Interact Guidebook
Your Resource for Authentic CommunicationThe Manning Brothers: Watching football with Peyton & Eli
Back in the 1900s, Monday Night Football was appointment television. It was the only evening football, and the broadcast team was legendary. Over the years, the broadcast has lost some luster, with football added on Sunday night and Thursday night. In 2006, the broadcast shifted...
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Football is Life: The Authentic People of Ted Lasso
“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well, you might find you get what you need.” — The Rolling Stones In 2020 and 2021, Ted Lasso hit that mark and reminded us that “football is life.” The inaugural season of...
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Gibbie Harris: You Can Count on Gibbie
There is a Boy Scout saying that you should always leave the campground better than you found it. Gibbie Harris certainly left the Mecklenburg Health Department better when she left at the end of December 2021. Harris came out of retirement in 2017 after a...
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Betty White: 99 Years and 348 Days
I’m dating myself here, but I grew up with the Mary Tyler Moore show. I think as a pre-teen it taught me that you can have a career, be a single woman and have best work friends. I loved Mary Richards. My first exposure to...
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Simone Biles – When Wellbeing Wins
We’re all feeling it. Going back to the office after 18 months at home. Tough decisions about jobs that don’t fulfill us after a global pandemic. Increasing fear that after two jabs in the arm that we are still vulnerable to the virus. Daily stories...
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Harvey Gantt: Celebrating the Power and Wisdom of a Gentle Giant
When I moved to Charlotte in the 1980’s Harvey Gantt was Charlotte’s mayor. I didn’t know he was Charlotte’s first black mayor. I just knew he was the mayor of the city I was now calling my home. I only knew him from television coverage....
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Kobe Bryant: The Black Mamba Remembered
It is hard to believe that Kobe Bryant’s death preceded COVID, the summer’s civil unrest, a presidential election, an assault on the capital and a presidential inauguration. It has just been a year, but it seems like a lifetime ago. There are some events where...
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Chef Sam Diminich Pivots to Bring You Farm Fresh Food
A Fresh Idea for Fresh Food One of the most overused words of the year 2020 was “pivot.” But when the word fits the word fits. Chef Sam Diminich had one of Charlotte’s most significant pandemic pivots and we were delighted to have him as...
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Dolly Parton Stays True To Herself in 2020
Working From (Home) 9 to 5 “I look totally artificial, but I am totally real, as a writer, as a professional, as a human being,” Dolly Parton said in 2019 to Elle Magazine. Truer words were never spoken. The 76-year-old, singer, songwriter, author, actress, philanthropist...
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Bill Gates Tackles The Pandemic
Are We Ready? In a 2015 TED Talk with 39 million views, Bill Gates told us we were not ready for an epidemic. He takes the stage with a barrel like the one that his family had growing up, a barrel full of needed supplies...
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Tim Scott Shares Stories That Shaped Him
South Carolina’s Senator Speaks Up Tim Scott is the Senate’s only African American Republican Senator. The Charleston, South Carolina native was appointed to the Senate by then-Governor Nikki Haley and won reelection in 2016. Over the past four years, he has struck a delicate balance...
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Taiwo Jaiyeoba Made Charlotte’s BLM Mural Possible
The Planner with a Plan and a Twitter Feed One of Charlotte’s greatest 2020 accomplishments began with a tweet! I’m reposting again…imagine for a few minutes that we can “art-ify” the intersection of Trade and Tryon with “Black Lives Matter!” And leave it in that...
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Dan Levy Took Us to Schitt’s Creek
2020’s most binge-worthy story of acceptance and belonging On New Year’s Eve one of my TV boyfriends, Anderson Cooper, insulted one of my other TV boyfriends, Dan Levy aka David Rose of Schitt’s Creek, when he and co-host Andy Cohen were putting things in the...
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Brayden Harrington Speaks With Confidence
Tell Your Story Loud and Proud For a speech junkie like myself, this summer’s political conventions, largely virtual, were “must-see TV.” Experienced speakers took the stage, but no one was more compelling than 13-year-old Brayden Harrington, who received verbal applause from the most hardened of...
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Chrissy Teigen Shows Strength in a Time of Sorrow
Take the Good With The Bad Chrissy Teigen, model, cookbook author and social media maven lives her life out loud. Her 13.5 million Twitter followers and 33.6 million Instagram followers know this well. And it is a picture-perfect life. Marriage to EGOT winner John Legend,...
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Steve Kornacki Is A Newsroom Chart-throb
America’s Favorite Mental Math Model In the first week of November, a star was born. Over at the other networks, suited anchors stepped to the map and gave us vote counts, calmly and professionally (I see you John King) day after day after day. Then...
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Dr. Fauci Wants to Keep You Healthy
The Doctor Will See You Now Dr. Anthony Fauci was not selected as People’s Sexiest Man Alive or Time Magazine’s Person of the Year (he had our vote for both), but the superfan of the Washington Nationals is the leadoff hitter for our Authentic People...
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Successful Crisis Communications
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS ARE UNIVERSAL KEEP YOUR “GOODWILL” BANK FULL. It takes a long time to build a reputation and one leak, one act of discrimination, one missed commitment to destroy that goodwill. A strong reputation buys you the benefit of the...
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Leadership Lessons from Hamilton
Like much of the country, I’ve spent the past few months with the soundtrack of Hamilton earworming in my brain (in a good way). The leadership styles of the protagonist (Hamilton) and antagonist (Burr) have applications for modern day leadership and decision making. Are you...
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Chadwick Boseman — Fighting the Good Fight
We lost Chadwick Boseman over the weekend. The loss hurts on so many levels. Boseman was a native of the Carolinas, growing up in Anderson, SC and attending T.L. Hanna High School. His mother was a nurse and his father worked for an agricultural...
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If You Can’t Speak, Watch (And Learn)
While we are staying at home, there may not be many chances to speak, but there are plenty of chances to learn from the work of great speakers. This series features speeches that “check the boxes” of great speeches – each focusing on a key...
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Communications Advice for New Telecommuters
If you are working from home, due to concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus, we offer the following tips and tricks for new telecommuters to improve your effectiveness in working remotely....
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Presidents’ Day – Celebrating 5 of the Best Presidential Addresses
A presidential address is meant to do a number of things. It’s meant to inspire. It’s meant to comfort. It’s meant to show strength. To show compassion. To show hope. In honor of President’s Day, we offer five presidential addresses that hit those notes and...
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A Voice in the Community
It’s the toughest job in the city but Charlotte Mecklenburg Chief of Police Kerr Putney has approached it with grace, respect, dignity, and authenticity...
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When You Walk Out the Door
Ron Rivera is a great coach; he’s an even better person. He told the team in his last meeting with them, “When you walk out the door, it’s all about your character.”...
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An Authentic Hero Becomes a Jedi
Riley Howell, in a moment of genuine authenticity and courage, made the ultimate sacrifice to protect his fellow students at UNCC. And now he’s a Jedi....
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Lizzo is 100% That Authentic
Lizzo just took a DNA test, turns out she’s 100% that authentic! The hit musician is the first of Interact’s Authentic People of 2019....
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Love for Lou
20 years ago, Lou Solomon founded Interact Authentic Communication. Since that time Lou has touched thousands through the method, mission and magic that is Interact. Some of Interact’s dear friends were kind enough to share their thoughts about Lou....
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Honoring Real Heroes on Veteran’s Day
We all have personal heroes. Col. Skardon does not consider himself a hero. But he is our hero. And on this Veteran’s Day, we celebrate all who have served this great nation. They are all heroes....
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Our Defining Moments
Our defining moments are sometimes stories of struggles, sometimes stories of triumph, but they are always times when we meet a challenge head-on....
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