Good evening. My name is Richard Rock. I’m the president and CEO for Rock, LTC and Senior Living. We are a technology company located in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. And our business focuses on delivering technology solutions to retirement communities that are providing independent and assisted living services to seniors here in the province of Ontario.

I want to talk to you briefly about communication. I have been a sales and marketing executive in network communications for over 30 years. And the definition, generally, of communication is the imparting of information, the exchange of information and/or news. And in networking, basically, we’re looking at how people are communicating not only to a group, but also on one to one.

I normally break up communication into receiving and delivery. And then there’s a number of skills that overlap both receiving communication skills and delivery communication skills.

So on the receiving side, you have active listening, open mindedness, body language, and feedback. On the delivery side, you have being concise and clear, in terms of the message you’re delivering, being confident with that message, and the type of medium that you would be using to deliver that message.

And there’s a couple of communication skills I consider high-level communication skills, such as empathy, friendliness, and respect. These types of skills overlap both receiving and the delivery communication skills, and would make you a better “listener,” a better conversationalist, and you would really create a space where people would want to engage you in conversation. So it’s always good to practice and continue to be aware of your communication skills on both the receiving and delivery fronts.

I’m a former Olympic athlete, and the relationship between an athlete and coach has to be strong, and it has to be a trusting relationship. And communication is the foundation for that relationship. Without a strong communication between the coach and athlete, basically, you can’t move the needle forward, you cannot get to where you’re achieving your goals because of course, there’s a gap there in the understanding. So at any level, whether it be in sport, or in the workplace, or even in, in life, in general, communication is going to be key and those type of skills, right, will make you a better person, and basically help you move that needle forward for not only yourself, but also for the people around you. And if you’re in business, definitely for your business, okay? So practice your communication skills. Try to master them, and as you do so, you’ll find that you’ll be you know, more engaging and more involved in better conversations. Okay, good luck.

Thank you, Richard for those wise words.

Not only does Richard draw attention to the importance of building communication skills, but also to the importance of communication in general. The best progress is often accomplished with the help from others. And it doesn’t hurt that humans are naturally social creatures. We’re in a unique time in history where we’re able to connect more than ever, thanks to technology. Social media, phone calls, and various messaging systems that so many of us interact with on the regular are prime examples of our social nature and how we communicate. With COVID we’ve been put in a situation where our new means of communication have really had to flex their capabilities by making up for a large portion of our interactions. The fact that we can maintain such discourse is an impressive feat. From the Adopt-a-Grandparent campaign to the website Making Authentic Friends which connects people with disabilities, we are surrounded by different means of communication and I only see us getting more adept at the skills required in each setting.