Category: Communication
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To speak well requires practice
Public speaking is a learned skill. To speak well requires practice. The ability to speak confidently and persuasively in front of groups is a highly valuable asset. Increased practice leads to better performance in job interviews, proposal presentations, project team meetings and board meetings. The basic principles of persuasion were developed over hundreds of years…
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The 3 keys to powerful body language while speaking
There is no simple rules for how you should stand, have your hands, look, or dress when you give a speech. However you must achieve three things in order to powerfully support the verbal message of your speech. Sandy Linver in her book “Speak and Get Results” outlines the three areas: you must transmit authority,…
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12 Tips for Public Speaking
I am currently preparing the next year IESE MBA managerial communications course material and put down some rough notes on some key tips that differentiate powerful speakers from the rest. Speak with an intent to move people to action. Know what you want your audience to do immediately after hearing your speech. If nobody does…
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The measure of the life that we live
An old traveller has seen the world. He is restless and keeps moving. One day he is in the distant mountains in an area not known to him. On this particular day, after a long walk through a mountain valley, he sees a shady tree and what looks like a good place to rest on…
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4 simple steps to become a great speaker
Jim Rohn says that there are four simple steps to becoming a great speaker: Have something to say. Say it well. Read your audience. Intensity (the right words mixed with measured emotion). How do we get something good to say? Live a full live. Meet lots of people. Fail. Succeed. Remember what it felt like…
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What tracks are you leaving in the sand?
A traveller is lost in the dessert. The sun is beating down. His mouth is parched and dry. He is disoriented. In an effort to survive, he begins walking towards the only sign he can see – some mountains in the far distance. After an hour of struggling through the sand, he comes across the…
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Laying bricks or building cathedrals
6 months ago I had the privilege of a visit to the Sagrada Familia with the head structural architect of the works and a friend of mine who is the owner of the oldest architectural practice in Spain. I will never see the Sagrada Familia the same way again. Sharing in the passion of these…
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Writing the perfect business memo
For the rest of your life begin every memo with the word “This.” It allows you to get started, and to tell the reader in the first sentence what the purpose of the memo is. If it’s under €3 million, put it on a single page. This forces you and your reader to focus only…