Boyle's Law

The old Boyle's Law had to do with traditional chemistry. The new Boyle's Law has to do with a subject near and dear to the heart of this coach - audience chemistry.

When we speak in public, I think we all long to have presence in front of our audience - to really 'own your stage' as the name of this blog suggests. If you are one of the 46 million people who have seen Susan Boyle on You Tube singing I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables on the TV show Britain's Got Talent, then you saw an object lesson in owning your stage from a woman who was previously known only to the inhabitants of her home town in Scotland. To say that her performance was remarkable is an understatement indeed. It lifted us up like the end of a movie like Rocky or Hoosiers. Many of us erupted like the live audience, cheering for the everywoman we saw on that stage.

So what can we learn from the new Boyle's Law?

First, it's OK to be nervous. Susan appeared nervous backstage but she seemed determined not to let it get to her. She decided to channel her nervousness into performance by proclaiming that she wanted to "rock that audience". Many among us want to make our nervousness and anxiety as public speakers disappear forever. It's a useless effort. We can learn to manage our anxiety and use it to our advantage in front of the audience. I call it 'befriending the butterflies'. A few common sense tips:

• Clear your mind, close your eyes, focus on a single point and breathe


• Visualize yourself taking the stage or the podium and succeeding famously


• Remind yourself that you know what you're doing because you practiced


• Know that the audience wants you to succeed - failure is painful for them too


• Remind yourself of the first sentence you will utter when you get out there


• Remind yourself that no matter what happens you will live to speak another day

Second, it pays to practice. If you think that Susan Boyle took to the stage without knowing how that song would come out, you're dreaming. She had the confidence of a professional knowing she had done the work to prepare and own her material. She had already heard herself sing it and knew what the notes felt like and how she would gesture to the crowd. If you are afraid that practice will make you sound rehearsed, don't worry. The very act of rehearsal makes you sound unrehearsed. The practice gives you confidence to succeed, so put in that effort if you can find the time. If you can't, make the time. It will show on stage.

Third, stand your ground and own your stage. If you saw the video, Susan Boyle had to stand there on TV being ridiculed, laughed at and forced to tell her age to millions. Now I know if she was a lousy singer, we would not be talking about her now. I realize that her talent has a lot to do with her success that night. But her presence was there ahead of her talent. To my mind, she won the day before she had ever sung a note because she had the guts to stand there and hear snickers and laughter directed at her and she didn't flinch. She owned her space and did not relinquish her personal power to the judges or the audience - the magical power of knowing that she belonged there.

There are famous and accomplished people who don't have Susan Boyle's presence. The good news is that they can - if they just would try. The best news about the new Boyle's Law is that all us can stand in front of an audience and look like we belong there. We simply need to befriend our butterflies, practice out loud, and stand our ground in the face of adversity.

Whether singing or speaking, presence counts!

Bravo Susan. You rocked the house!

Postscript to our last post - Larry Summers did it again. On Fox News Sunday (4/26/2009) he appeared again on video feed like the week before on Meet the Press. Chris Wallace never laid a glove on him.

Good show Larry. Keep up the good work!

Beat the Press

Finally, someone in President Obama's administration nailed an appearance on Meet the Press. It was Larry Summers on today's show (April 19, 2009) on NBC. The host, David Gregory, tried to put forth his very best Tim Russert impression, complete with the usual assortment of 'gotcha' quotes and video clips, but he didn't lay a glove on Summers the whole show.

This is surprising since on a previous MTP appearance, Larry Summers had turned in a less than stellar performance back in January when David Gregory seemed to have the physical and adversarial advantage in that interview and Mr. Summers seemed to be in a prevent defense.

Not this time.

Whether it was him making a few key adjustments between MTP appearances, or taking advice from Secretary Geithner's new speech guru, Michael Sheehan, or simply good luck, Mr. Summers clicked on all cylinders and provided an example for all the President's men and women to follow on the Sunday interview shows. He also served as an example for executives of how even mechanical changes can make meaningful improvements in your communication style, especially on TV.

Let the pundits both right and left argue the content. Here's why I think Mr. Summers delivery choices worked so incredibly well.

First, he looked us in the eye. Due to the fact that Mr. Summers was on satellite video hookup from the Americas summit in Trinidad, he was forced to look straight into the camera. He looked through David Gregory and spoke directly to us - the TV audience. It helped him connect with us in a way he wouldn't have been able to if he were sitting in the studio in Washington looking at David Gregory. This was significant since the last time he was on MTP he looked away almost every time he answered a question. If you want to connect, you have to look at people, especially on the tube.

Note: It didn't hurt to have the flowering bush waving in the breeze behind him. For someone who can occasionally come across as a hardass on TV, it was serendipitous set design and softened his image a bit.

Second, he turned around most of David Gregory's 'gotcha' questions into opportunities to further his own message. A case in point was his answer to a fairly tough question about Paul Krugman's 'depression still lurking' editorial in the paper, which Gregory quoted. Summers first stated that he disagrees with Krugman a lot, yet acknowledged Krugman's "we're not out of the woods yet" point and then explained why everything the President is doing and saying makes sense in light of that point. Whether you agree with the logic of his response or not, it was a classic example of not taking the interviewer's bait and staying on your own message.

Third, when he wanted to emphasize a key point in his answer he would shift gears, slow down and punch his words for effect.

Fourth, for the most part he kept a nice level head. Combined with looking into the camera it gives the television audience a nonverbal sense of strength, forthrightness and transparency.

Fifth, because he was only present in David Gregory's TV studio on a video monitor, it neutralized the physical advantage Gregory has in the studio. He actually had to look up a tiny bit to Larry Summers to ask his questions and due to Mr. Summers aplomb in deflecting the hardest of his questions, at times Mr. Gregory seemed like a student trying to 'stump the prof' in an economics class. He tried and tried again but never did any serious damage to his guest.

Sixth, Mr. Summers kept a nice conversational tone throughout versus his more formal tone the last time he was on Meet the Press. He just talked to us and sounded like a reasonable man making reasonable points. He also spoke in 'human tempo' versus Secretary Geithner's 'trader tempo' which helps us keep up with him and lets his words sink in.

Bottom line, if this was a prize fight it would have gone the distance with no knockdowns but Larry Summers would have walked away with a unanimous decision on all the judges scorecards. It was by far and away his best TV performance in my view and underscores how important it is to make good choices when communicating in an adversarial interview setting.

The Irish Priest

Six months after 9/11, I was riding the #6 subway train in New York City. I was straphanging. There, straphanging next to me, was a Catholic priest. He looked to be in his early 60's. He had the map of experience on his face. We started talking and it turns out he was an Irish Catholic priest, from Ireland, who was temporarily stationed at a monastery somewhere up the Hudson.

At the time, I was managing a VP leadership development program at a major investment bank. After a bit of conversation, he said, "Well, there seems to be a lot of similarities between what you do for a living and what I do for a living. After all, aren't we both helping people to improve in their lives?"

I didn't know just what to say, so I fell back on my Irish Catholic genes and replied, "Yes Father".

After a little more conversation as we passed stations on our way uptown he said, "All this development stuff you're doin', well it all goes back to the Greek philosophers don't ya know. It's the three great lessons - Know Thyself, Accept Thyself, Overcome Thyself".

I said, "Well Father, after all these years of trying I think I finally have the Knowing Thyself part down and I'm working really hard on the Accepting Thyself part - but that Overcoming Thyself part is a real pain in the ass...."
(almost by reflex, I asked his forgiveness for my language)

He smiled, and in his magnificently understated Irish Catholic priest manner, paused and said, "isn't it though".

We came to our stop and parted company, wishing each other good luck. I guess my lesson from the #6 train was - we're never really done with this development stuff and in this wonderful life that we all share; change is a process, not a transaction.

I'm guessing that Saint Peter might have a little Irish priest in him. We'll all come up to the pearly gates and he'll ask us how we found our lives on Earth and one of us might say:

"Well, it wasn't all that bad, except for the Recession of 09'. That was a real pain in the ass".

Saint Peter will smile, pause and say, "wasn't it though".


The Global Coach

Accents are Beautiful

The French have a saying, "Vive La Difference". It was coined by a man giving thanks to God for having created women.

Yet when it comes to accents, it seems that everywhere in Corporate America we are shouting "Vive La Boring".

Sometimes it appears that we want to put everyone through a kind of Cultural Cuisinart and have them emerge sounding like a newsreader on CSPAN. Everyone stops being a Rich Roquefort, or a Sharp Cheddar or a Racy Romano and we become American Cheese, with no flavor, aroma or bite. It's bland-by-design.

Managers call coaches like myself and report that they or their clients cannot understand one of the employees because of an accent. They want to send them off for 'accent reduction' or something called 'accent neutralization'.

Now I'm sure these are legitimate corrective measures taken by professionals in the field of speech. I do not mean to denigrate their profession. I want to offer common-sense alternatives from someone who listens to people speak for a living.

#1 - Go buy some French champagne and celebrate your accent. You might even yell "Vive La Difference" while you're doing it. Your accent is part of who you are as a person. It makes you sound distinctive and memorable. We are drawn to listen to you.

#2 - Slow down. Buy a $20 microcassette recorder and a $20 digital metronome. Then set the metronome on it's slowest beat and record yourself reading stories from a newspaper at that slow beat. You are now retraining your ear. Or click here on http://americanrhetoric.com and click on Movie Speeches. Then try to mimic the pace of one of the really slow speeches. A real good one is Billy Bob Thornton's Being Perfect speech as Coach Gaines from the movie Friday Night Lights or Kelly MacDonald's reply to the Prime Minister from the movie The Girl in the Cafe. The best slow speech out at the movies now in my opinion is Philip Seymour Hoffman's sermon on Gossip as Father Flynn in the movie Doubt. The technique is about speaking slower and pausing and breathing. Try it. People will hear you better, even with your accent.

#3 - Vary your voice. If you have a constant high pitch, add in some bass or alto to give your voice more authority. If you have a constant low pitch, add in some tenor or soprano to give your voice more life. In any language or any accent, what kills is sameness. We love to listen to variety, as in a piece of classical music - up and down volume, high and low pitch, fast and slow pace, passionate and peaceful delivery. If your voice always sounds the same, we will lose your personality - and you will lose our attention.

#4 - Move your face. Many people with accents speak with a tight jaw which exacerbates our lack of understanding. Words get swallowed, sylabbles disappear and messages get missed. Whether you're from Ireland or Belarus or Pakistan or Japan or West Texas - if you never move your lips when you talk, people will have a hard time hearing you. Relax your jaw and your facial muscles and engage them when you talk. It may seem strange at first but it allows the air to come up from your diaphragm and escape your lips. Add in some deeper breathing as you talk and all of a sudden a weak voice becomes a lot more powerful - and we hear you better.

#5 - Gesture with purpose. Some people are deathly afraid of being seen as someone who 'talks with their hands'. But there is a simple guideline for gestures. If they have purpose, keep them. If they don't, get rid of them. At times though, punching words with gestures help us hear you better. It's great for phone calls. The counterparty can't see you. You could be standing there in a Speedo doing a Samba while you speak. They don't know. Try it. Not the Speedo and the Samba. Just the purposeful gesturing. It gives your words bite and it acts as a natural speed governor when you sync your gestures to a key word in a sentence, like "assets got crushed".

#6 - Examine your speech. Have a native English speaker listen to an audiotape of your voice and help you to identify missing articles of speech like the or a or English words you may be mispronouncing because you emphasize a different sylabble or sounds that come out differently like a d sound instead of a t or th sound. For example, if a sports talk radio host with a New York accent says the phrase "we'll be back after this" it becomes "we'll be back after dis". If that person retrains their voice with a tape recorder to get used to the th sound, they can eliminate one of the tell-tale signs of a New York accent.

#7 - Be conversational. This is why offshore (and even onshore) call centers make some people upset. People hear a person reading a script. "Of course, I can help you with that problem. May I put you on hold for a brief moment?" If you have a script to adhere to, practice it and internalize it to the point where it sounds conversational. It is doable and people will react to you more favorably and they will hear you better. I once sat next to a 'cold call' salesman for a month. We both had the exact same sales script. People hung up on me but they talked to him and he made hundred of sales. Why? He made the script his own and sounded like he and the person whose name he picked out of a phone book were long lost friends. Disingenous? Perhaps. But he argued that he was simply being friendly and talking to people as people, not as blind prospects. Whatever you think of the strategy, it worked. When we go across cultures, we tend to lose our native personality that exists in our native tongue. I know it's extremely difficult to be yourself when you are simultaneously translating in your head as you speak, but try. When we like you, we listen better.

Even if you only do these 6 things (I'll let you decide on the champagne), I believe colleagues, clients and audiences will begin to hear you better and your boss may stop trying to send you off to have your accent neutered. After all, we're not cats. We're human beings.

OK, enough of this English-Centric approach to communication.

Anyone want to help someone get rid of a Brooklyn accent when speaking Hindi?


The Global Coach

The Geithner Gap

After Timothy Geithner made his initial speech as Treasury Secretary to the public on his banking plan, the reviews were not kind to say the least. He got panned on content and delivery.

On content, it was the old "where's the beef" argument. The market, the pundits and the public wanted more details on the plan and were left wanting. They expected more - and got less.

On the delivery side, he got horrible reviews as well. Why?

First of all, President Obama must own a teleprompter company because it seems that everyone in his administration has used one for a speech. Secretary Geithner used the left/right teleprompter setup as well and came off like a student reading a book report. In his first opportunity to look the American people in the eye and gain their confidence, he bailed out and read his words off a teleprompter screen. He failed in his first big test as a communicator.

It's a shame too, because it was a pretty easy test. His predecessor, Secretary Paulson, was probably the worst communicator in an administration known for lousy communicators. It's unfortunate because both men seem to be very decent fellows who are smart, savvy, credible, experienced and highly accomplished. They have been communicating in business and govenment for decades.

They should succeed as communicators. Why did they fail?

For the same reason many of us fail as speakers - we don't connect with our audience. With a simple 'prepared but unscripted' leader message at the beginning and end of his talk, looking directly into the camera, Geithner could have transformed his talk, and the public's reaction to it.

He had no Hook at the beginning (to grab the audience) and he had no Hammer at the end (to nail down his message).

He 'presented' to us. He didn't 'talk' to us.

I'm not suggesting that speakers like Geithner should never use a teleprompter. President Reagan did, but he made it look like he wasn't. He made it look like he was speaking directly to you through that television screen.

Why did it work for Reagan, and not for Geithner? Because Reagan knew how to connect with people on television and Geithner doesn't, yet.

Heck, it worked so well for the Great Communicator that it turned my mother into a Reagan Democrat. He made her and millions of other Americans feel better; feel more confident; and feel that things would work out in the end. Emphasis on feel.

Even when he made his 'arms for hostages' confessional from the oval office on television he connected, one human being to another; enough so that many Americans were willing to at least give him the benefit of the doubt, even if they were opposed to him politically. He didn't convince everyone but he connected well enough to keep it from being a total communication disaster. The American people, after all the angst, let it go.

The key is connecting.

Watch President Obama tomorrow night. He's a public speaker for the ages, like Kennedy and Martin Luther King and Reagan. Yet even he can fail to connect with his audience on occasion. In fact, he's fallen so much in love with teleprompters, he runs the risk of coming off android-like - 'Obamatic'.

He is becoming so focused on giving the 'perfect' speech that he's ignoring the emotional connectivity with the American people that helped get him elected in the first place. He succeeded at convincing voters across the country that he was 'one of us' while the opposition pulled out all the stops to convince people of just the opposite. He was able to do it.

That takes connecting.

So on February 24th at 9 PM, President Obama should look directly into the TV camera and simply 'talk' to us - at least at the beginning and definitely at the end. I know he'll be in front of Congress but he only has one audience - us.

He has a challenge not unlike a father or mother sitting down at the kitchen table in the midst of a family crisis, looking into the eyes of their children and saying; "Everything is going to be alright. We'll get through this together".

It's sounds hokey, but Tuesday night that's the whole ballgame right there. He needs to speak fron the head, the heart and the gut. Otherwise it will just be a bare collection of facts to be dissected the next day on CNBC and MSNBC and Fox - and they are going to do that anyway.

So next time you give a speech at a conference or sit across the table from a group of clients or give a talk to your church group, please remember to connect first. Look them in the eye and talk. Don't look down or away and read. Start human and end human. Grab them with a Hook and then hit them with a Hammer.

Connect, Connect, Connect!


The Global Coach

What Did You Say?

An old joke has two guys sitting in a bar. One guy says, "my wife says I don't listen to her....at least I think that's what she said".

When you think about business meetings, substitute either gender and that joke is not far from the truth.

How many of us really listen in business meetings? How many of us are just waiting to talk?

We sit in meetings listening to someone drone on about a point we don't think is relevant and we know as soon as they shut up we will jump in with an absolutely brilliant point.

Sounds arrogant, but if we plumb the depths of our 'impatient listener' souls, we've all probably done that - more times than we'd care to admit.

So how do you become a better listener? By doing the Bill Clinton head-bob while other people talk, biting your lip and saying "I feel your pain". Nah. A good way to start becoming a better listener is to try the following exercise the next time you're listening to someone talk in a meeting:

• Look at the speaker - not eye to eye - eye to face is fine. Just direct your eye focus toward them to the exclusion of everyone else in the room. If they are down at the end of a long table turn your torso toward them as well.
• Be physically quiet while the other person speaks. This puts the spotlight on them, where it belongs and makes them the star. A subtle nod once in a while is OK - just make sure that any head movement is subtle and sparse.
• If you're going to respond, wait till you think they are finished and then wait an extra beat to make sure they are really finished. Then talk. This is tough, especially when others in the meeting respond so quickly it makes it seem like the start of the Kentucky Derby...and they're off!
• Build your response off of something they just said as in, "we reacted the same way as you did to the numbers, with disbelief, but we went back and took another look and here's what we found". This gives the other person tangible evidence that you just listened to them. It can be referred to as 'playing back' or 'reflecting back' what you heard. Whatever you call it - do it. It helps. A lot.

I realize these four tactics are not always doable in a world where the competition for airtime in a meeting is fierce. Think about it though. How many meetings have you been in where the smartest comment was made by someone who waited patiently, then made a 'spot-on' observation that wove all the threads of the meeting together? Often people remember those people and their comments more than the folks who practically leapt out of their seats competing to see how much air they could each suck out of the room.

The key is patience. It is a skill that needs to be strengthened through practice. Here's a simple hokey exercise you can do at home. It will eventually pay off with your clients and your colleagues - I promise. Here it is:

When you go home after a long day, plop down on the couch after dinner with your spouse, partner, family member or close friend and listen to them vent about their horrendous day. Then, see how long you can hold out without...

• interrupting
• judging
• problem solving

To do the exercise justice, try holding out for ten minutes without doing any of the three things above. If the other person runs out of gas in their story, you are only allowed to say "so, what happened then?" - and then resume listening. Then you must recap what you learned to the other person and have them informally grade your comprehension.

It sounds easy, but it isn't. Just ask my wife how well I do at it. She'll probably tell you I'm still learning. When I offer this challenge to most men, they laugh. They know they will go home that night and never hold out for anything close to ten minutes. If you do this exercise it can help you discipline your ear to be patient - and it certainly won't hurt your relationship either.

Bottom Line

The best leaders listen well - the best salespeople listen well - and the best partners listen well. Be one of them. It doesn't take miracles. Just practice.

The Global Coach

Pitching Yourself

If you enter the words (job interviews) in Amazon you get 30,570 results starting with Winning Job Interviews and Acing the Interview. I don't intend to compete with all that information and the thousands of other sources on the subject. You can surf as well as I can.

I will offer a few practical tips here to help you prepare for the onslaught of job interviews you will face between now and your next role. These tips are based solely on my common sense, my 28 years of experience in the business world and my observations as a communication coach to more than 1500 people. For this blog, I will assume that you are looking for a more senior role, but the tips can be useful for any level job.

Preparation

• Read Peter Drucker's article "Managing Oneself" - it will help you focus on your strengths and avoid wasting time on converting weaknesses. You can get it as an electronic download at hbsp.com.


• Grab a pad and sit down at the kitchen table. Write a line down the middle. On the left, list your strengths. On the right, list a corresponding real-life example of that strength in action. Keep pushing yourself until you have twenty. Then pare it down to the Top Ten that are relevant to your current job search.


• Practice relating your examples (out loud to a mirror or tape recorder) until you can say them in your sleep. Don't worry, the act of rehearsal makes you sound unrehearsed and you don't need to memorize word for word. You're learning to tell your story.


• Repeat the process for your weaknesses. On the left, list the weakness. On the right, how you overcame or managed the weakness. Start with five and pare it down to three or less. Then practice as above.


• Review your resume. Is it a recitation of function or value? Review it and change it until the person reading it can determine the value you added to each organization and each job.


• Review the job you are pursuing. Is it a turnaround situation? Is is a build-it-from-scratch situation? Is it a strong-getting-stronger situation? Make sure you match your interview prep to the reality of the business and the company.


• Do due diligence. Write down the name of everyone you know who ever worked with or for the company you are interviewing with. Call them and interview them about the company. What's the culture? Who succeeds there, and why? Who fails there, and why?


• Review your wardrobe. Make sure the suit you pick out is one you not only look great in, but you feel great in. Make sure it fits you comfortably. Make sure it fits in with their culture. For women, make sure it frames your face with the right accessories. For men, make sure the tie is tied all the way to the top. For either gender, carry a small cosmetic mirror with you. You can't always hit the restroom before your interview. You always want the advantage of a last minute face check.


• Get into the interviewer head. Many interviewers play the interview straight up. Some play games. With the games-players, don't play. Unless they make you a Michael Corleone offer, why would you want to work with them anyway? There are enough jerks in the world and life's too short to spend 12 hours a day with one more. In any case, I think that most interviewers have four common sense questions they want answered: a) Do I like you? b) Will you fit in with our team? c) What do you bring that the other candidates don't? 4) Will you make our business better?

Body Language

• Think tall (whether you are or not) and look them in the eye while shaking hands firmly. Visualize yourself entering the room confidently, as if you were already colleagues. Also, remember to heed the words of a legendary salesman, "people hear what they see". If you look like you belong where you are, maybe they'll ask you to stay.


• To quote our mothers, Sit Up Straight! They were right. After watching 1500 people on videotape pitching clients and colleagues, I assure you it makes a big difference.


• Keep a level head - leaning your head to either side is a weak deferential gesture - avoid it. It can make you look uncertain, questioning, or equivocal.


• Be physically quiet while listening. An occasional nod is OK. Keep eye contact (not always eye to eye - more eye to face). If you're physically quiet, it puts the spotlight on the person speaking and you come off as a much more attentive listener. When they sound like they are finished, pause for a second to make sure they've really finished. Then build a response off something they just said. Be a great listener.


• Gesture with purpose. Your purpose is to project strength and self-management. If you gesture without purpose, you can appear nervous, jittery or out of control. Tie your gestures to words. Keep them subtle. If they are too big they may seem out of place. Interviews should be conversations, not presentations. You don't need big gestures to make an impact.


• Avoid nervous tics. If you clasp your hands together you may start 'washing' them if you get nervous or get a tough question. You could also shift around in your seat, play with your tie, hair, wedding ring or other jewelry. You want to look comfortable and composed.

• Practice, practice, practice. If I'm prepping an executive for a media interview. my goal is to make the practice interview harder than the real one. Similar to mock trial for a law student or a hitter swinging a weighted bat in the on-deck circle in baseball. Pick someone you know who can play a tough S.O.B. interviewer and practice with them.

Vocal Presence

• Speak slowly. The actor Michael Caine is my godfather of slow speaking. He maintains that powerful people speak slowly because they assume that everyone wants to hear what they have to say, whereas subservient people speak quickly because they think no one wants to hear what they have to say. Slow down - where's the fire?


• Emphasize key words. There is usually a key word or two in each sentence that you want to hit a bit harder than the others. If you do, it gives you vocal variety. That's what people like to listen to. We hate monotone, but monotone is a by-product of 'monoenergy'. Apply more energy to specific words and it helps the interviewer listen to you.


• Inject a little passion. The one constant in the business world is passion. Every good leader has it and most good leaders look for it. Speak with your head, heart and gut and sound like a person who loves what they do for a living -whether you have a job or not. It goes back to that cliche in sales - "If you don't sound like you care, why should they?"

There are 10,000 other tips you can get from other sources. Consider this a down payment. Remember, Barack Obama has just endured a year-long string of job interviews. He aced some, screwed up a few and was average in some others.

In the end though, he got the job. You will too!

As I always say,

"If you believe it, you will be it.

If you don't, you won't."

Remember, the first interview you have to ace is the one you have with yourself.

The Global Coach