Editor's Note: This is a guest post by our partners, BrillianceInc.
Cracks in the Foundation
My house in Oakland was built in 1924 on a steep downward slope. When someone would ask if my house had a bolted foundation, I’d say something like “Oh, I’m sure it must” and would change the subject. I liked to assume that, since a lot of renovations had taken place before we moved in, someone must have fixed it. The fact that someone had actually sealed off any access to the foundation made it easier for me to ignore it: can’t assess what you can’t see.
For a while, this avoidance strategy saved me money. Then, a crack in the foundation revealed itself. And over the course of a year, with a few minor earthquakes, and good ol’ gravity, the crack grew. It grew until one day, I decided to pull my head out of the sand and bring in an expert to tell me what I had.
Expert Deniers
We humans are really good at ignoring cracks in all sorts of foundations: the body that we keep pushing until we suffer a debilitating injury or illness; the resentment that we allow to fester until the relationship is beyond repair; the key employee that we ignore until they quit and sign up with the competition; the waistline that grows until we can’t button our skinny pants…then our fat pants.
The laundry…
Just in Time
The General Contractor told me that, while half of my house had a new bolted foundation, the other half was sitting (and sliding) on an original slab.
The work to replace the foundation took just 13 days. Five days after completion, we had an earthquake and aftershock with an epicenter less than 10 miles away. We were jolted but the house didn’t suffer a single crack.
Sure, I would have liked to have spent the money elsewhere, but the feeling of strength, stability, and security I gained was worth it.
Facing the Truth
Pulling your head out of the sand and shining light on the thing that scares you takes courage. And once you do, you can begin to take steps to repair. Until then, you are powerless to improve your situation, and you continue to skid in the wrong direction.
Questions for Reflection
1. What problems am I ignoring in my:
- Health
- Relationships
- Reputation
- Happiness
- Finances
- Career
2. What’s the story I tell myself that helps me ignore the truth?
3. What will happen in 6 months if I change nothing?
4. What’s most vital that I change?
5. What’s the most potent first step I can take toward improving it?
6. Whose help do I want to enlist to support me?*
* Don’t even think of going it alone. Find a friend, coach, mental or physical health practitioner, or a class to support you as you begin to change the goblin before it becomes unruly.
photo credit: paparutzi
11 Million Views and Counting…
With the unfortunate passing of Steve Jobs last week, most people immediately think of his companies (Apple, Next, Pixar) and product innovations (Mac, iPod/ iTunes, iPhone, iPad) as his greatest contributions to modern society. However, his passing has brought even more attention to one of his most famous public appearances. In 2005, Steve Jobs spoke at Stanford University’s commencement ceremony and delivered an inspiring and memorable speech. In less than 15 minutes, the speech conveys a lot of wisdom and was particularly relevant to the audience of young people just starting their professional careers. He advised on important decisions about character, priorities, relationships, and more.
There’s no simple scientific formula that would enable someone to replicate exactly what Steve Jobs did in those 15 minutes. That said, Steve makes very effective use of some high-impact communication techniques that you can leverage to advance your career by improving your speeches, presentations, and even one-on-one communication.
“Hook” Your Audience
More often than not, people start presentations with something soft, bland, and procedural. “I’m Mike Johnson, Vice President of Channels, and for the next 20 minutes I’m going to talk to you about our 2012 Channel Strategy.” Yawn. These kinds of intros often feel necessary to speakers, but they don’t immediately engage your audience. And keep in mind, your audience is probably used to video-on-demand on airplanes, DVRs, and internet content that lets them switch, in only seconds, from boring content to engaging content. If you don’t engage them from the outset, while they may physically remain in the room, their minds will be “surfing” to other places.
A hook is a communication technique designed to engage the audience, and it can take the form of a personal story, a controversial statement, a quote, or a question to the audience. Steve Jobs spends one sentence to say “Thank you I’m honored to be with you,” and then goes immediately into a hook to engage the audience. “Truth be told, I never graduated from college.” What a great way to get people’s attention at a college commencement speech!
People Remember Stories
At 00:50, Steve explains that he’s going to tell 3 stories, which highlights another powerful communication technique: storytelling. Stories are memorable, so if you want people to recall key points in your presentation, use stories.
Steve also uses a couple of techniques that help increase the impact and richness of his stories. First, he shows vulnerability. Anyone who’s been in high-tech for a few years has heard people tell self-aggrandizing stories about their unbridled success. As an audience, when we hear those kinds of stories we tend to see the speaker as egotistical and phony. Why? Because we’re all human and we all have weaknesses. And most importantly, those stories don’t really engage the audience.
By contrast, Steve Jobs, one of the most spectacularly successful and innovative people of our time, describes how he was given up for adoption as a child, and passed on by a couple who decided that they wanted to adopt a girl. This vulnerability helps us relate to him and draws us in. Later on, he also describes why he got fired by Apple’s Board and how that was the best thing that could have happened to him.
He also uses first person dialog, meaning that he uses specific direct quotes rather than simply characterizing what was said. At 1:45, he describes how the hospital called his parents-to-be and said “We’ve got an unexpected baby boy. Do you want him?” While the linguistic difference is subtle, the impact is much stronger than if he had said “The hospital called, said they had an unexpected baby boy, and asked if my parents wanted him.” Use first person dialog to make your stories more vivid.
Perils of the Podium
He may not have had a choice in whether or not to use a podium. In general, in our speaking engagements, we avoid podiums when possible because they tend to restrict and limit you as a speaker. Not only do they create additional physical separation from the audience, they tend to dampen hand gestures, restrict physical movement, and lessen eye contact with the audience. You can see this in Steve Jobs’s speech – he uses very few hand gestures, never leaves the podium, and has to deliberately force himself to look up periodically to re-establish eye contact with the audience. Granted, some of this naturally flows from the fact that he’s reading prepared remarks, but in general, we’d recommend that you either avoid podiums when possible, or be conscious of their limitations and try to compensate in other ways.
Authenticity
More than technique, what makes a great speaker and a great presentation is authenticity, meaning “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.” Get comfortable being yourself when you communicate. People dislike and distrust fakers, posers, and phonies. In politics, you hear candidates’ authenticity evaluated when people use phrases like “comfortable in his own skin.”
Steve Jobs comes across as extremely real in the commencement speech – not as a game-show host, not as a master thespian, not even as the all-powerful founder and CEO of Apple and certainly not as a phony. One great example is at 4:00 when he talks about his love for typography and says “It was beautiful…historical…artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.” You can feel his passion and curiosity, and it helps you understand him as a person. You feel like you know him, and that the person up there in front of the crowd is the same person he’d be if you met him for coffee.
Metaphor
Metaphor is a powerful tool that can both increase your audience’s understanding of your point and enhance the dynamism of your content. Steve uses metaphor multiple times during the speech, like at 7:20 when, in talking about being fired from Apple, he says “The heaviness of success was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner.” You can almost feel the weight of Jobs’ success at Apple, and the airy freedom when he started over. At 8:15, when he says “Sometimes, life is going to hit you in the head with a brick,” you feel a sense of suddenness, surprise, violence, and pain. It’s compelling and memorable, and that’s why you should thoughtfully use metaphor in your communications including metaphorical language and metaphorical images in your presentation slides.
Bring it Home
Just like the weak and boring openings described above, we’ve all seen (and probably delivered) regrettable closes to otherwise decent presentations: “Well, that’s my last slide,” “I’m just about out of time but I can take a couple of questions,” etc. These kinds of closes aren’t memorable, don’t reinforce your point, and don’t maintain the engagement of your audience. For his closing hook at 14:28, Steve uses a pithy quote, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” to put a memorable and inspiring finish on his remarks that reinforces the messages of his three stories.
Steve Jobs was a unique and incredible person whose legacy includes fundamental transformations of major industries including consumer electronics, personal computing, music publishing, movie production, and more. While there will probably never be another Steve Jobs, we can all take advantage of the techniques he used in one of the most memorable and widely-viewed speeches of his career.
photo credit: Keng Susumpow
I received this email from Alex Ao, a friend and client who I first met in one of our workshops at Juniper Networks. Alex shared the following quotes about Steve Jobs. The only thing I will add is that Steve Jobs was often held up in our workshops as exemplary presenter. He certainly embodied many of the principles that we preach:
- Simple, striking visuals
- The Rule of 3
- Informal, conversational style to name a few.
In fact, Carmine Gallo, a presentation coach who also worked at CNN, has written a book titled, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience.
What follows are the quotes that Alex sent me in an email, clearly as a personal tribute to this giant of the high tech industry. We post them here as our small contribution.
Tim Cook, Apple CEO
"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp. co-founder
For those of us lucky enough to get to work with Steve, it's been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immenselyBob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Co.
"Steve was such an 'original,' with a thoroughly creative, imaginative mind that defined an era. Despite all he accomplished, it feels like he was just getting started. With his passing the world has lost a rare original, Disney has lost a member of our family, and I have lost a great friend."Cary Sherman, CEO of RIAA
"Steve was a larger-than-life personality — passionate about music and one of its biggest fans and advocates. He was a true visionary who forever transformed how fans access and enjoy music. With the introduction of the iTunes software and other platforms, Steve and Apple made it once again easy and accepted to pay for music. His legacy will live on, long past his all-too-short time on Earth."Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. CEO
"Today, we lost one of the most influential thinkers, creators and entrepreneurs of all time. Steve Jobs was simply the greatest CEO of his generation. While I am deeply saddened by his passing, I'm reminded of the stunning impact he had in revolutionizing the way people consume media and entertainment."Michael Dell, Dell Inc. founder and CEO
"Today the world lost a visionary leader, the technology industry lost an iconic legend and I lost a friend and fellow founder. The legacy of Steve Jobs will be remembered for generations to come."President Barack Obama
Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve was among the greatest of American innovators — brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world and talented enough to do it.By building one of the planet's most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. By making computers personal and putting the Internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun. And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grown-ups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: He changed the way each of us sees the world.
The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Steve's wife, Laurene, his family, and all those who loved him. – from President Obama's statement
Sen. Chris Dodd, CEO, MPAA
"The genius of Steve Jobs, a man I've known for 40 years, not only brought to life the visual magic and brilliant storytelling of Pixar, but brought the world one of the most innovative and successful platforms to make movies and TV available online at the click of a mouse. He was a pioneer, and helped all of us better understand how technologists and creators can work together to enrich and enliven our shared world."Jerry Brown, California Govenor
"Steve Jobs was a great California innovator who demonstrated what a totally independent and creative mind can accomplish. Few people have made such a powerful and elegant imprint on our lives."Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
"Steve Jobs was a California icon who embodied Silicon Valley's entrepreneurial spirit of creativity and optimism. By revolutionizing communications, he touched the lives of billions of people around the world."
The only reason people use PowerPoint is because they have no power and they have no point.
Erin Korogodsky from Lithium, shared this quote with me during our Art of Presentation workshop last week in San Francisco.
Erin's abundant charm made me laugh. Her reference to the quote also reminded me of another quote that I read in the article “DoesPowerPoint Make You Stupid?” from Presentations magazine March 2004 issue.
The article focused on an essay by Edward Tufte, who many consider to be a thought leader in how to present information visually. Tufte posits that PowerPoint as a tool tends to make people lazy and ineffective in delivering cogent, meaningful presentations.
Don Norman, a professor of art and design at Northwestern University and author of The Design of Everyday Things and Emotional Design, is a frequent user of PowerPoint who disagrees with Tufte’s assertions.
"Tufte is correct in that most talks are horrible and most PowerPoint slides are bad – but that’s not PowerPoint’s fault. Most writing is awful, too, but I don’t go railing against pencils or chalk … What Tufte misses completely is the fact that PowerPoint slides are meant to be used within the context of a talk. Talks are by their very nature superficial. You can’t pack a tremendous amount of dense information in them, because then they become deadly dull" …
What Tufte conveniently overlooks is that, unlike the publications against which he compares it, PowerPoint is not primarily a textual medium, like a newspaper or magazine – PowerPoint is a visual medium. As Don Norman points out, “Text is the last thing people should put on a PowerPoint slide. In fact, I would argue that supporting visuals – charts, diagrams, illustrations, photos and video – are the only things that should appear on a slide.”
I've spoken several times in this blog about effective use of PowerPoint but also understand this idea- that the tool is to blame for it's own misuse.
Here are some resources to help you design better more effective PowerPoint slides:
- Presentation Zen, a terrific blog by Garr Reynolds, another leader in the field of presenting with effective, compelling visuals.
- Our post about Cliff Atkinson's book, "Beyond Bullet Points", a terrific and detailed How-To guide to create good PowerPoint slide decks.
If your PowerPoint slides are:
- Loaded with text
- Lacking in imagery and visual metaphor
Don't blame the tool. As my family used to say in describing a problem with an automobile: "It's the nut behind the wheel." In the parlance of the connected age: "user error".
photo credit: notionscapital
We received a request for help from the NJ Oraters, a non-profit that teaches young people, from 7-18, the art of public speaking.
NJ Orators is a finalist in Lenovo’s Hero Contest, which recognizes worthy non-profits. If NJ Orators wins, they could receive $50,000! Help NJ Orators reach this goal by clicking on http://lenovo.promo.eprize.com/hero and voting for the entry "Building Confidence – One Word at a Time."
Thanks for your support!
We love the opportunity to make a difference, and think it's great that the kids are learning to speak with confidence!
Related Post: Even a Child Can Do it!
Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Jerry Weissman
Just as a chef is attuned to the subtleties of flavor and trends in the culinary arts, a presentation coach is attuned to the subtleties of language and trends in the communication art.
One trend I've noted recently is the expression, "Does that make sense?" often used by a speaker during a conversation — or a presenter during a presentation — to check whether the listener or audience has understood or appreciated what the speaker has just said.
Unfortunately, the expression has two negative implications:
- Uncertainty on the part of the speaker about the accuracy or credibility of the content
- Doubt about the ability of the audience to comprehend or appreciate the content
"Does that make sense?" has become so pervasive, it joins the ranks of fillers, empty words that surround and diminish meaningful words, just as weeds diminish the beauty of roses in a garden. Most speakers are unaware that they are using fillers, and most audiences don't bother to think of their implications. The phrase has attained the frequency — and meaninglessness of:
- "You know…" as if to be sure the listener is paying attention
- "Like I said…" as if to say that the listener didn't understand
- "Again…" as if to say that the listener didn't get it the first time
- "I mean…" as if to say that the speaker is unsure of his/her own clarity
- "To be honest…" as if to say the speaker was not truthful earlier
- "I'm like…" the universal filler which says absolutely nothing
Responsible speakers or presenters, in their well-intentioned effort to satisfy their audience, have every right to check whether their material is getting through. However, instead of casting negativity on the content or the audience, all a speaker has to say is:
"Do you have any questions?"
While all of the preceding cast doubt on the competence of the presenter or the audience, another group of phrases and words casts doubt on the content itself:
- "Sort of"
- "Pretty much"
- "Kind of"
- "Basically"
- "Really"
- "Actually"
- "Anyway"
These, too, have taken on the frequency of fillers. Sometimes these words can have a purpose. Writer Maud Newton recently analyzed the late David Foster Wallace's predilection for "qualifiers like 'sort of' and 'pretty much.'" She deemed it a "subtle rhetorical strategy" to make a critical point and defuse it with irony. As a prime example, she cited the title of one of Wallace's collected essays: "Certainly the End of Something or Other, One Would Sort of Have to Think."
Presenters do not have the luxury of indulging in irony or — with all due respect — the literary talent to engage in such artful wordplay. Qualifying words lessen the importance and the value of the nouns and verbs they accompany. Those nouns and verbs represent the products, services, and actions of the business — the family jewels — that the presenter is pitching, and a presenter should not diminish their worth. Parents do not describe their children as "sort of cute."
Instead, follow the advice of the Strunk and White classic, The Elements of Style: "Use definite, specific, concrete language." To accomplish this you must diligently delete meaningless words and phrases from your speech, a task easier said than done due to their pervasiveness.
One way to kick the habit is to capture the narrative of your next presentation with the voice record function on your smart phone, then play it back post mortem and listen to your own speaking pattern. (You're in for a surprise in more ways than one.) You will have to repeat this process several times before you start correcting yourself, but do it you must.
photo credit: Horia Varlan
A New Offering from The Henderson Group
Executive Communicator: In fluence an Executive Audience
Sept. 19 – 20, 2011 in San Francisco
Participants learn:
Executive Presence – How To:
- Make the right first impression
- Empathize with functional executives according to their diverse business drivers
- Establish rapport with superiors and their superiors
Executive Communication – How To:
- Assess group dynamics quickly and cultivate support
- Modify dialog style according to each executive
- Anticipate and navigate around “political landmines”
- ”Think on your feet”and handle probing questions and objections effectively
Executive Presentation – How To:
- Prepare e ffectively by holding the “meeting before the meeting”
- Open and close presentations with impact
- Deliver the right amount of detail without getting bogged down
- Maintain the engagement of a busy executive audience
- Use metaphor to make complex concepts easy to understand
- Avoid presentation pitfalls and “career limiting moves”
- In fluence executive decisions to drive desired business outcomes
Had any negative thoughts recently that you just couldn’t seem to shake?
Maybe someone cut you off in traffic and it bugged you the whole commute. Or maybe the company issued yet another dictum that had you steaming all day. Or maybe you keep running a frustrating conversation over and over again in your mind. Ever get home and dump accumulated frustration on the closest innocent victim?
Blame it on your left brain. Actually, make that a peanut-sized area of your left brain.
Our left brain is our story-teller. Its job is to make sense of moment-by-moment inputs. And since it never has all the data it needs, it fills in the gaps, weaving so seamlessly that the story in our head feels like the inescapable truth. The cells that comprise this story-teller part of our brain are about the size of a peanut. Yet, they do their job so well, we ride along as if we had no choice, letting it loop and continually flood our bodies with cortisol and other stress-related chemicals.
According to Jill Bolte-Taylor — brain scientist, stroke survivor, and author — getting hooked on emotionally charged narratives of anger, resentment, guilt, shame, or fear for long periods can have devastating consequences on our physical and mental well-being because of the powerful ways they affect our emotional and physiological circuitry.
It’s vital to our health and relationships that we learn how to experience the emotion and then shift away.
And if you’re in a leadership role (at work or home), it’s vital to the mental and physical health of everyone around you because a leader’s mood is contagious.
90 Seconds of Pain
One of my favorite insights from Taylor’s book, My Stroke of Insight, is that it takes 90 seconds for an emotionally-charged thought to move through the body. In those 90 seconds you may have symptoms like shortness of breath, jaw tension, chest-ache, a strong desire to choke someone (to name a few) while the thought-induced chemicals move through your cells. After 90 seconds, the blood stream is clear of it.
So why don’t we feel better after 90 seconds?
If allowed, the peanut-brain will keep weaving a story and keep dumping stress chemicals into the body. You have to interrupt the story and redirect your attention. You have to take control.
5 Steps to Shift the Barreling Thought-Train to a Better Track
- Notice the thought. Before you can shift away from the damaging story, you have to notice that your brain is telling a story! Most of us let our thoughts drive us instead of making conscious decisions about what we think.
- Bring your attention to your body. Allow your body to experience the reaction. What part of your body is affected? For me, my facial muscles tense and my breath gets shallow. Then, move your attention to your feet and feel your feet against your shoes. Take a deep breath, notice sounds and smells in the room.
- Deliberately shift to a different thought that brings a sense of ease and pleasure. Bolte-Taylor suggests thinking about one of the following: Something fascinating or something that brings you joy or something you would like to do.
- Feel the new physical sensations. Once you’ve jumped off the negative loop, allow the tense muscles to loosen and notice what peace feels like in your body.
- Repeat. You’ll have ample opportunities to practice. Over time, you can make the shift quicker, and more often, resulting in better mental and physical health, freeing you up to share your talents and positively affect others.
These steps are immensely harder to do when you are sleep-deprived or otherwise incapacitated. Check out our recent post — Tools Are Not Enough — about seeking support from many directions so you can take control of your moods and your life.
photo credit: jervetson
The Henderson Group has a new Partner Page! Our featured partner this month is LSA Global, a business training & consulting firm founded in 1995 on the principle that training "by itself" will not drive tangible change or business results.
Here is an article from their most recent newsletter …
Are You Chasing the Wrong Sales Pipeline Strategy?
A high-quality prospect is more than 40 times more likely to buy than a cold-called prospect.
Furthermore, salespeople who actively seek and exploit referrals earn 4 to 5 times more than salespeople who don't. While it seems like common sense to focus on more qualified client opportunities, surprisingly fewer than 30% of salespeople ask for referrals – the #1 source for good business.
There are many reasons that sales people seem to spend more time chasing low probability deals and RFP's instead of driving referrals.
The most common mistake is that salespeople do not know how to effectively ask for a referral. Strange, but true. When we work with sales organizations, typically no more than 20% of the sales force can display the skills required to earn a referral. They think they can, but time and time again, they prove that they are missing some key ingredients.
This ineffective approach combined with a reluctance to ask until everything is "right," an unclear value proposition, fuzzy target client profiles, and minimal accountability to a referral process doom most sales organizations. The result – bad forecasting and pipelines with low closure rates.
When done right, our clients report that referrals allow them to close more than 50% of their pipeline and get meetings at the level that counts.
If you sell professional services, a referral strategy should be at the top of your business development list.
Chuck has been spearheading our partnership efforts with LSA Global. Please contact him if you have interest in learning more about how we can collectively help your organization.
