Better Late Than Never.

I have resisted blogging for years.

Honestly, I haven't felt as if I have enough to say to fill the space. But as I was writing the September 2008 edition of my monthly Update newsletter, which has a healthy list of subscribers and above-average open- and click-through rates, I found that I didn't have the space for everything that was on my mind. Since the most popular part of my monthly E-newsletter is my personal comments section, I'm putting two and two together: here I am for a trial run. For a while I'll keep this just between me and a few close friends and colleagues, a beta test to see if my late entrance into the world of blogging was worth waiting for. I'll be happy now and always for your feedback and participation.

In marketing parlance, blogs are a pull medium; you have to come here consciously, volitionally to share my thoughts. (If you choose to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts, I'll consider that you've just automated the pull.) Since good relationships depend on communication that is honest and direct, that's what you'll find here.

Almost anything will go. I will neither bank my enthusiasm nor hide my disdain for a subject. I will steer clear of religion, unless one of more of them provides fodder that's directly relevant to my purpose here (more in a moment). Clients' programs will be off limits, unless they and I agree to tell a story. Politics are fair game and rich in material. I reserve the right to stray completely from my designated path at any time. In fact, I feel a blog about religion coming on …

My business has a philosophy expressed by the slogan "Building Better Relationships Through Effective Communication." In my September 2008 newsletter, I found that I need only look to the previous 30 days of my life to see plenty of examples of communication that helped to build, damage or destroy relationships. So this blog will focus there: on large and small examples of personal and organizational communications that had an effect on the quality of a relationship.

Let the games begin.