One of my most vivid memories of high school English was when the teacher would ask us to "diagram a sentence." I learned that there are three logical steps: Know the rules; Identify the parts; and Reconstruct and create the sentence. By following these rules, over and over, it became possible to see words, and their various constructions, as building blocks from which creativity could flow. In considering this, it occurred to me that the strategic approach to communication requires the same basic steps. Step 1: Know the read more...