Last December, I was charged with coming up with some kind of celebration to commemorate the launch of EinsteinFilms.com. It didn't take long to think of the idea of going to dinner and a movie.
When it came time to choose a movie, I tried polling the attendees and the front runner was Secretariat.
Then while riding in the car one day listening to Fresh Air on the radio (as I often do) I heard an interview with Tom Hooper, the director of The King's Speech.
As I heard Hooper describe the challenge that King George VI faced in learning to deal with his stammer and his fear of public speaking; as I heard about the story of his work with Lionel Logue, it became obvious to me that this was the movie we needed to see. Why? Because it spoke to the work of The Henderson Group: helping our clients overcome their fears of public speaking and to learn to communicate with power, authenticity, and presence.
Also, having followed the careers of the lead actors: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter, I knew that their performances would be top notch. When we went to see the movie, that certainly turned out to be the case.
The film is uplifting without being sentimental. The work of those 3 actors as well as Hooper's work as a director meet the highest standard for an artist, in my view, meaning that their technique disappears. By that I mean that as an audience member, I was never distracted by thinking about the technique of the director: his use of camera movement and lenses, lighting, scene composition, editing, etc. I was never distracted by the technique of the actors: their use of voice, movement, expression of the text and subtext, etc. I was solely focused on experiencing the story.
The sole exception is the performance of Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill. His expression is over-the-top and not in keeping with the subtlety of the actors that surround him. Also, I have so often seen Spall playing characters of a lower class that I found it distracting to suddenly see him as the soon-to-be Prime Minister, in close, intimate relationship with the Royal Family.
But this was a small distraction amongst stellar work throughout. This movie has already garnered a number of Golden Globes and promises to make a strong showing at the Oscars. I am calling it now: Colin Firth will win as Best Actor.
Go see this movie!
Through his website SixPackAbsExercises.com, personal trainer Carl Juneau teaches men the best ab exercises for getting six pack abs. Carl heard his top competitor doubled his sales after he started to use video to market and demonstrate his products so he decided to use Visual Website Optimizer to test video on this website.Carl carried out three split tests which conclusively proved that videos increased conversions on his website by as much as 46%.
Read more about the results here: visualwebsiteoptimizer.com
Video converts! It did so when mentioned in a “call to action” (a 14.18% increase) and also when used to sell (35% and 46.15% increases in two different tests).
As more and more surfers have broadband Internet and powerful computers, video seems to be slowly taking over the web. Carl increased his conversions with video… why not test it and see if it increases yours?
Learn how The Henderson Group and Einstein Films can help.
photo credit: AndyRob
Editor's Note: This is a guest post by BrillianceInc.
Resolve No More
A few years ago, I gave up the practice of making New Year’s Resolutions, thus giving up the sense of failure and accompanying guilt that rolled around mid-March. Maybe you are one of those people that always keep your resolutions. If so, stop reading. If not, don’t despair: you are entirely normal (unlike those other freaks).
Blame it on the Brain
Here’s neuroscientist Jeffrey Schwartz’ explanation for why we so often fail to meet our goals:
“Change is pain.”
“Trying to change any hardwired habit requires a lot of effort in the form of attention…which leads to a feeling that many people find uncomfortable. So they do what they can to avoid change.”
So, it’s not entirely your fault. Your brain is set on protecting you from discomfort. The result: you further cement hard-wired habits.
The good news: you can become the boss of your brain.
First, you have to better understand your specific resistance to change. For this, we can look to the amazing work of two researchers, Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey. In their book, Immunity to Change, they describe how each of us has a sophisticated, often subconscious, system of practices, fears, and assumptions that keep us locked in place and thwart our attempts to change.
They write: “The most reliable route to ultimately disrupting the immune system begins by identifying the core assumptions that sustain it.” Examples of big assumptions include:
- People are less capable than I (so I won’t delegate or will force people to do things my way only)
- People are not to be trusted (so I withhold information)
- If I speak my mind, I will be eaten (so I keep my mouth shut and my contributions locked in my head)
- ______ is evil (so I lose all compassion and curiosity, diminishing any chance of having a rewarding relationship)
Once the assumptions are identified, you can begin to test their validity.
It Works
In 2010, I began using their simple Immune Identification process with private clients and workshop participants. In one team offsite, a VP stopped me at the break after about 45 minutes with the process and said “I’ve been to a lot of these meetings and I have never seen people learn so much about themselves and reveal so openly as I just witnessed.”
Whether you want to change yourself, an employee, or an organization, begin by discovering the change immune system, or risk wasting precious energy and resources for short-lived improvements.
Read more from BrillianceInc. >>
Subscribe to Speak Fearlessly >>
photo credit: adam*b
Why tomorrow's Wall Street leaders don't like bonuses
…Managers have long believed that the prospect of a bonus can motivate young workers to work harder and smarter, even in a year like this one, when bonuses are expected to fall. By making a huge amount of an employee's compensation – possibly even twice his or her regular salary – dependent on the firm's results and the individual's performance, managers hope to align workers' incentives with those of the larger company.
Yet, in reviewing the roughly 800 essays our students handed in this year, we see a different story. Students increasingly distrust the bonus system and contend that annual bonuses are too large a part of the way they are managed, often serving as a substitute for thoughtful supervision or meaningful reviews…
- Washington Post
For more on Feedback check out these blog posts:
December 27: Christmas Crashing
Used to describe the after-effect of Christmas, or the Holidays in general: 12 Days of Hanukkah/Christmas, etc. is usually a busy time, very exciting, and enjoyable. By the end of the celebrations (The night of Christmas Day/Dec. 26th) you feel exhausted and overwhelmed. People are usually groggy, lethargic, and almost depressed from exhaustion.
I love Christmas. But all the celebrating, visiting with family, and celebrating…I'm Christmas Crashing
Joe 1: What are you doing for New Years?
Joe 2: I'll be in rehab.
Joe 1: Why? Joe 2: I'm Christmas Crashing hard this year. The idea of going out for a drive is exhausting.
photo credit: linpernillephotography
by Terry Gault
When I read this piece in Wired, I reflected on the process of crafting the elevator pitch for both of our companies: The Henderson Group and EinsteinFilms.com. It is a study in stark contrasts.
It took us several months, a lot of thought, and multiple iterations to arrive at an Elevator Pitch for THG that we felt was succinct, accurate and captured our ethos :
We help hi-visibility teams and individuals succeed by communicating with power, authenticity and presence.
The EinsteinFilms.com Elevator Pitch was written in about 10 minutes:
We illustrate your complex idea in a simple, fun way so that anyone can understand it in 3 minutes or less.
The second came intuitively, as though I were merely receiving the dictation from some mystical Elevator Pitch Generating Entity embedded in the fabric of the Universe. If only it were that easy all the time!
This piece from Wired magazine talks about the origin, necessity, and importance of having an effective elevator pitch.
If you need help in this regard, let us know. We'd be happy to help you refine your Elevator Pitch or help you craft one from scratch. (Just don't count on us having a repeat of the EinsteinFilms pitch phenomena repeating itself with yours!)
photo credit: derekskey
I usually stay away from politics in this blog. However, when I caught this interview while channel-surfing in my hotel, I was immediately impressed with the presentation skills of this highly articulate soldier who I am proud to refer to as an American service man: Former Army Captain Anthony Woods. If nothing else his authentic, direct, confident style shows up in impeccably articulated and succinct responses to any possible objection. He has given this topic a great deal of thought. His passionate, confident commitment to the topic cannot be faked.
In a very persuasive way, he sets aside the debate about right/wrong/morality. He makes a case that the US is facing an "extremely, complex enemy" In Iraq and Afghanistan. As an active field commander, he felt "we were one step behind" the insurgents he battled. Also, he chose to violate the "don't ask, dont' tell" policy by coming out because the policy asks gays and lesbians "to compromise their integrity". In addition, he points out that the military has stringent, robust and comprehensive laws to deal with inappropriate sexual advances regardless of who is hitting on who.
As CNN's YouTube channel states:
Former Army Captain Anthony Woods says the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" would make the U.S. military stronger. "I think the military is more than capable and more than professional enough to handle the change that certainly will come," Woods told "Parker Spitzer."
His simple premise: Given two wars and a dangerous enemy, we need all the help we can get.
See the whole video here.
by Terry Gault
A client asked me to make a short video illustrating the value of their software product that automated an antiquated and inefficient hospital workflow. After about a nano-second debating whether I could produce said video, I said, "Sure!"
For those who know my work as a presentation/communication coach and trainer with The Henderson Group, this leap of faith may appear to be overreaching hubris, self-indulgence, or perhaps a career non-sequitur. So, why did I take it on?
I spent over 20 years in the theater, film and TV world learning the art of storytelling.
Since 1997, I have years helping clients communicate their messages succinctly and with high impact.
After collaborating with my film-making partner, Daniel Gamburg on several projects (including a feature length documentary about my own unique Elizabethan wedding as a 15th Anniversary present for my wife) it seemed like a fairly organic next step in the somewhat meandering path of my career.
The client was very happy with the resulting video. Daniel and I were proud of the work. Friends, family and professional associates universally found the video compelling, amusing and easy to follow.
It occured to us that there were probably lots of companies who needed to explain the value of their complex solutions in a succinct, simple, and entertaining fashion.
Given my experience working with tech companies and Daniel's deep expertise in video, and our ongoing professional collaboration, I am confident we can deliver high value to our clientele.
"Thus, EinsteinFilms.com was born." See our official press release here.
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough” is a quote from one of the Einstein boys who had some success as a physicist. This quote is the driving philosophy behind Einstein Films. Put simply, we illustrate your complex message in a simple, fun way so that anyone can understand it in 3 minutes or less.
Follow Einstein Films on Facebook here.
by Terry Gault
Gray Kuglen, who designed our web site and also happens to be the brother of Chuck Kuglen, my fellow Managing Partner at THG, turned me onto a book titled, "The Back of the Napkin" awhile back. As the Clive Thompson piece in Wired quotes the author Dan Roam who:
… argues that our culture relies too heavily on words: Our school systems—and political systems—are designed to promote people who are verbal and eloquent. And text tends to encourage us to describe our problems as narratives or linear lists of facts.
But dynamic, complicated problems—like global warming and economic reform—often can’t be boiled down to simple narratives. They’re systems; they have many little parts affecting one another. In those situations, drawing a picture can clarify what’s going on. “Words,” Roam says, “won’t save us.”
I could not agree more with the essence of this piece. Too often, our clients think of presentation and communication as strictly a verbal process. They neglect to think about how to use visual aids (white boards, flip charts, graphs, charts, drawings, photos, props, etc.) to convey their message
Visual aids engage the right hemisphere of our brain. The right side is the side required for pattern recognition. For more on the use of symbols and visuals, read an earlier post on Using Symbols In Your Presentation.
photo credit: smaedli
