We're supposed to learn from our own mistakes that other people's errors can be instructive

too, from efforts to control the weather that went disastrously awry to the untimely death

of the Segway boss. History is a treasure trove, mishaps and meltdowns that can teach us

all. I'm Tim Harford, host of cautionary tales, the podcast that mines the greatest fiascoes

of the past for their most valuable lessons. Listen to cautionary tales on the iHeart Radio

app, our podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Good morning, this is Laura. Welcome to the new corner office, the podcast where we share

strategies for thriving in the new world of work, where location and hours are more flexible

than in the past. Today's tip is to learn the phonetic alphabet. It's just a little trick,

but it will have a big impact in helping you be understood. When you work virtually,

you soon notice this. You spend a lot of time on the phone. And while sometimes your cell

service is sparkling clear, sometimes it isn't. If you have a hard to spell name, or you're

relaying particular codes or websites, or anything of the sort, miscommunications can

be common. I know I have had to track down all sorts of things that have come to some

version of Laura Vandercam, even though I thought I spelled my name clearly. But there's

a simple solution to this, as a listener named Lindsay recently pointed out to me. Now

that we are all on the phone more often, it's a great time to leverage the official phonetic

alphabet to root. This is the list of 26 words that start with each letter of the alphabet

and make it very clear which letter you mean. A is an alpha, B is an bravo, C is an

Charlie, D is an Delta. Just Google phonetic alphabet and you'll get the list. This alphabet

was devised for radio communication which was plagued with fuzziness long before modern

sophisticated cell phones developed the same problem. When I used to drive into the office,

...