Category: Influence
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Latitudes of Acceptance
I love this idea that I came across in an interview with Matthew Lieberman at Edge.org. He speaks of an old 1960’s idea called “Latitude of Acceptance”. He defines it better than I, so I’ll pretty much take his text verbatim: Matthew Lieberman on Latitudes of Acceptance “I’ll tell you about my new favorite idea,…
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5 Blog Posts that Really Changed my Perspective on Big Things
I had coffee this morning with an entrepreneur from Barcelona and fellow member of Entrepreneurs’ Organisation. I spoke about a couple of blog posts that had really impacted me and changed my perspectives on life. He asked me to share my list. Here it is. 5 Blog Posts that Changed My Perspectives Derek Sivers’ post…
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Hide the Art (especially Toastmasters)
Toastmasters is a wonderful organisation for anybody who wishes to improve their ability to speak with impact. However, there is something that has often challenged me with the “best” toastmaster speeches. They are very clearly the work of someone who has worked very, very, very hard on the words, gestures and voice that they use…
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Framing is Everything
Rory Sutherland tells some wonderful stories about the power of framing. If you want to be persuasive, you must get good at framing the argument. Good framing shifts the argument to a playing field where you can achieve your ends and the other can feel that they have gotten a good deal. Prices are not…
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The Ability to Sell Yourself
How do you respond when a person says “Tell me about yourself?” It might be called confidence, it might be called belief – do you let others see the best version of you, or do they see a dull, low-intensity, passionless version of yourself? Why do we find it difficult to sell ourselves? I spent…
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Disrespect for the Respectable [Richard Feynman Video]
“If you know the name of a bird in all of the human languages, you will still know absolutely nothing about the bird. My father taught me the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing about that something.” Richard Feynman Earlier this week, my father sent me 2 short video interviews of Nobel…
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70% of Organisational Change Efforts Fail. 8 Steps for Leading Change.
70% of organisation change efforts fail. John Kotter has an 8 step process that can reduce the likelihood that your project of organisational change (and all leadership projects mean some form of change the the existing status quo). A big source of failure is starting action before you have put together a solid base of…
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How Ideas Die: The #1 Reason
A person can have the great idea, but if that person cannot convince a number of people: the idea dies. Good ideas do die. Good ideas must have good advocates. Good advocacy and good idea makes an idea live. Ideas need advocates like humans need oxygen. The Leader as Communicator The Leader’s #1 job as…
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How to get Attention: The 7 Triggers of Fascination
When I step on stage to speak, I get 8 seconds before the listener decides how to categorize me: worth attention, or time to check my mobile email What are your first words? When I meet someone at a conference, a party, an event… again – we have 8 seconds. Catch attention, or the other…
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7 Great Business Books
Who are your “Passive Mentors”? Mentors make a big difference in my life. There are 2 types of mentor: Active and Passive mentors. Active mentors are those that you meet in person, interact with and get to know. Passive mentors are those that you learn from without them knowing. Book authors are one of the…