3 Tools to Crystalize Your Message

student handshake

My student gave me one final comment as she was exiting my workshop. She said, “My biggest takeaway from today? Less is more. I won’t forget that.” She smiled and shook my hand as I thanked her for her participation and insights. When you’re the speaker, you’re trying to achieve an objective when you speak. […]

Has your leader used the “two paths” story to teach?

pen interview

How to teach a lesson by offering two alternatives The new hire stood to be better heard, “If you were to give us any advice on how to be successful in our new sales role, what would you tell us?” The young woman had raised her hand on the first day of the sales new-hire […]

One Question That Can Change Your Life

Do you really want to improve? Try this...

Catalyst 2018 Groeschel Lysa Hodges

My wife and I were both excited to attend the leadership conference! The lineup of speakers included one of my favorites and one of my wife’s favorites.  I was amped to hear from Craig Groeschel on topics like leading change and building systems. My wife was most excited about Lysa Terkeurst and her talk on […]

Failure doesn’t teach a lesson without this…

The Best Way to Turn Failure Into Learning

Midway game gorilla

My son had his eyes set on the biggest stuffed animal, but throwing the balls into the basket was not going to be as easy as it appeared. After three failed attempts at tossing the balls he looked up at me and said, “I want to try again.” I could see where this was going. […]

4 Tools for Telling Better Stories

and why audiences will love them!

campfire storytelling leadership presentation skills

I’ve always enjoyed sharing stories when I speak. Unfortunately, when I started telling stories over 25 years ago, they weren’t nearly as engaging as they are today. I know I’ve still got plenty of room to improve, but you can trust me when I say, they’ve gotten much better! This is thanks to the generous […]

One Thing Coaching Can’t Fix

Are you a Fixed or Growth-Minded Person?

Man in suit

Dan finished his presentation in my workshop and now he’s looking at me for feedback. My first suggestion is to limit his caged-lion pacing back and forth. His immediate response, “Oh, I know I do that. That’s just me. Everybody knows I do that. It helps me think when I’m moving.” For Dan, I could tell, […]

How the best leaders make change “stick”

What can you do to make sure they don't lose it?

67 Ford engine

I saw my son walking out to the garage one evening. I said, “Hey, where you going?” He replied, “I’m going to change out the distributor on my car.” Just so you know, it was obvious he didn’t learn that skill from me! I’m good to change your oil, but anything involving a wrench on the car […]

One powerful secret speakers use to captivate you

...but you've probably never noticed

Peter Pan float in parade

The Disney World attendant reached out her hand toward my crying son and said, “Russell… will you come with me please?” Earlier we had asked about getting Peter Pan’s autograph and we were told he would not be signing autographs today, but he would be in the parade down Main Street USA. Peter Pan was […]