2022 | Communication Skills, Learning, Thinking/Analysis

As a writer, I read a lot of books and articles, listen closely to how people talk, and take notes to capture ideas, lunch orders, and fun phrases. Here are ten observations and quotes from my scribblings with thoughts on how or why I found each to be helpful (or...
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