My definition of an entrepreneur: Someone who has more ideas than resources. “But I don’t have any ideas…” If you don’t have ideas, then you are not an entrepreneur. There are millions of things that frustrate me every day. Find something frustrating and think how to reduce the frustration. If you are not frustrated by … Read more
What is Charisma? In the words of Dr. Nick Morgan “Charisma is focussed emotion.” There are 2 ways to increase your capacity to deliver “Focussed Emotion” when you speak: Remove Distractions: remove all distractions 30 minutes before you speak Care: know how the message of your speech can change people’s quality of life Watch the … Read more
Sales is 18-3-1. 18 calls.3 meetings.1 sale. It is never any faster, quicker or shorter. There is no easy way. There is no 100% close. There are 7 billion people in the world. 1 billion have phones. 800 million are on facebook. Keep up the 18-3-1. Don’t try to make it into 18-3-2. Never works. … Read more
“Social Media is not about technology, it is about the relationships you can form” Charlene Li, author of Groundswell. I had the privilege of having coffee with Charlene Li before she spoke to 400 people in IESE Business School’s Aula Magna in Barcelona at the HSM Social Media event. Watch the video of our interview on the … Read more
What is Trust? Trust is the foundation of strong relationships. Without trust, any relationship is weak. Trust is the willingness to rely on the actions of another person. In a relationship of trust, the trustor is willing to release control over the actions of the trustee. Trust has to be earned. It is not given. … Read more
There are 2 ways to call to action as you finish a speech. It is important in a persuasive speech to leave it clear to the audience what action they can take. There are 2 ways to present that action. Do you use effective call to actions when you communicate? Is can be powerful to … Read more
“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.” Lao Tzu Soft Power is part of Leadership Soft Power is necessary … Read more
Experts get it wrong. The price we pay in trusting experts to take the important decisions for us is huge. We don’t like uncertainty. Experts give us a sense of certainty. I don’t know what to do with my savings. I go to a financial “expert”. He tells me what to do. I hand it … Read more
I was thinking about why presentations fail today. Why do so many great ideas fail at the presentation stage? Business plan presentations, entrepreneur pitches, Sales presentations? Why do they fail?There are many reasons: failure to prepare (deliberate practice), failure to clarify what you want from the audience, failure to make the material relevant to the … Read more
Jerry Weissman, in Presenting to Win, says that there are 5 Cardinal Sins in Presentations: No clear point – the audience leaves wondering what it was all about. “What was the point?” No audience benefit – the audience doesn’t see how they can benefit. “So what?” No clear flow – the sequence of ideas is … Read more