In the tech industry, being on the keynote stage is a critical rite of passage – whether you’re presenting at a big industry conference or your own company’s annual user conference. (A TED talk is another animal. Different audience, different … [Read more...] about Are they listening to your keynote? Kinda.
You can control one thing in a media interview
“Focusing exclusively on what is in our power magnifies and enhances our power,” says Ryan Holiday in The Obstacle is the Way. This isn’t just great advice for business strategy! This is great advice for media interviews! When you sit down with … [Read more...] about You can control one thing in a media interview
Get narrow!
“Focusing exclusively on what is in our power magnifies and enhances our power,” says Ryan Holiday in The Obstacle is the Way. This is great advice in times of real difficulty. It’s also great advice just for planning your business, your life, … [Read more...] about Get narrow!
What to do when things get sticky
Sometimes, even if you’re a lovely person, even if you have best of intentions, things go awry. Communicating helps you create great things. But when communication breaks down, the way out can seem impossible to find. Kerry Patterson, Joseph … [Read more...] about What to do when things get sticky
The ‘Seven Habits’ approach to delegation
You know that whatever your professional goals, you can’t achieve them alone. You need a team. The definition of ‘scalable’ in a human is the ability to successfully find, delegate to and manage great teams. Here’s Stephen Covey’s exceptionally … [Read more...] about The ‘Seven Habits’ approach to delegation
Innovation occurs elsewhere
Joy's law, attributed to Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, is this: "No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.” The short version is more elegant: “Innovation occurs elsewhere.” There are great people making … [Read more...] about Innovation occurs elsewhere
The power of the Spring
Pablo Neruda said, “You can pick all the flowers, but you can’t stop the Spring.” Maybe it’s seeing all the flowers of our glorious San Francisco spring after a super rainy winter that keeps putting this quote in my mind. Maybe it’s that I keep … [Read more...] about The power of the Spring
Find your crescendo
In last week’s post we talked about the danger of artificially choreographed presentation technique. Your audience hopes to connect to and learn from the real you. You hope you’ll convert them to your big idea when you’re on stage. What we’re after … [Read more...] about Find your crescendo
Too much technique?
Lots of presentation coaches focus on things like assertive hand gestures, frequency of eye contact, commanding tone of voice, etc., as if learning a choreographed routine will make you a brilliant communicator. How much you do or don’t extend … [Read more...] about Too much technique?
The nine virtues of innovative leaders
The Innovators Way remains one of my favorite books when I’m working with an innovator scaling up to become a great leader and evangelist. If you’re courageous enough to take on changing the world you are a person who demands a lot of yourself. … [Read more...] about The nine virtues of innovative leaders
