As our election grows ever closer, I continue to watch the candidates, watching for lessons that we can apply as leaders everyday. In conversations recently with friends and colleagues I have mentioned that I believe both candidates would be better served by talking straight, even if it means acknowledging the similarities between their positions.

While we as leaders don't find ourselves under the intense scrutiny of millions, I believe the same is true for us.

Talk to people. Tell them what you are thinking. Tell them if you aren't sure on something. Tell them the future is complex. Let them know that you care. Acknowledge other opinions. Create opportunities for understanding.

I believe that if one of the candidates would really do this, they would gain many votes. Much more importantly for all of us as leaders is that we can and must do this.

Talking straight builds trust, confidence and understanding. We do not need to talk only in sound bites - we can explain things clearly. Talking straight - honestly and authentically is one way to communicate more powerfully.

And communicating powerfully is a hallmark skill of Remarkable Leaders.

Also posted in Leadership.

Labels: communication, leadership, Remarkable Leadership

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You are entering a no politics zone...

So if you want political commentary or biased spin, you are in the wrong place. :)

I watched the Vice Presidential Debate last night from two perspectives. As a voter I wanted to hear what both had to say. But I also wanted to see what I could glean from it from a leadership development and learning perspective.

To be Remarkable Leaders, we must communicate powerfully. The debate provided a wonderful learning laboratory to examine speaking prowess and persuasion approaches. Here are the lessons I learned, and how you can use them as a leader.

- Be yourself. Governor Palin was warm and down to earth. I must believe this is really her. She smiled talked normally - mispronunications, verbal habits (i.e. "also") and all. Senator Biden got emotional at one point when speaking about his family, and shared from his extensive experience in the Senate.

When speaking to a group, be yourself. Don't try to be "like" someone else as a speaker. Find your own voice and be authentic.

- Play to your strengths. Both candidates played to their relative strengths and it helped them communication more successfully.

Know what your strengths are and use them as a communicator. Talk to your experience and speak from your unique perspective and you will be more persuasive.

- Make eye contact. Governor Palin was exceptional at at looking into the camera - the closest thing she could do to looking viewers in the eye. Eye contact matters. Both candidates looked at their notes at different times, but not often while they were speaking.

In groups of 1 or 100,000, make eye contact - it builds connection, understanding and trust.

- Be clear on your core message. Both candidates had specific things they wanted to emphasize, and they made sure that they made those points.

A clear purpose coupled with repetition will help you communicate more effectively and efficiently.

- Answer the question. On this count, neither candidate did exceptionally well, but candidates seldom do in these sorts of events. In general, audience perception either or both would have one better if they had answered the questions they were asked directly.

People ask questions because they want to know the answer. As a speaker or leader we must make sure we understand the question, answer it, and make sure people understand our answer. To do less reduces our effectiveness and ability to persuade.

These are five lessons from the vice presidential debate. I encourage you to think about how you can apply these lessons,and to watch the remaining Presidential debates, looking for lessons and ways to become a more effective communicator yourself.


Also posted in Leadership.

Labels: Biden, communication, Palin, persuasion, Vice Presidential Debate

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Leaders know that communication is one of their most important jobs. Often I find leaders who know this and yet don't do it nearly enough. At the heart of this knowledge and skills gap is a critical question.

What do I need to communicate?

Often leaders say, "I've already told them that, sent the email, gave the presentation." While this may be true, not only do these communications need to be repeated, but often what is being communicated is the wrong thing, or at the wrong time.

Here is a simple rule of thumb:

Communicate why before how, and don't switch too soon.

In most organizations and teams the "why" is missing. When the why is strong enough, the how will be figured out. Besides, if you are trying to empower your organization, as a leader you probably need to spend less time on how anyway.

Focus more of your communication and conversation on why and less on how.

Also posted on Leadership.

Labels: communication

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It is October so it has become natural in the past few years to notice lots of pink (silly me, I thought October was autumn, so I used to think of browns and oranges during this month).

But The Susan G. Koman for The Cure (of breast cancer) organization has done an amazing job of enrolling people, companies and organizations in supporting their cause and they seem to now own the color pink and the month of October.

I've noticed pink towels for NFL Football teams (the towels were all signed and then sold at auction), a pink edition of Deal or No Deal - where the contestant was a breast cancer survivor, and this morning, pink Campbell's Soup at my grocery store (here is a link to that story from a year ago).

All of this thinking of the pinking of our products and services leaves me with several lessons for all of us.

• Branding is incredibly powerful for any business or cause.
• You can brand your message with anything, including a color (beyond pink, think UPS and brown).
• The color pink will (continue to) help cure breast cancer.

But since this isn't a marketing blog, let me connect all of this branding talk to leadership.

We as leaders can take lessons from great brands. For example:

• We communicate more powerfully when are messages are consistent.
• We communicate more powerfully when we connect our core message to something memorable.
• We communicate more powerfully when we communicate frequently.

Think about great brands the next time you have an important message to communicate (which is probably now) and think of these lessons the next time you see pink.

Also posted in Leadership.

Labels: communication

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That was the title of the sermon J.K. Jones gave at Traders Point Christian Church yesterday. While in this post I won't include the scripture references, I believe the five points he made are extremely relevant to all of us as leaders, team members, and professionals (and as human beings).

He suggests asking these five questions regularly:

Are my words true?
Are my words helpful?
Are my words inspiring?
Are my words necessary?
Are my words kind?

If you take the first letter from the key word in each question: true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, kind; you get THINK.

Asking these questions, and adjusting our actions accordingly will make us better communicators, better team members, better leaders . . . and better at just about anything else you can think of.

In short, words matter, so THINK.

Also posted in Customer Service, Leadership, Learning, Teamwork and Training.

Labels: communication

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Note: This is a post in the brand new Remarkable Leadership Book blog. I post it here to whet your appetite for some of the things you will find there in the future . . .

This week in my Unleash Your Potential newsletter, I wrote an article titled, Preparing a More Powerful Presentation. (This article by the way will be available to readers of the book as a Bonus Byte - one of over 50 additional resources available online to supplement and add value to the reader's experience and use of the book). As a response to the article a colleague of mine, Marc Shiman, sent a note suggesting these questions to use in preparation for any presentation. I loved them and thought they meshed well with what I had written, so here they are for your use:

• Ask yourself the question "What is their (your audience) pain?" This is obviously the problem you are trying to help them solve.


• Now look at your first few slides. Do they address your audience's pain or are they about you?


• We also talk about OUR goals when we make a presentation. What about our audience's goals?

All three of these questions help us get to the heart of communication which we often forget in preparing for a presentation - that our purpose is first and foremost about our audience and helping them.

If you want to communicate more powerfully in any situation, focus on the audience and their needs first.

Also posted in Leadership.

Labels: communication, preparation, presentation skills, Remarkable Leadership

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To be the most effective as a communicator, it is our responsibility to communicate in ways that work for the other person. We must become adept at seeing the other person's perspective, their skills and their style. One of the best short pieces I've read recently on this truth was written by Guy Harris (who calls himself the Recovering Engineer) this week.

This communication truth applies to us in all areas of our communication - in working with Customers, leading others, being a part of a team and more.

His article really hit home for me, and I believe it will for you too. It is titled Speaking Their Language, and I highly recommend reading it.

Also posted in Customer Service, Leadership, Learning, Teamwork and Training.

Labels: communication

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I am a customer of PhotoReading - a product of Learning Strategies. You can check out my reviews of both the book and the full system as written about in my newsletter, Unleash Your Potential.

I also recently, partnered with Learning Strategies to promote this product to our Powerquotes list . . . which is why I write this post.

A couple of my readers emailed me expressing concern about me "hawking" this product to my list. I replied to these readers with my thanks for their notes and I addressed their concerns.

I wasn't hawking a product, but promoting something I feel is of great value. I wasn't selling it to make a commission, though I will make one. I was sharing the opportunity with people because I see the value and benefits to them. If you are interested in learning more, you can go here.

The lesson for all of us is that it is important that we make our true intentions clear. When we are transparent and truly working from a position of providing value and benefit to the other person, we can't just assume the other person will see this perspective.

As you communicate with others make sure you message and your intent is clear, and you will have much greater success in the communication process and in building the relationship.

Also posted in Customer Service, Leadership, Learning and Training.

Labels: accelerated learning, communication, intention, PhotoReading, selling, speed reading, trust

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