Have you ever had a prospect become non-responsive right before you close the sale? Have you ever experienced a failure and wondered how you could’ve prevented it? You can avoid the potential paralysis of these situations by leveraging three forms of reasoning. I’m not a scholar of classic rhetoric and I don’t pretend to be one on […]
This past election cycle brought out the worst in many of us, including the candidates, at times. One observation I had is the candidate’s use of rhetoric to persuade. One logical fallacy they both used was presenting opinion as truth. The truth may hurt, but unchecked opinions can mislead. Both Hillary and Trump (as well as the […]
My student pulled me aside during our break to ask me a coaching question with regard to her recent classroom presentation. “When I was speaking, did you notice anything peculiar about how I was speaking?” When my students present for the first time, I often pick up on distractions in speech or body language, but doing […]
The salesman at my front door held out the vile and said, “Fill this with some water from your tap and I’ll show you what you’re drinking.” The football game wasn’t on for another 20 minutes so I was game. I also had a question in my head, “What am I drinking!?” After returning the tap […]
“Can you help our engineers with their presentations? They’re horrible! They always bombard us with too much data.” I’ve been asked this question countless times by business leaders who sit through presentations from their engineering teams. The complaint is that the presentations include way too much data and detail. What needs to be done? There’s a […]
In every Corporate Ovations workshop I deliver, I ask my students, “How many of you want me to show 125 slides full of text, then turn my back and read to you?” It’s no surprise, the response is always zero. Then I ask a follow-up question… “How many of you still see people doing that?” 100% of […]
You’ve heard it before… “Money is the root of all evil.” That is not true. In fact, contrary to popular belief, the Bible never says that either! What the Bible actually says is “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10) (my emphasis added) Why is this subtle difference in […]
In the world of Star Wars, lightsabers are neither good nor evil. They are simply tools. But placed in the hands of a Jedi or a Sith, they can be used for either good or evil. And of course, if you place a lightsaber in the unskilled hands of someone like me, you will be taking me […]
Do you remember playing follow the leader as a child? As soon as the first leader was nominated or elected, how did the game begin? It started quite simply with the leader moving. Then everyone else would follow the leader. By definition leaders are not leaders unless they’re going somewhere. If you played follow the leader and the leader never moved, […]
The needs for serving children, single parents, and hard working families in our area continues to grow each year. Working moms looking for affordable after-school care is one of the biggest needs served. I have the pleasure of serving on the Board of Directors for our local YMCA. When I first joined the board I […]
