Word-Dancing Together Towards Noble Outcomes

  Referral Letter🧭  Empathy in Action What aikido teaches us for challenging interactions The Communication Doctor's Referral Letter In every work environment, moments of tension arise. A critical remark in a meeting. An unexpected objection. A conversation that keeps replaying in your mind afterwards. You know you could have handled it differently, with more calm, clarity, and strength. We often already know the principles of good communication. But knowing is not the same as doing. Especially not in challenging situations, where body and mind seem to go their separate ways. A training or workshop on empathy starts from a simple but powerful question: How do you choose empathy with people for whom it does not come naturally? To explore this, we draw on an Eastern perspective: aikido, a Japanese martial art that focuses on connection rather than conflict. Not by giving in, but by moving with. Not by convincing the other, but by making a different course of interaction possi...

  [ ABC is the Association for Business Communication.] From 4 to 6 June 2025, I had the privilege of attending the ABC Regional Conference at NHH in Bergen (Norway), themed “Building Bridges Between Business Communication and Management.” Bergen was beautiful, even in the rain, cold, and wind. Against this dramatic backdrop, the NHH campus offered a warm and stimulating environment for exchange. The conference brought together scholars and practitioners to explore business communication in all its contemporary complexity. Bergen, view from the fish market 📷 Greet Angèle De Baets Topics that resonated Throughout the three days, I attended sessions on crisis communication , CEO letters , visual communication , teaching confidence , corporate social advocacy , the normalisation and (self-)orientalisation of intercultural communication , self-awareness , and many more. The diversity of topics reflected not only the scope of the field, but also the growing need to address complexity,...