It's framed as a discussion about business communication, but this week's episode of the Marketing Smarts Live Show and all the wisdom and banter contained therein could pertain to all walks of life, personal and professional.

"Start with the human to create the connection first before you move to content, data, support, or arguments.... If you start with 'here is what we do, here is how we do it, and here's why we do it,' you're marketing wrong," he says.

"You start with the why, then you go to the how; the what is last."

Communication is about reaching the human, and a big part of being human is making mistakes and humbling yourself.

"I'm a big fan of negative stories, of talking about where I've failed, where I've screwed up something so badly," Steve says. "Because it makes me human, it makes me fallible just like them, it proves I have messed up so many times."

Similarly, the enemy of good communication, explains Steve, is expertise: "Expertise for most marketers, most strategists, most salespeople is not your friend. It is potentially your enemy. It's great to have experience. Experience is vital....

"What [expertise] does, [however,] is it tends to put blinders on: 'I'm already good at what I do, therefore either nobody knows this better than me or I don't really need any help.'"