There's an American football coach by the name of Eric Mangini. He used to coach the New York Jets a few years ago and was fired after a disappointing season. Some of his players called him the Penguin - perhaps referring to his round belly and frosty demeanor. The New York sports press lambasted him regularly for his terse answers and lack of any discernible personality as the team's performance inexorably deteriorated. Many folks thought he was mimicking the equally frosty demeanor of his mentor, a Super Bowl winning coach named Bill Belichick.
This year Mangini came back to New York as coach of the Cleveland Browns to play his old team, the Jets. He made the rounds of all the radio and TV media outlets and did the requisite number of interviews in the week leading up to the game. Low and behold, a different Eric Mangini emerged. He was expansive, expressive, open and approachable.
Many observers attributed the change to his maturation and added experience as a head coach and losing 70 pounds, plus being off the hot seat in the New York . All true. Cleveland has tough winters. New York has tough sports writers.
A funny thing happened though. I listened to three separate interviews and heard him use the same words in each one. I realized a big part of the change was his decision to be different by design. It wasn't that he didn't have a personality in his previous New York incarnation. He simply chose not to show it - perhaps in some vain attempt to project professional power by withholding any clue to the warm engaging person behind the icy and inscrutable facade.
What can we learn from this?
Life's way too short to waste time showing the world a facade. When you are speaking to any kind of audience, you may succeed or fail - just do it as yourself. Not some phoney baloney projection of what you think people want to see or the standard version of what your role requires. Be the real you. A) the world will like you; and B) if they like you, they will listen better.
There's this crazy notion that there are certain "born speaker" people in the world who possess charisma and the rest of us are destined for dullness. I say nonsense!
To me, charisma is all about connecting with your audience and being totally authentic in front of strangers. If you can do that in front of any audience large or small, you got charisma, baby!
So I respectfully submit to you the advice I gave in the very first post in this blog almost two years ago - Unleash the Real You! I've coached over 2000 people now on videotape. When the people I coach decide to switch from their "presentation" selves to their "real" selves; it's pure magic. Try it. We'll love you for it and you won't waste precious energy putting on a false face.
P.S. If Coach Mangini gets fired in Cleveland after the season (very likely) please note two things: 1) He should be more comfortable communicating as his real self for the rest of his life. 2) His old mentor, Bill Belichick, got started on his Super Bowl-winning run in New England after getting unceremoniously fired as the head coach in Cleveland.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Vault Your Vernacular
Do you have a vault?
Before you answer - what do I mean by a vault?
I mean a shared electronic repository for memorable words, phrases, examples, stories, analogies or anecdotes that your salespeople use when talking to clients about your business and your firm. You have people who go into client meetings and tell killer stories, use sticky examples and analogies, give colorful anecdotes and speak with memorable words and phrases.
The sad part - most of it gets lost in the ozone. They only get shared and re-used within small circles of people inside the firm who have access to that person. All these spoken words are part of the fabric of your culture and corporate vernacular. They need to be preserved. Not simply as oral history, but as shared tools to help people connect with clients and burnish the brand.
I know there are corporate intranets with terabytes of shared information about your company and your business to educate employees. Most of it is about as exciting as an Excel tutorial.
First Step - Create a vault. It should be electronic and able to capture audio, video and text for future reuse.
Second Step - Appoint a vault keeper. Someone with passion for capturing and sharing information and the judgment to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Third Step - Create a secure user interface. It should be a cool webpage where your people can easily upload text, video or audio to the vault.
Fourth Step - Market it. Encourage everyone in your firm who touches clients to upload their best stuff into the vault. They can record it on audio or video or simply send it in as text.
Fifth Step - Share it. Make it securely available to client-facing people any way possible - Webcast, Podcast, I-Phone, I-Pad, NetBook, Blackberry or SmartPhone.
You will give people weapons to re-stock their verbal arsenal and you will make each other better. Your clients will hear consistent messages and your firm's vernacular will become richer, deeper and way more vivid and memorable than it is now.
Get past all the 45 minute data dumps and boring product teach-ins and '"stiff-in-the-studio" informational webcasts. This is better. It's cheap, fast and global.
A couple of caveats about the vault before you start. Make it quick and digestible. Make deposits and withdrawls easy and in this age of techno razzle dazzle - don't make it boring.
Save a few bucks and tap the brains on board. In case you forgot, you tend to hire really smart people.
Before you answer - what do I mean by a vault?
I mean a shared electronic repository for memorable words, phrases, examples, stories, analogies or anecdotes that your salespeople use when talking to clients about your business and your firm. You have people who go into client meetings and tell killer stories, use sticky examples and analogies, give colorful anecdotes and speak with memorable words and phrases.
The sad part - most of it gets lost in the ozone. They only get shared and re-used within small circles of people inside the firm who have access to that person. All these spoken words are part of the fabric of your culture and corporate vernacular. They need to be preserved. Not simply as oral history, but as shared tools to help people connect with clients and burnish the brand.
I know there are corporate intranets with terabytes of shared information about your company and your business to educate employees. Most of it is about as exciting as an Excel tutorial.
First Step - Create a vault. It should be electronic and able to capture audio, video and text for future reuse.
Second Step - Appoint a vault keeper. Someone with passion for capturing and sharing information and the judgment to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Third Step - Create a secure user interface. It should be a cool webpage where your people can easily upload text, video or audio to the vault.
Fourth Step - Market it. Encourage everyone in your firm who touches clients to upload their best stuff into the vault. They can record it on audio or video or simply send it in as text.
Fifth Step - Share it. Make it securely available to client-facing people any way possible - Webcast, Podcast, I-Phone, I-Pad, NetBook, Blackberry or SmartPhone.
You will give people weapons to re-stock their verbal arsenal and you will make each other better. Your clients will hear consistent messages and your firm's vernacular will become richer, deeper and way more vivid and memorable than it is now.
Get past all the 45 minute data dumps and boring product teach-ins and '"stiff-in-the-studio" informational webcasts. This is better. It's cheap, fast and global.
A couple of caveats about the vault before you start. Make it quick and digestible. Make deposits and withdrawls easy and in this age of techno razzle dazzle - don't make it boring.
Save a few bucks and tap the brains on board. In case you forgot, you tend to hire really smart people.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
You Gotta Believe
Managers transmit information. Leaders transmit belief.
Recently we saw two examples of leaders trying to transmit belief to the American people on TV.
The first was a 60-second BP commercial by its Chairman, Tony Hayward, apologizing on behalf of his company for the Gulf oil spill and pledging to set things right. The second was a 17-minute talk by President Obama from the Oval Office explaining the status of the cleanup efforts and the government's plan to design a strategy to restore the Gulf region.
Normally if you went and compared their skills at persuasive communication, President Obama wins in a walk because he has a well-deserved reputation as a charismatic speaker, whereas Mr. Hayward has a well-deserved reputation as a gaffe machine who makes Joe Biden seem a model of decorum and temperance.
In my view though, both failed.
They both read their comments off a teleprompter and lost any chance at transmitting belief and connecting with the American people on an emotional level. They both hit on how many feet of boom have been laid out, how many ships deployed, how many thousands of volunteers and troops on the ground - a list of facts best recited by someone below their pay grade.
President Obama, perhaps feeling the tug of his lawyer/college professor DNA, gave us a teach-in on the Gulf Oil Spill, repeating information we've been bombarded with 24/7 on cable TV. He sounded like someone getting through a committee update, not a leader transmitting belief and confidence to a severely wounded region and its bewildered, abused and angry citizenry.
Tony Hayward could have been reading from a Hallmark card he picked up at a convenience store for all the impact it had. He had no visceral connection with his words; no emotional intent in his delivery; and a flat lifeless tone that left viewers unconvinced, uninspired and unimpressed.
One might say: "Wait a minute, Reagan used a teleprompter." Quite true, but with a huge difference.
Let's face it, the man knew his way around a camera. Reagan's talk from the Oval Office on the day of the Challenger disaster was a masterpiece of messaging and a model of a leader transmitting belief using a teleprompter. He had two distinct advantages - a terrific speeechwriter, Peggy Noonan, who understood how to combine lean language with soaring imagery, and a lifetime in front of the camera making people believe.
So what's a President or CEO to do? Trash the teleprompters? Fire the speechwriters? Go watch sail boat races or play golf?
No, No, and (duh) No!
They can and should find opportunities to connect on camera or in person with nothing at all. No notes; no teleprompter; no slide deck; no written speech. Just a mental outline of their story and their preparation, confidence and wits.
If it's a video message like a webcast to the people in their company or in the country, make it short. Reagan's Challenger talk was 4:27. Kennedy's famous Ich Bein Ein Berliner speech was 4:42. The Gettysburg Address was 270 words and Martin Luther King's iconic I Have A Dream speech was a little over 10 minutes.
If it's a Hook and Hammer for a Town Hall, do three minutes on either side of the duller-than-dishwater details and farm that part out to some person in your organization who's really good at it. The audience will have no problem recognizing you as the true leader and will see the real you, not the phoney-baloney you, reading bare bullets off a boring slide.
Sure, it's scary. Sure, you might make a mistake or flub a line or make a gaffe. As evidenced in the Obama and Hayward examples though; you can have all the money, power, and technology and even read the darn thing - and still fail.
So as a CEO, what have you got to lose?
You do TV interviews all the time with no notes. You sit on all-star global panels with no notes. You probably did your last wedding toast with no notes. Why not go down to your in-house TV studio if you have one. Fire up the camera. Look into that little red light and just talk. Do it several times until you're convinced that you didn't embarass yourself and then let it fly.
Your colleagues and employees may be thrilled that you pushed past all the boilerplate B.S. and finally talked to them as adults.
Your alternative is to wait until you're playing pinochle out on the front porch at the assisted living facility and you turn to your card buddies and say:
"This is what I would have said back when I was chairman of the board - if it wasn't for those damned lawyers".
Take a shot!
Recently we saw two examples of leaders trying to transmit belief to the American people on TV.
The first was a 60-second BP commercial by its Chairman, Tony Hayward, apologizing on behalf of his company for the Gulf oil spill and pledging to set things right. The second was a 17-minute talk by President Obama from the Oval Office explaining the status of the cleanup efforts and the government's plan to design a strategy to restore the Gulf region.
Normally if you went and compared their skills at persuasive communication, President Obama wins in a walk because he has a well-deserved reputation as a charismatic speaker, whereas Mr. Hayward has a well-deserved reputation as a gaffe machine who makes Joe Biden seem a model of decorum and temperance.
In my view though, both failed.
They both read their comments off a teleprompter and lost any chance at transmitting belief and connecting with the American people on an emotional level. They both hit on how many feet of boom have been laid out, how many ships deployed, how many thousands of volunteers and troops on the ground - a list of facts best recited by someone below their pay grade.
President Obama, perhaps feeling the tug of his lawyer/college professor DNA, gave us a teach-in on the Gulf Oil Spill, repeating information we've been bombarded with 24/7 on cable TV. He sounded like someone getting through a committee update, not a leader transmitting belief and confidence to a severely wounded region and its bewildered, abused and angry citizenry.
Tony Hayward could have been reading from a Hallmark card he picked up at a convenience store for all the impact it had. He had no visceral connection with his words; no emotional intent in his delivery; and a flat lifeless tone that left viewers unconvinced, uninspired and unimpressed.
One might say: "Wait a minute, Reagan used a teleprompter." Quite true, but with a huge difference.
Let's face it, the man knew his way around a camera. Reagan's talk from the Oval Office on the day of the Challenger disaster was a masterpiece of messaging and a model of a leader transmitting belief using a teleprompter. He had two distinct advantages - a terrific speeechwriter, Peggy Noonan, who understood how to combine lean language with soaring imagery, and a lifetime in front of the camera making people believe.
So what's a President or CEO to do? Trash the teleprompters? Fire the speechwriters? Go watch sail boat races or play golf?
No, No, and (duh) No!
They can and should find opportunities to connect on camera or in person with nothing at all. No notes; no teleprompter; no slide deck; no written speech. Just a mental outline of their story and their preparation, confidence and wits.
If it's a video message like a webcast to the people in their company or in the country, make it short. Reagan's Challenger talk was 4:27. Kennedy's famous Ich Bein Ein Berliner speech was 4:42. The Gettysburg Address was 270 words and Martin Luther King's iconic I Have A Dream speech was a little over 10 minutes.
If it's a Hook and Hammer for a Town Hall, do three minutes on either side of the duller-than-dishwater details and farm that part out to some person in your organization who's really good at it. The audience will have no problem recognizing you as the true leader and will see the real you, not the phoney-baloney you, reading bare bullets off a boring slide.
Sure, it's scary. Sure, you might make a mistake or flub a line or make a gaffe. As evidenced in the Obama and Hayward examples though; you can have all the money, power, and technology and even read the darn thing - and still fail.
So as a CEO, what have you got to lose?
You do TV interviews all the time with no notes. You sit on all-star global panels with no notes. You probably did your last wedding toast with no notes. Why not go down to your in-house TV studio if you have one. Fire up the camera. Look into that little red light and just talk. Do it several times until you're convinced that you didn't embarass yourself and then let it fly.
Your colleagues and employees may be thrilled that you pushed past all the boilerplate B.S. and finally talked to them as adults.
Your alternative is to wait until you're playing pinochle out on the front porch at the assisted living facility and you turn to your card buddies and say:
"This is what I would have said back when I was chairman of the board - if it wasn't for those damned lawyers".
Take a shot!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Geithner Gloms Gregory
The dictionary defines the word glom as "to grab hold of".
That is exactly what happened today on Meet the Press. Secretary Geithner grabbed hold of his interview in a way he hadn't before, even as recently as five months ago.
Forget about whether you're a Democrat or Republican for a moment. I simply offer up Secretary Geithner's growth as a public figure on television as an example of what each of us can accomplish as communicators when we focus on 3 key areas: Message, Mindset and Mechanics.
To Secretary Geithner: You have made tremendous progress in my opinion. Keep up the good work and keep owning your stage.
First, on Message...
Gregory focuses his first question on "too big to fail" and financial reform. Twice he interrupts Geithner and tries to take him off message by saying "but what if they need more money?" and "you'll have to define derivatives." He is trying to get Geithner to dance to his tune - the Meet the Press Polka.
This time though, the Secretary doesn't dance. He keeps coming back to his central theme that "we are going to accomplish two things..." Even after he gives a definition of derivatives and Gregory tries to move on, he interrupts him and brings him back to finish his message "I want to get back to the central thing..." That's where the interview turned. Secretary Geithner signaled calmly yet strongly to Gregory - this is my dance pal, not yours!
Second, on Mindset...
I don't know if the Secretary worked with a coach to prep for this interview, but it seemed that his mindset shifted from his Meet the Press appearance last March.
This time Secretary Geithner looked like an athlete who decided to stop trying so hard. He seemed more relaxed in his approach, slower in his pace and calmer in his presence. He seemed less like a harried executive trying to deflect and defend and much more like a polished lawyer laying out a strong case.
I believe he came in today with the mindset that he would own this stage - and he did. He came to David's MTP home court and made him play Geithner's Game, not Gregory's Game.
Third, on Mechanics...
Take a look at today's MTP clip and one from March 29, 2009.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/
That is exactly what happened today on Meet the Press. Secretary Geithner grabbed hold of his interview in a way he hadn't before, even as recently as five months ago.
Forget about whether you're a Democrat or Republican for a moment. I simply offer up Secretary Geithner's growth as a public figure on television as an example of what each of us can accomplish as communicators when we focus on 3 key areas: Message, Mindset and Mechanics.
To Secretary Geithner: You have made tremendous progress in my opinion. Keep up the good work and keep owning your stage.
First, on Message...
Gregory focuses his first question on "too big to fail" and financial reform. Twice he interrupts Geithner and tries to take him off message by saying "but what if they need more money?" and "you'll have to define derivatives." He is trying to get Geithner to dance to his tune - the Meet the Press Polka.
This time though, the Secretary doesn't dance. He keeps coming back to his central theme that "we are going to accomplish two things..." Even after he gives a definition of derivatives and Gregory tries to move on, he interrupts him and brings him back to finish his message "I want to get back to the central thing..." That's where the interview turned. Secretary Geithner signaled calmly yet strongly to Gregory - this is my dance pal, not yours!
Second, on Mindset...
I don't know if the Secretary worked with a coach to prep for this interview, but it seemed that his mindset shifted from his Meet the Press appearance last March.
This time Secretary Geithner looked like an athlete who decided to stop trying so hard. He seemed more relaxed in his approach, slower in his pace and calmer in his presence. He seemed less like a harried executive trying to deflect and defend and much more like a polished lawyer laying out a strong case.
I believe he came in today with the mindset that he would own this stage - and he did. He came to David's MTP home court and made him play Geithner's Game, not Gregory's Game.
Third, on Mechanics...
Take a look at today's MTP clip and one from March 29, 2009.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29943746/
- He sits in a neutral upright position vs. hunching over
- He speaks slowly and rushes fewer words and phrases
- His face looks relaxed and his brow looks less furrowed
- He smiles on occasion and his demeanor is much calmer
- His head position is much more level, balanced and steady
- He uses his lower register to project more vocal strength
- He is wearing a standard shirt collar vs. a spread collar
Bottom Line...
Some might argue that Secretary Geithner has simply improved with experience, both in his job at Treasury and in TV interviews. Undoubtedly that's true. Only the Secretary knows how much planning, preparation and deliberate practice he put into this TV appearance or any of the changes I mentioned above.
I'm betting he's put a fair amount of work into these changes. I believe his progress provides a model for all of us from three perspectives related to changing our speaking style:
- Change is a process, not a transaction
- Change is a matter of choice, not skill
- Change helps us play to our strengths
So if you are a CEO, executive, leader, salesperson or regular Jane or Joe, don't fall into thinking that some people are just naturally good at the skill and the rest of us are screwed. Speaking in any kind of a public or private setting is a learned skill. How good or bad we are at utilizing this skill is up to us.
Thanks, Mr. Secretary. You were terrific today.
P.S. Now just stop rushing your saying of the word derivatives. Based on recent news events, you are going to be using it quite often in the coming days.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Practice in Place
Four years ago, a Fortune senior editor named Geoff Colvin wrote an article called "What It Takes to be Great". It spoke about research supporting the notion of deliberate practice playing a key role in the success of people in sports, business and other professions. His new book is "Talent is Overrated".
I highly recommend you get a copy and pass it around the office. In our jobs, we can get trapped into continuous performance with occasional injections of training interspersed at various points in our careers.
Many think we improve in our careers through apprenticeship, experience, hard work, mentoring, luck and the most prevalent of all learning tools - osmosis. All true. The key though to getting a lot better at your life's work, according to Colvin and the research, is deliberate practice.
I wholeheartedly agree.
What many of us lack in our work lives is a process of deliberate practice to continually raise the level of our game. We are like pitchers who don't warm up in the bullpen or singers who don't rehearse with the band. Performance suffers.
I coach people who talk to clients all the time - to inform, to persuade, or to sell. Rarely do they admit to doing a dress rehearsal before a pitch or role playing client Q&A before a meeting or doing their update to the boss with a colleague first.
Question: Why Not? Answer: No Time! Solution: Make Time!
Easier said than done of course - especially when you're already working too much, sleeping too little, eating too poorly and not finding enough time for the important things in life. So, what can a busy executive or salesperson or banker do to squeeze in some practice?
First off, who can play clients better than us? We see them all the time. Second, when we deliberately practice we discover better ways to frame our case, make a point, or counter an objection. Third, we hear how we verbalize thoughts before the client hears them. In group practice, we may say "God, don't ever say that with this client" or "that was a killer point - make sure you bring that in".
A few suggestions (and remember - everyone is your client - even your boss):
Buy a $20 tape recorder and practice in front of a mirror. Start with 15 minutes twice a week. Throw yourself questions and tape your answers. Tape yourself telling key stories about your business. Tape yourself pitching a prospect. Tape yourself doing introductions at a client dinner. Tape yourself giving an update to an executive committee. Try them over and over until they're ready. Then put them in your mental I-Pod until needed. You will build up an amazing library.
Make business meetings your practice lab. Try out new things there like being a more patient listener; handling a tough question from a boss; being more assertive; trying out new types of questions; projecting more physical or vocal presence; or occasionally taking over the room with a compelling story for two minutes - just to see what that feels like. Let a colleague know what you're doing and ask them for feedback afterwards. You'll get better, quicker.
Grab pizza with colleagues and take over a conference room. Assign client and sales roles to each other and practice the most difficult and challenging questions a client could throw at you - either for a specific meeting or just in general. Or use the session to pitch each other ideas or products to get a feel for how the client might respond to it. You'll make each other better.
Practice phone calls on the phone. If you've got a big call coming up with a client, write a few notes and then speak it to your voicemail. Listen back and then try again. How many times do you have to retape your out of office message to tell people you're at the beach? If you're like the rest of us at least 2 or 3. It may take a few extra minutes, but practice pays off with a smoother call. You'll find your best voice.
Dress rehearse the big stuff. It could be a bake-off for a deal or a Town Hall or a TV interview or a keynote address or an update to the executive team or the board. If it's a team pitch, rehearse with the team. If it's a talk or a speech, rehearse in the actual hall or a close facsimile. If it's a TV interview, get in front of a camera for a mock interview to get used to the environment. Eliminate as much surprise as possible.
We make time in life for what we think is important. Make deliberate practice important! Try to make it organic to your business life. When you do, the real time result for your client or your audience will be "planned effortlessness." You will make it look easy and they'll never see all the practice.
There is one more thing you can do. Hire a Coach! That helps you do "informed" deliberate practice - which is even better.
If you want to truly make a deliberate investment in your business, I know this wonderful fellow named Andy....
I highly recommend you get a copy and pass it around the office. In our jobs, we can get trapped into continuous performance with occasional injections of training interspersed at various points in our careers.
Many think we improve in our careers through apprenticeship, experience, hard work, mentoring, luck and the most prevalent of all learning tools - osmosis. All true. The key though to getting a lot better at your life's work, according to Colvin and the research, is deliberate practice.
I wholeheartedly agree.
What many of us lack in our work lives is a process of deliberate practice to continually raise the level of our game. We are like pitchers who don't warm up in the bullpen or singers who don't rehearse with the band. Performance suffers.
I coach people who talk to clients all the time - to inform, to persuade, or to sell. Rarely do they admit to doing a dress rehearsal before a pitch or role playing client Q&A before a meeting or doing their update to the boss with a colleague first.
Question: Why Not? Answer: No Time! Solution: Make Time!
Easier said than done of course - especially when you're already working too much, sleeping too little, eating too poorly and not finding enough time for the important things in life. So, what can a busy executive or salesperson or banker do to squeeze in some practice?
First off, who can play clients better than us? We see them all the time. Second, when we deliberately practice we discover better ways to frame our case, make a point, or counter an objection. Third, we hear how we verbalize thoughts before the client hears them. In group practice, we may say "God, don't ever say that with this client" or "that was a killer point - make sure you bring that in".
A few suggestions (and remember - everyone is your client - even your boss):
Buy a $20 tape recorder and practice in front of a mirror. Start with 15 minutes twice a week. Throw yourself questions and tape your answers. Tape yourself telling key stories about your business. Tape yourself pitching a prospect. Tape yourself doing introductions at a client dinner. Tape yourself giving an update to an executive committee. Try them over and over until they're ready. Then put them in your mental I-Pod until needed. You will build up an amazing library.
Make business meetings your practice lab. Try out new things there like being a more patient listener; handling a tough question from a boss; being more assertive; trying out new types of questions; projecting more physical or vocal presence; or occasionally taking over the room with a compelling story for two minutes - just to see what that feels like. Let a colleague know what you're doing and ask them for feedback afterwards. You'll get better, quicker.
Grab pizza with colleagues and take over a conference room. Assign client and sales roles to each other and practice the most difficult and challenging questions a client could throw at you - either for a specific meeting or just in general. Or use the session to pitch each other ideas or products to get a feel for how the client might respond to it. You'll make each other better.
Practice phone calls on the phone. If you've got a big call coming up with a client, write a few notes and then speak it to your voicemail. Listen back and then try again. How many times do you have to retape your out of office message to tell people you're at the beach? If you're like the rest of us at least 2 or 3. It may take a few extra minutes, but practice pays off with a smoother call. You'll find your best voice.
Dress rehearse the big stuff. It could be a bake-off for a deal or a Town Hall or a TV interview or a keynote address or an update to the executive team or the board. If it's a team pitch, rehearse with the team. If it's a talk or a speech, rehearse in the actual hall or a close facsimile. If it's a TV interview, get in front of a camera for a mock interview to get used to the environment. Eliminate as much surprise as possible.
We make time in life for what we think is important. Make deliberate practice important! Try to make it organic to your business life. When you do, the real time result for your client or your audience will be "planned effortlessness." You will make it look easy and they'll never see all the practice.
There is one more thing you can do. Hire a Coach! That helps you do "informed" deliberate practice - which is even better.
If you want to truly make a deliberate investment in your business, I know this wonderful fellow named Andy....
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Listen, Learn, Lead
Many successful senior executives approach difficult challenges by using a process called Listen, Learn, Lead. They get in conversations with key players; ask a ton of questions; learn the critical issues facing the business; and then start to lead that business and those players down a new road to success.
In the process, they build up their knowledge base, solidify critical relationships and display credibility because their solutions are grounded in fact and experience rather than presumptions and projections. One might argue that President Obama used the Listen, Learn, Lead approach leading up to the latest troop deployments in Afghanistan. Dick Cheney characterized it as dithering yet his favorite general David Petraeus called the process thorough and necessary.
Which brings me to the heathcare debate and the President's agenda post the recent Massachusetts Massacre. Many are starting to write his political obituary as an ineffective one-term president. That's probably premature. After all, Reagan, Carter and Clinton each had similar job approval ratings at the end of their first year in office. Reagan and Clinton managed to right their ships and sail off to second terms, Reagan in an historic landside. Carter, oh well...
President Obama is now getting advice from all and sundry on how to right his ship. Go pick fights with Wall Street because everybody hates those guys anyway. Ram healthcare through before Scott Brown can park his pickup truck in the Senate garage. Dump healthcare entirely and focus on jobs and the economy.
How about this Mr. President? Try: Listen, Learn, Lead again.
First, to free up some of your time, tell Joe Biden that his sole assignment between now and November is helping businesses create jobs and lower the unemployment rate. Give Joltin' Joe an 8.5% target unemployment number and a blank check to broker fast-track deals with Congress on tax cuts and targeted incentives for business to wake up the economic engine in this country. He'll love the gig and he might make some headway while you hit the road again.
Then, go throw some Tea Parties of your own around the country. Not in all 52 states but three to five in each region of the country between now and Opening Day of the baseball season. Just don't serve tea. Maybe Coke, Pepsi, Burgers and Brats instead. Make it more a talker and tail-gater at the VFW Hall rather than testimonials and tea at the Junior League. No booze. Arguing healthcare and jobs sober is wild enough.
Make each session three hours long for an audience of 150 people with a meet and greet before and a long goodbye and some gladhanding afterwards. Don't pre-select the audience. Make it some kind of fair lottery process to get a ticket and make sure that the screening process to get into the hall is as stringent as possible so we don't have a repeat of some of the security snafus of recent memory. If the Salahis show up, tell them the party's over.
Avoid making it a politically correct audience or an audience of ringers. Let your presence (and the Secret Service) handle the screamers and yellers. Chances are you will end up with strong opinions and a few loud voices, but you may end up with a respectful group of concerned Americans willing to talk.
Bring a prominent Republican and Democrat from each state along with you as your partners. Make the setting in the round with the three of you on stools in the middle. Then you and your partners play facilitator and draw out the audience. Avoid the politician's pattern of making a long self-serving statement followed by a leading question. Try playing reporter for a change.
Neither you nor your partners can advocate for any agenda in the session. Your sole jobs are to listen and learn and walk away with a new or renewed understanding of the voice of the people. Your pledge to the participants at the end of each session is that you and your partners are going to go back to Washington and work on solutions - together. You seal the promise with a handshake at every session.
I know you probably think your administration has been there and done that on this sort of approach, but this time it's different. You and your administration are being viewed broadly now as out of touch. In response you have sent out a legion of fairly ineffective communicators on your team to talk at us - not with us. You are pushing us, not persuading us. You are advocating with agendas, not convincing with arguments. You are leading, without listening.
As a result, an adminstration that was swept into office on a wave of populist change (or so it seemed) is now portrayed as a bunch of paternalistic Ivy League elitists who wouldn't know a boilermaker from a Beaujolais.
In the process, they build up their knowledge base, solidify critical relationships and display credibility because their solutions are grounded in fact and experience rather than presumptions and projections. One might argue that President Obama used the Listen, Learn, Lead approach leading up to the latest troop deployments in Afghanistan. Dick Cheney characterized it as dithering yet his favorite general David Petraeus called the process thorough and necessary.
Which brings me to the heathcare debate and the President's agenda post the recent Massachusetts Massacre. Many are starting to write his political obituary as an ineffective one-term president. That's probably premature. After all, Reagan, Carter and Clinton each had similar job approval ratings at the end of their first year in office. Reagan and Clinton managed to right their ships and sail off to second terms, Reagan in an historic landside. Carter, oh well...
President Obama is now getting advice from all and sundry on how to right his ship. Go pick fights with Wall Street because everybody hates those guys anyway. Ram healthcare through before Scott Brown can park his pickup truck in the Senate garage. Dump healthcare entirely and focus on jobs and the economy.
How about this Mr. President? Try: Listen, Learn, Lead again.
First, to free up some of your time, tell Joe Biden that his sole assignment between now and November is helping businesses create jobs and lower the unemployment rate. Give Joltin' Joe an 8.5% target unemployment number and a blank check to broker fast-track deals with Congress on tax cuts and targeted incentives for business to wake up the economic engine in this country. He'll love the gig and he might make some headway while you hit the road again.
Then, go throw some Tea Parties of your own around the country. Not in all 52 states but three to five in each region of the country between now and Opening Day of the baseball season. Just don't serve tea. Maybe Coke, Pepsi, Burgers and Brats instead. Make it more a talker and tail-gater at the VFW Hall rather than testimonials and tea at the Junior League. No booze. Arguing healthcare and jobs sober is wild enough.
Make each session three hours long for an audience of 150 people with a meet and greet before and a long goodbye and some gladhanding afterwards. Don't pre-select the audience. Make it some kind of fair lottery process to get a ticket and make sure that the screening process to get into the hall is as stringent as possible so we don't have a repeat of some of the security snafus of recent memory. If the Salahis show up, tell them the party's over.
Avoid making it a politically correct audience or an audience of ringers. Let your presence (and the Secret Service) handle the screamers and yellers. Chances are you will end up with strong opinions and a few loud voices, but you may end up with a respectful group of concerned Americans willing to talk.
Bring a prominent Republican and Democrat from each state along with you as your partners. Make the setting in the round with the three of you on stools in the middle. Then you and your partners play facilitator and draw out the audience. Avoid the politician's pattern of making a long self-serving statement followed by a leading question. Try playing reporter for a change.
Neither you nor your partners can advocate for any agenda in the session. Your sole jobs are to listen and learn and walk away with a new or renewed understanding of the voice of the people. Your pledge to the participants at the end of each session is that you and your partners are going to go back to Washington and work on solutions - together. You seal the promise with a handshake at every session.
I know you probably think your administration has been there and done that on this sort of approach, but this time it's different. You and your administration are being viewed broadly now as out of touch. In response you have sent out a legion of fairly ineffective communicators on your team to talk at us - not with us. You are pushing us, not persuading us. You are advocating with agendas, not convincing with arguments. You are leading, without listening.
As a result, an adminstration that was swept into office on a wave of populist change (or so it seemed) is now portrayed as a bunch of paternalistic Ivy League elitists who wouldn't know a boilermaker from a Beaujolais.
I know this may all sound hokey to you but give it a try. In the time it takes Joe Torre to see what kind of team he has on the L.A. Dodgers for the upcoming season, you and your partners from both parties can get a fresh read on where the country's head is on the key issues. You will also call the opposition's bluff by getting them to put some skin into your game for a while.
A few caveats if you take up this challenge:
- Televise the entire tour on CSPAN
- Drop saying I and My on tour - try using We and Our
- You and your partners can only question and listen
- Except for Secret Service protection, no entourage
- Go on TV and report what you all learned
- Attack the (low-hanging fruit) issues you heard on tour
- Draft a joint legislative agenda and pursue it together
Most of your advisors would say this Listen, Learn, Lead approach is a waste of time or mere window dressing. Yet, you were elected with a promise to try to change the political dynamic in this country - to get beyond partisan rancor and bring us together. In spite of that pledge, we are mired even deeper in the Advocacy Abyss and drowning in discord.
In business, people of all political stripes find ways to solve incredibly difficult problems in part because they are all committed to a shared purpose - generating profit. In politics, we appear unable (at least at this point in our history) to solve problems together because we have lost the commonality of our cause. We have lost our ability to talk together, to reason together, and to work together. Yet in business, we can. In crises, we can. In communities, we can.
Why not stop being the leader of the people for a few weeks, eat a slice of humble pie and return to being a servant of the people. If you listen and learn, you will lead more effectively because there's a better chance we'll follow you.
Have faith in us. We're the ones who put you in the office you now hold. It's not about you. It's never been about you. It's about us - all of us together. You said it yourself - that what faces us are not Republican or Democrat problems, or liberal or conservative problems - they are American problems.
At tour's end we can all join in a chorus of Yes We Can - and mean it this time.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Transforming Town Halls
Every year at this time leaders across the world engage in an annual ritual - the Employee Town Hall. For leaders who like doing these talks, it can still be an obligatory chore. For leaders who hate them, it's root canal without novocaine.
If you manage a large organization, the Town Hall may be the only chance all year for some of your people to hear you and interact with you. Why waste the opportunity by doing it the same old way everyone else does it.
Done well, Town Halls make memories with messages that stick. My old boss was so good at them, people would quote his lines back to me a decade later. Detail divers hated them because he didn't sate their need for numbers, charts and graphs. The rank and file loved them because they had an open forum and an empathetic ear for their concerns and needs. He talked with them, not at them. People notice the difference.
Done poorly, employees can't remember the leader's lines an hour later. The leader spends a week or two fretting about every bullet point in their 30-slide data dump and they forget that a Town Hall is not merely an opportunity to transfer information. It's an opportunity to transfer belief. Belief that the goals are the right goals; that the strategy is well-designed and achievable; that the resources are sufficient for success; that the leader cares about all the people in the room; and that management knows what the hell they're doing.
A few tips for leaders to lessen the pain and increase the gain.
If you manage a large organization, the Town Hall may be the only chance all year for some of your people to hear you and interact with you. Why waste the opportunity by doing it the same old way everyone else does it.
Done well, Town Halls make memories with messages that stick. My old boss was so good at them, people would quote his lines back to me a decade later. Detail divers hated them because he didn't sate their need for numbers, charts and graphs. The rank and file loved them because they had an open forum and an empathetic ear for their concerns and needs. He talked with them, not at them. People notice the difference.
Done poorly, employees can't remember the leader's lines an hour later. The leader spends a week or two fretting about every bullet point in their 30-slide data dump and they forget that a Town Hall is not merely an opportunity to transfer information. It's an opportunity to transfer belief. Belief that the goals are the right goals; that the strategy is well-designed and achievable; that the resources are sufficient for success; that the leader cares about all the people in the room; and that management knows what the hell they're doing.
A few tips for leaders to lessen the pain and increase the gain.
- Send an email invite with what you'd like to cover
- Let them email in questions with no limitations
- Answer them as best you can in the Town Hall - and after
- Before the day, talk to people at every level to get a pulse
- Use ten slides or less. Slides are a crutch. Less is more
- Make slides clean and visual - pictures usually beat words
- Don't put directs in the front row. It makes you look weak
- Start by standing front row center with nothing but a smile
- Give a 3-minute 'hook' and state your intent for the day
- Go through slides and talk to the meaning of each slide
- End by standing front row center to take questions
- End with a 3-minute 'hammer' to nail down your theme
A few last thoughts:
Don't make promises you can't keep
Start with realism - end with optimism
Don't hide ugly truths people need to hear
Leaders speak in broad bold themes, not details
Press the flesh - it makes a difference when you do
Rehearse in the actual venue - make it your home court
Praise your people - they're a big reason you have the job
No podium. Stand in front - no notes - just a mike and clicker
Make your Town Hall leader mantra "how can I work the room?"
Don't present - talk and connect. Don't just power through slides
You may not agree with this, but give it a whirl. What you lose is a boring brain dump. What you gain is new connectivity with the people who make you great.
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