David, this may be your most obvious and yet most profound post yet. So often we communicators fail to do for each other what we harp on the boss to do: notice, appreciate, and comment.

I'm confused...isn't most of the audience for this blog comprised of the said "lonely communication colleagues"?? So who, exactly, is "us"?

Is this a suggestion we laud ourselves, or have you been sneaking around behind our backs getting hooked up with some back-room "non-communicators" (she said, hands on hips and tapping foot) ??

Kristen, don't try to confuse me. Praise Jane for her excellent post complimenting my excellent post. Then we'll compliment you for your complement, and Craig Jolley will come out here and tell us we shouldn't praise what we haven't measured, and we'll compliment him for having made a good point. And we will ALL live happily ever after.

Ok, I'm easy to get along with...

Jane: Excellent post!!

Craig: it's now in your court!

Please don't confuse my zeal that communicators align their work with business oriented practices with an advocacy that that is the only measure of worth. Far from it. I not only appreciate a well-written piece on it's own merits, but get inspired by truly great writing, be it a novel, speech, poem, or even a well written, clearly articulated business proposal or white paper.

Several times a year I read what I consider to be the best speech ever written - the Gettysburg Address. Likewise, I also re-read on an annual basis JFK's moon speech, FDR's speech about nothing to fear but fear itself, Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream, Robert Frost's Road Not Taken, Ronald Ragan's Berlin Wall speech, etc. I'm in awe at the power of language in the hands of a master.

Your point that we should take time out of our busy day to recognize exemplarly work is well taken, and I'm sorry to admit that I don't take the time to pen a quick note whenever I run across good work to let the author know that his/her work has been noticed.

I should know better as I am very mindful to notice and praise my direct reports and work colleagues, so why not others? I like you term "make them speechless." It's close to the terminology I used earlier this year in support of our management team,s employee recognition program in which I stated that everyone wants to feel they they are a hero, no matter how small a thing they have done...they want to feel that they have made a difference and that they have been notice.

Thanks for reminding us that we each have the power to, as your speechwriter said, make someone's year.

Beautifully put, Craig.

To add to Craig's list of great speeches: William Faulkner's Nobel acceptance speech.