If you’ve heard this story then you already know the outcome. If you haven’t heard this story, you can probably still guess how it turned out. Our shepherd boy, armed with only a few stones and a sling, was the champion of the day when he defeated the heavily armored and weaponized giant.

According to Malcolm Gladwell, in his book David and Goliath: Underdogs, misfits, and the art of battling giants, the best way to pull off the upset is to play by a different set of rules. In other words, be unconventional.

Do we truly love underdogs?

We love any story that fits the template of this classic tale. The underdog defeats the heavily favored champion! In a 2007 study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the researchers asked 71 participants to imagine two teams.

One was described as a strong champion, most likely to win. The other was described as the underdog. With only knowing the information of who was most favored to win, participants in the study were asked who they would rather see win. The underdog was chosen in every instance.

Or, do we just despise the most likely winners?

There’s seems to be something deep inside us that makes us want to see the underdog win. Or, according to one study by the Baylor College of Medicine, maybe we like to see winners lose because we’re envious of the teams that always win. This phenomena is called schadenfreude. Homer Simpson is a great example of someone who expresses this often.

Regardless of whether it’s a love for the unlikely hero or a joy for seeing the champions struggle, you can’t deny there’s something that attracts us all to the underdog stories. Maybe it’s that we can see ourselves as the underdog in these stories?

When to use this template in business

This type of story is used by leaders to inspire. When the team has to overcome tremendous odds to be successful, they need encouragement to press on. Leaders can use a David-and-Goliath story to give them hope and inspiration. If it’s been done in the past, we can do it now!

I’m not suggesting you tell the actual David-and-Goliath story, but instead, use it as a template to show your audience that nothing is impossible. Show them how their current situation is not impossible. It can be overcome!

How do I pick a story?

The closer your story is in relation to the actual situation they’re facing, the more impact it will have on the audience. In other words, just sharing a college basketball comeback story from March Madness may be exciting, but the audience can easily dismiss the story by saying, “Yeah, but that’s basketball! This is managed IT services we’re talking about here! It’s not the same thing.”

Try to find an underdog victory story that aligns closely with the current situation your team is facing. If it’s a tough business situation where you’d like to use the story, try to find another business story similar in scope. I recommend you use Paul Smith’s book on storytelling if your looking for stories you can use.

How do I structure the story?

The key to any David-and-Goliath story is to make sure your audience can see themselves as David. The audience needs to be invited into the story if you want to generate the feeling of encouragement and inspiration.

1. Give the landscape and characters for the story and do this quickly! This should also include the obvious problem (Goliath) that seems impossible to overcome.
2. Provide the thoughts of the underdog (David) by showcasing two things:
   1. The underdog’s awareness of the challenge and the insurmountable odds he/she is facing.
   2. The hope and faith to try anyway. This should point directly to the reason why it is still worth pursuing.
3. Describe the approach used to solve the problem. What did the underdog do to approach the problem? Remember, history has proven when the underdog wins, they tend to use unconventional methods. What is the unique approach they took? It’s important that this element be something within his/her control. Do NOT let this be a product of pure luck. If it is just a lucky break, your team can easily dismiss this as a fluke which is unlikely to occur again for them.
4. Describe the feeling of victory and what it meant to the team. This is the part of the story that gives the audience the deep sense of satisfaction. It should generate the feeling of a tough victory earned by fighting unconventionally to overcome amazing odds.

It’s time for you to go slay that giant and inspire your team.

Until next time,

Russ

Let’s connect…

on Twitter if we haven’t already?

OR Let’s connect on LinkedIn.

OR Let’s connect via my Facebook page!

iSpeak teaches workshops on Professional Selling to help sales leaders gather the most important data and then use that information to create the right message. Are your sales presentations closing eyelids or deals?

Russ Peterson Jr. is the co-founder and Managing Director of iSpeak, Inc. – An award-winning professional development training company. Russ is a speaker, international trainer, and published author on Professional Sales Communication and Business Communication. He delivers workshops, keynotes, and personal communication coaching services to business professionals in the US and around the world. His leadership blog assists leaders in giving voice to their vision. You can connect with Russ directly through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

It’s two weeks ago and I’m attending a charity dinner as a member of the audience, not the speaker! The guest speaker was with an organization I held in high esteem and I was looking forward to his message. Then he began…

After 4 or 5 minutes of reciting his resume accomplishments and then telling us how the organization planned on spending some of this year’s budget on technology, he paused. I’d have to say, as I looked around the room, the audience was not keenly engaged at this point. It was at this critical moment, he appeared to remember something tangental to the prepared message, and he went off script.

Now, as my wife would be quick to point out, this is pure speculation on my part. But in my defense, I’ve seen and coached a lot of speakers in my career, and in my own personal biased opinion, I can usually tell when my speakers are going off the script with their messages.  

After his pause, he said, “I need to share a story about something that happened about a year ago just so you all can appreciate what we’re dealing with when it comes to a multi-generational workforce and our aging technology.”

He shared an amazing story in a masterful way. He had the audience listening intently and laughing at the ironies of the old and new technology aligned with the older and younger generations. It was magnificent! I couldn’t help but think to myself, “That’s your opening right there!” He did a fantastic job and that’s not just my opinion, that was the audience’s opinion too. You could see it and hear it in their body language and laughter.

The Unsolicited Coach

I’m sure you’ve heard it before, unsolicited feedback usually doesn’t end well… and I would agree! As a speaking coach, I can’t help but take mental notes on any speaker I have the pleasure to hear. Some might say I’m always “judging others” or “Russ, no one will ever want to speak in front of you!”, but I’d argue right back… you’re being a bit pessimistic. I can assure you, most of my mental notes are full of praise for what other speakers do, not criticism.

I’m always humbled by the amazing abilities of other platform speakers. I take so many notes for myself because I want to learn from them. What works with the audience? What did he do to engage the audience? How did that speaker structure the message? Why does she appear so approachable? Why do I feel so inspired right now?

Be a Positive Force

As an audience member, when I leave an event I always try to shake the speaker’s hand and share a few words. I know my words are unsolicited feedback, so I always leave them with the praise and encouragement.

Everyone out there is doing something right… you, him, her, me, all of us. When you’re in the audience, enjoy the message, enjoy the experience, and learn from it. Look for the best parts of the speaker’s delivery and remember something specific.

Then when you leave the assembly, thank the speaker and tell them specifically what they did well. “That was an amazing story you used to parallel the older and younger generation with the older and newer technology. Both the humor and the metaphor had us all engaged. Thanks for sharing that with us.”

Just dropping a “good job” or “I enjoyed your message” is okay, but it’s not as helpful to the speaker. Give them a specific example of something said and why you thought it was so good.

If speakers never get feedback on what worked, they won’t know what to include the next time they speak.

You Have the Power to Impact Future Audiences

When you give your speaker a specific piece of feedback on something that worked well, they will not only learn something about themselves, but you’ll be encouraging them to positively impact future audiences.

So, I challenge you to be a positive force for better communication! The next time you’re in the audience, listen for something done very well and then specifically share that before you leave.

See you next week,

Russ

Let’s connect…

on Twitter if we haven’t already?

OR Let’s connect on LinkedIn.

OR Let’s connect via my Facebook page!

iSpeak teaches workshops on Professional Selling to help sales leaders gather the most important data and then use that information to create the right message. Are your sales presentations closing eyelids or deals?

Russ Peterson Jr. is the co-founder and Managing Director of iSpeak, Inc. – An award-winning professional development training company. Russ is a speaker, international trainer, and published author on Professional Sales Communication and Business Communication. He delivers workshops, keynotes, and personal communication coaching services to business professionals in the US and around the world. His leadership blog assists leaders in giving voice to their vision. You can connect with Russ directly through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you think you don’t have any good stories, maybe you’re not really looking or maybe you don’t really know where to look. Let’s help you with both.

• First, HOW can you become better at looking for stories?
• Second, WHERE is the best place to find the seedling of your next story?

First, Become an Observer

Daniel Kahneman has studied how we all think for most of his career. In his book Thinking Fast and Slow he explains how we all have two systems operating in our minds. He calls them System 1 and System 2. (I can’t help but think of Dr. Seuss and The Cat in the Hat with Thing 1 and Thing 2 every time I read that.)

The world of System 1 is the automatic. It’s in charge of directing your attention and making snap judgements. For example, System 1 is great at driving on a straight and empty highway, noticing a surface is hot when you touch it, or knowing that 2 + 2 = 4. This is the part of our brain that’s always on and always monitoring. It takes care of our day-to-day, mundane habits so we don’t have to bother the big thinker… System 2.

System 2 takes care of the heavy lifting. It gets involved when System 1 has prompted it into action. When you hear a loud “bang!” your System 1 will whip your head around to look. It will also notify System 2 to figure out the source, assess any damage, and figure out what to do next!

When we go through our day on autopilot (System 1 is in the HOUSE!) our System 2 stays calm and relaxed. In fact Kanehman points out that deep down we’re all a bit lazy. It’s hard work to activate System 2 and we don’t like doing it. We tend to select our actions based on the paths of least resistance (“If System 1 can handle it, then just handle it!”).  Because of this, our System 2 tries to stay on the couch all day watching Netflix while System 1 is on the clock.

Second, The Unexpected Source

If you want to train your brain to notice more story sources, start taking notice of where System 1 draws your attention. Your best source for stories is something unexpected. By the way, that’s not a sentence meant to be a cliff-hanger before I tell you the unexpected source. THAT IS the source… the unexpected!

Any time you experience something unexpected, your System 2 will be required to pause BirdBox on Netflix and get off the couch. It’s required to look at the situation because System 1 doesn’t have this one in the playbook. It’s new. It’s different. It’s unexpected. This situation has never been encountered before, so System 1 doesn’t know what to do.

Don’t worry, you’ll do this naturally because we’re all wired this way. System 2 looks at the situation and attempts to make sense or rectify the situation. But it also develops a template for System 1’s future playbook. If System 2 can get the new play into the playbook for System 1… then maybe System 2 can spend more time with Sandra Bullock and Netflix!

This is our brain’s natural learning process. We experience a new situation. We reflect on the situation to learn from it. We file it away in the playbook for future reference.

These unexpected experiences happen all the time and they are the seedlings for your next great story!

Now,… Write it Down!

Here’s the problem… we all know how to handle many of life’s simple situations (filed away in the playbook for System 1’s future use), but if we’re asked, “Where did you learn that?” We might be at a loss because we’ve forgotten. We forgot the original learning experience. Once you experience the unexpected and learn from it, write it down!

A great suggestion from one of our Sr. Trainers, Todd Zwissler, is what he calls the Daily Homework. Each day write down one unexpected thing from your day. If you do this with a digital tool (Apple Notes, Evernote, OneNote), you can include key words or tags so you can easily search your story seedlings in the future.

For example, you might have the following experiences documented for the past three days:

• The VP asked EVERYONE on one side of the dinner table to slide down a little, so I had more room at the end of the table. #leadership #service #courtesy
• Visited Federal Hill in Providence and noticed the Italian colored stripe down the center of the road. #history #Italy #family
• Talked to flight attendant and found out best place for food in Taiwan #travel #cuisine

With these recorded in your Notes tool, you can easily search them later by keyword or tag to find the seedling for your next story.

Here’s my challenge for you… Write down one unexpected thing you experienced today and what you learned from it.

Here’s something you can expect… I’ll see you next week.
Russ

Let’s connect…

on Twitter if we haven’t already?

OR Let’s connect on LinkedIn.

OR Let’s connect via my Facebook page!

iSpeak teaches workshops on Professional Selling to help sales leaders gather the most important data and then use that information to create the right message. Are your sales presentations closing eyelids or deals?R

Russ Peterson Jr. is the co-founder and Managing Director of iSpeak, Inc. – An award-winning professional development training company. Russ is a speaker, international trainer, and published author on Professional Sales Communication and Business Communication. He delivers workshops, keynotes, and personal communication coaching services to business professionals in the US and around the world. His leadership blog assists leaders in giving voice to their vision. You can connect with Russ directly through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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 training class. The tenured Sales Manager had just finished presenting a “What to expect in your first 6 weeks” presentation.

He has several choices for his response. He could offer a laundry list of “to do” items. He could pontificate about how important attitude will be for them. He could also simplify it by boiling it down to a quote from a great sales guru like Zig Ziglar. But, he chose to go a different route. He chose to offer the group something much more memorable.

The Two Paths Story

This template is a simple template which showcases two different individuals on two different paths. The paths are different because of the choices made by each individual. The audience will naturally contrast the choices made, the experience on each path, and the end results.

The first path usually sounds reasonable and right. The choices made fall in line with the choices most reasonable people in that position would make. The audience can relate to the experience.

The second path contains a surprise for the audience. The second path can flip normal thinking on its head. It is the unknown or the unexpected that gets their attention.

The story invites two things:

• The audience will inject themselves into the story. Were they the type who would have chosen the first path? Would they rather be on the second path?
• A comparison between the two paths and the associated outcomes. This is the learning element. It teaches the lesson through the story and since they have already placed themselves into the story, they will remember this lesson far longer than just telling them to do something.

What did the Sales Manager say?

Here’s the story the Sales Manager gave to the new sales representatives so they could learn to focus on the customer instead of just on the products being sold.

It’s interview day 12 years ago and I’m a new Sales Manager doing my first set of interviews. Back then I was working with a different company and we had been given a script on what to ask our sales candidates. One of the questions was actually not even a question. It was a command. At the end of the interview we were instructed to hand our pen to the candidate and tell him or her, “Last thing before you go… sell me this pen.”

The first candidate to hold my pen looked a little confused at my request, but then I could see the confidence come back to his face. He began by pointing out some of the unique features of the pen, like the black and silver styling, which would go with both formal attire and casual. The benefit of that being I will always look good and be prepared to take notes! He continued with a few more Features, Advantages, and Benefits of the pen before closing the sale and asking me if I’d like to buy the pen. Classic FAB selling done very well.

The second interview ended the same way, with me handing over my pen. This time I got a longer, more puzzled look at first. She thought for a moment, offered a half smile that verged on a smirk and she raised her eyes to meet mine. Her next comment surprised me. “Why do you want to look at pens today?” For the next 5 minutes, she continued using questions to uncover my need. She successfully uncovered the pain I was trying to eliminate with the purchase of a pen. I had self-diagnosed my need for a pen to solve my issue, but before she began selling me anything, she wanted to uncover the problem I was trying to solve.

You might be thinking the second candidate got the job while the first didn’t and you’d be wrong. They both got the job. But within 2 years, the first candidate was reporting to the 2nd candidate. What she did differently was focus on customer’s need and not the product we’re selling.

You want advice on how to be successful in your new role? Focus on the customer, not the product.

Why does this story template work?

Our brains love to play games and the two paths create a simple game of comparison for the audience to play. You’ve been playing this game since you were very young. If you used to watch Sesame Street on PBS (am I showing my age?) then you remember the little sequence called “Which of these kids is doing his own thing?” Since a very early age, we’ve all loved to compare items to each other to see what we can learn.

If you can provide a comparison game for your audience, along with a lesson to be learned, they will love it! It’s much more memorable than just telling them to focus on customers more than products.

I challenge you to try the two paths story this week! Let me know how it goes.

Until next week,
Russ

Let’s connect…

on Twitter if we haven’t already?

OR Let’s connect on LinkedIn.

OR Let’s connect via my Facebook page!

iSpeak teaches workshops on Professional Selling to help sales leaders gather the most important data and then use that information to create the right message. Are your sales presentations closing eyelids or deals?R

Russ Peterson Jr. is the co-founder and Managing Director of iSpeak, Inc. – An award-winning professional development training company. Russ is a speaker, international trainer, and published author on Professional Sales Communication and Business Communication. He delivers workshops, keynotes, and personal communication coaching services to business professionals in the US and around the world. His leadership blog assists leaders in giving voice to their vision. You can connect with Russ directly through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The audience was loud and boisterous as they funneled out of the convention center. Their final speaker for the day left them all inspired and chattering about possibilities. “We could start by talking to our customers and ask them!” Then someone else responded, “I think we should figure out how we could scale this beyond North America!” They were all working on building a new future.

This moment of inspiration and collaboration was created by an average speaker using a powerful tool. She didn’t deliver her story with the sights and sounds of an entertainer, nor did she use eloquent words like Hemingway. Instead, she used an often overlooked, but powerful tool for creating inspired audiences.

This tool is part of the Corporate Storytelling arsenal and it can be used by anyone. It involves three main elements: The Setup, The Failure, The Possibility.

The Setup

This first phase introduces the audience to a success from the past. While I wasn’t there when Steve Jobs asked the engineers at Apple to start working on the iPod, we can use the technology as an example since I’m sure you’re all familiar with the iPod. I can picture his setup going something like this…

The problem for music lovers has always been twofold, portability and choice. We all want to take our music selections with us. Portability was first solved with the 8-track tape in cars and the cassette tape in a walkman. But the choice was limited with either program buttons or a linear rewind to get to the song you wanted. The CD was invented and solved both issues. Now you had portability and direct access to the exact song you wanted.

The Failure

At this point in the story, the audience is tracking with the speaker. They’re actually waiting for the fork in the road. There’s been nothing but a description of a landscape so far. This feels like a simple history lesson. What’s the issue here? In the example we’re using with the iPod, the audience of Apple engineers is waiting for the problem. If we have portability and direct access… then what’s the big deal?

This is when the speaker drops the problem on the audience. It’s a moment when the audience will choose to either get on board or discount the issue completely. Back to our fictitious Steve Jobs springboard message, it may have gone something like this…

But now there’s a new problem… the music lover wants more. One minute I’m in the mood for Van Halen, but the next I want to hear Neil Diamond or Katy Perry. I never know what music my mood will request so now my challenge is the quantity of CDs I need to carry. The solution can’t be more suitcases for holding 100 CDs. Why can’t this quantity issue be solved with technology? 

Boom. The failure (problem or opportunity) has been identified. Now the audience is thinking something like “It shouldn’t be that way.” or “We could fix that.” or “Why haven’t we already started working on this already?”

The Possibility

Without overdramatizing the delivery, I’d recommend the speaker gives the audience a healthy pause right here. Now there’s only one step left for the speaker. Give the audience the prompt they need to get started on the issue.

The verbal prompt will tap into the audience’s imagination. This is the fertile playground in the brain for taking action. All humans love games and puzzles. We like to work on creating something. This third step doesn’t need to be lengthy or dramatic. It’s just the prompt to get started. Back to Steve Jobs…

Isn’t that what we do? We improve life with technology. We can solve this. Just imagine a day when a jogger can carry over 10,000 songs in her hand while running and still be able to call up the exact song she wants to close out the race strong. I can’t wait to meet you there on that day.

While some may feel the speaker should provide the answer, the vision, the ending to the story… that won’t always be the most effective with the audience if the goal is to move them into action. When the speaker leaves the possibility hanging in the air without a solid path to get there, the audience will take ownership and begin to build that bridge.

And when the audience builds the bridge to that possible future, they are much more likely to buy into the overall strategy and vision. They are co-creating the strategic plan as they leave.

“ … the question becomes: how is a CEO to make effective use of storytelling? —STEPHEN DENNING

Steve Jobs was known by many as a great presenter, speaker and storyteller. While my Steve Jobs iPod example above is purely fictional, I certainly hope it does his memory justice. We all know a great storyteller in our life. Let’s all learn from them and inspire the world to imagine a better future.

As we wrap up this blog post, I just have one question for you…

What kind of future could you help create by inspiring your team with story?

See you next week,
Russ

What is the most exciting part of any story? What’s the one thing that creates movement in a story? How do Hollywood directors like Spielberg and Howard make it impossible to look away? They do it by creating a sense of flow in the storyline. This sense of flow can be created with many techniques, but it’s most often done with this one simple tool…

Decisions! Remember… “No Decisions = No Movement.” If there is nothing for the main character to consider or decide, then we’re really just looking at a landscape. It’s like looking at a picture or a painting of a lake with some trees. There’s no decision to be made. There’s no movement. It’s still. It could be beautiful, but there is no movement. If your goal is to create movement in the audience, then you’ve got to present more than just a beautiful landscape.

We Love the Fork In the Road

Think about it… when someone is giving you information, you’re waiting for the decision moment. If someone were to say, “I left my house around 8:30 and started driving toward town. I passed several busses, a few trucks, and some cars on my way. There had to be at least 5 stoplights I had to sit through. It was fairly cloudy too. The sun wasn’t shining at all.”

I think your eyes would be glazing over as you’re wondering, “Exactly where is this tale is going anyway?” If he stopped talking right there you’d probably respond by saying, “…and then what?” You’re waiting for something else in the story, but what is it? You’re waiting for the fork in the road! That’s the moment. That’s the catalyst you need to move this story along!

A fork in the road is the one critical moment when something unexpected happens and the main character is forced to make a decision. Stories don’t get exciting until the main character is forced to make a decision.

For us to connect with a story, we need to place ourselves in the story. As audience members, one of the most common ways we do this is by focusing on the decisions a main character is faced with. Then, we immediately start thinking, “What would I do in that situation?” NOW you’ve engaged your audience.

Make it a Tough Choice

As a speaker, you can’t just present any fork in the road and expect your audience to stay engaged. The decision to be made must be something out of the ordinary. The choice needs to be difficult. If it’s an easy answer to select, it won’t compel the audience to engage. But when it’s a tough choice, we’ll start to think, “Now… what would I do?”

Think about your next presentation. Do you want your data to tell a story? Then paint the scene with the data but take the audience to the fork in the road. This is where the decision needs to be made. What is the data telling you? Does the data present options to choose from? Which direction should we go in? What makes the most sense for our next step? What are the decisions you and the audience need to make? Why these choices? Why now? Why us?

The tougher the decision, the more compelling and engaging the message. When we have no idea what we would do and we’re waiting to see what our speaker suggests, we’re engaged!

Don’t Forget the Risk

Some of your friends are great storytellers and you love to hear them spin a yarn. Others… maybe not so much. While there are many techniques for telling better stories, presenting decisions (forks in the road) is one of the most fundamental tools and also one of the most effective. If you want to make your decisions even more compelling, make sure you expose the risk in either choice.

In other words, show the potential consequences if either of the decisions doesn’t turn out well. What is at stake here? What is the risk and what is the consequence if this choice goes South on us?

“ Choices with consequences create movement in stories.

This is what we love about movies like Die Hard, Star Wars, or Raiders of the Lost Ark. Our heroes are placed in impossible situations and they need to make a choice. What is your next move? How will you play this? What is at risk if you choose wrong? I’m reminded of C3-PO in the Star Wars movies constantly offering the odds of survival in every dire situation.

How risky is the choice to Han Solo? 34 million to 1 (nearly impossible)

What is the consequence if you choose wrong? Death

Talk about making the audience aware of the risk in a decision! We’re drawn to watch the “high-risk, high-consequence” forks in the road.

How can you apply this in business?

I’m not asking you to overdramatize your business presentations, but if you want your data to tell a story, take a lesson from Spielberg. You need to create forks in the road. What are the tough decisions in your message? Tell the audience what you decided on and where that decision took you next.

Every fork in the road… every decision to be made… when tied to the level of risk and the consequence if you’re wrong, will create movement in your stories.

Now go let your data tell a story!

Until next week…

Russ

Have you ever thought about leaving your current job? Have you ever switched jobs just to find out you’re back in the same situation again? There is always an inherent risk in making a job change. Will you be better off? Or, should you just stay where you are for now? Is there any way to know for certain before you make the switch?

My Student’s Wake-Up Call

Jerry stepped to the front of my classroom and began sharing his story. He was a student in my storytelling workshop.

Jerry was at home working on his laptop and preparing for his next trip to the airport. Both of his daughters approached him holding a piece of paper close to their chest. “Daddy we drew you a picture!” He finished typing his email and then looked up from his laptop with a smile, “You did? Show it to me!”

The two girls proudly laid the picture on his lap and began to explain the picture. “This is me.” quickly followed by “And THIS is me!” They were both competing for his attention. Then they added, “And here’s you Daddy.” His smile began to fade as he gazed at the portrayal of his family through his children’s eyes. The picture needed no further explanation from his daughters. Jerry was speechless.

On one side of the drawing his daughters were standing with his wife by the house. On the other end of the page Jerry was standing next to an airplane with a computer and a suitcase, waving back to his family as he left for another business trip. There was something about the picture that struck a deep chord inside.

It was a realization of the life he was missing when he was gone. It was a picture of how his daughter’s would remember their life with him as they were growing up. It was the realization he would never get this time back again… ever. It was the forecasted pain of his future self looking back on a life full of business success but always wondering if he had failed at home.

In his own heart and mind, he wondered which was the most important right now. At this point in his life… where can he make the greatest impact? Is it with his family? Is it at work and in business? Is it possible to impact both? In the end, he knew he needed to make a very tough decision.

Finally Happy?

That day he turned in his resignation and began looking for another job, closer to home and with less travel. Luckily as a consultant with great relationships, it didn’t take long. Within a few weeks he ended up working for one of his consulting clients. Why didn’t he make this change before? Was he finally in the place where he’d be happy?

Nope.

While this job had much less travel and afforded him more time at home, he found himself dissatisfied at work. He felt like he was just going through the motions. That unsettled feeling came over him again. He couldn’t shake it. Once again, Jerry began looking for a new career opportunity. It was time for another change, but this time he’d approach the decision more methodically.

Jerry took more time to define his own professional skill set, the challenges he enjoys, all in a position with little travel required. That’s how he ended up with the job he has now and he couldn’t be happier.

As he finished up his story, he paused for a moment. Then he shared the moral of his story with us all. Everything Jerry learned from this experience could be boiled down to one question we can all use to predict our future satisfaction.

The One Question To Predict Your Future Satisfaction

While none of us has a crystal ball, we’d all like to make better choices and avoid the bad ones. Here’s the one question we can all use to do just that. It’s so simple, but yet so profound.

Are you running away or running toward?

With Jerry’s first move he realized he wasn’t running toward a better life and career choice. He was only running away from his current situation. This became clear to him when he lost all job satisfaction in his new role and he started to question his first move. Jerry knew his career and family satisfaction required him to run toward a better tomorrow, not just run away from his current situation.

If you’re jumping into a new role because you’re trying to escape your current situation, you may find a life boat for now, but you may not be satisfied for long. Imagine if you were on a sinking ship, you’d gladly jump into any life boat just to get away. But after a few weeks on the open sea in a small life boat, you’d be ready jump again!

The Point is This…

If your primary motivation is to run away from something, you may end up in a less-than-ideal destination. True… it could serve as a life boat, but is that really what you want? You’ll take just about anything when you’re just trying to get away.

But, if you’re running toward something, something that truly inspires you, something that gives you purpose, then you’re moving in the right direction.

Don’t live a life just running away. Live a life running toward!

Still trying to run toward…

See you next week,
Russ

I asked my workshop students what they wanted to gain from the class. The first student responded with,  “I want to be a more engaging speaker!” My initial response was delivered with a smile and a wink, “Don’t we all!” Of course, we certainly covered that topic in our class. To many peoples’ surprise, it’s not as difficult as you might think… but it does take some planning.

Here are three simple ways you can engage any audience with your messages.

Engage with Solid Arguments

Whatever you propose to your audience needs to make sense. If your recommendation is not backed by experience or research, the audience may find your proposal illogical. If it doesn’t make sense, they won’t agree to it.

Creating solid arguments just means you provide the answer first (executives love this) and then the supporting data; or you provide your thought process which logically leads to your conclusion (answer last.) Either way, there needs to be agreement with you on how you came to your conclusion and your proposed solution.

One simple tool used by speakers is the “What-Why-How” tool to construct the body of their message.

WHAT – is the situation you’re currently facing. Make certain you can paint this picture as less than ideal.

WHY – should we make a change? This should include the costs of not doing anything. Just leaving things as the status quo is going to be unacceptable. What is there to gain by changing the current situation? It’s important to get their emotional buy in here.

HOW – can we get it done? This is where you need to offer the logical solution to the situation.

Engage their Imagination

You know this is true, you love when a speaker paints pictures in your mind. It’s so attractive to an audience we will sometimes get caught up in the imagery and time seems to slip by. Building a tapestry of elements attractive to the mind’s eye can take a skilled orator and years of practice… or you can use this one short cut:

Just tell your audience to “Imagine if…” or “picture this for me…” and you are on your way. I know it sounds to simple, but it actually works. When you tell someone to picture something or imagine something, they will.

We relate to ideas and concepts we can picture. If we can’t picture the concept of your proposal itself, get us to picture the outcomes of your proposal. What would it look like if we succeeded? Help them create a future in their minds and you just became more engaging!

Engage their feelings

It’s true you’ll remember how someone made you feel even more than what someone said to you. Feelings are always a part of any decision we make. In fact, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio made an interesting discovery while working with people who had damaged brains. The area of their brain which was damaged controlled emotions. They could not feel any emotions. Here is something interesting about the group. They were unable to make decisions.

If you want to move your audience toward a decision, you will need to engage their feelings! One of the best ways to do that is with a story. You’ve seen plenty of speakers use stories to entertain and engage audiences. Stories are one fo the best ways we engage feelings because we can all relate to the story being told. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that stories require us to use our imaginations too!

Just do this one thing…

You can really boil down all of this advice into one simple tip. If you want to be an engaging speaker, just give the audience what they came for! When the audience gets what they want, they will love you. It will require a little more work on your part, but it will pay huge dividends in results and your audience will love you for your preparation!

Always give the audience what they came for!

See you next week,
Russ

“Our executives don’t want us to tell stories.” After the student made the comment another jumped in, “No way! He’s right! You don’t ever want to tell a story to our executives. They hate stories.” I found the response a little sad and the worst part… this wasn’t the first time I’d heard something like this.

These types of comments tell me something about the company and the executives. It tells me they’re creating a culture of mis-led communicators and unfortunately, it’s only going to get worse for the executives.

The Demands of an Executive

I’ve sold to executives and I’ve coached them. I’ve had the distinct honor and privilege to meat some amazing ones! Why do I think they’re amazing? Because they understand how to change a situation permanently by fixing a problem instead of a symptom.

When you’re presenting to your executives, have they put rules in place? You know what I mean. Have the executives outlawed certain types of presentations or certain tools? I’ve heard plenty of these rules from students over the past 20 years.

• Never tell stories to the executives when presenting. It’s a waste of their time.
• Never use animations in a powerpoint presentation. It’s childish and demeaning to executives.
• Never use more than 4 slides for your presentation. You’ll end up taking too much time.
• Put everything you want to say on one slide. This will prevent you from wasting executive time.
• Always give the executive summary at the start. This way the executive can drill down on their personal areas of interest.

I guess what bothers me with wet-blanket rules like this is two-fold:  Number one, they’re just solving a symptom at best. Number two, the executives actually think they’re solving the problem but they’re actually perpetuating the problem by creating an army of presentation foot-soldiers who only know how to present a message one way.  They’re not being taught to think for themselves on how best to construct a message for any audience in any situation for any reason!

The Problem with the Quick-Fix

In reality, when executives are dissatisfied with the presentations being given to them, instead of focusing on how to develop the communication skills of the presenters, they go for the quick fix based on what they personally like and don’t like.

If the executives get burned a few times by presenters using too many animations for the wrong reasons, they will ban all animations.

If the executives get burned by someone using 47 jam-packed slides full of text for a 10-minute presentation, they ban anything more than 3 slides for a 10-minute presentation.

If they’ve been burned by one presenter telling a funny story to kick off a presentation because he read somewhere you should start with a joke, they ban all stories from future presentations.

These all fix a symptom, not the problem.

Let me ask you something…

If a chef puts way too much salt in your food and it tastes awful, would you ban the chef from ever using salt again when cooking for you?

Or would you tell the chef they can only use one teaspoon of salt no matter what he’s cooking?

Or would you tell the chef she could only put the salt in first, but never again after that?

Or…

The Proper Solution

Would you train up the chef to know the best times to use salt in a recipe and how much salt to use depending on the meal being prepared?

If you really care about fixing the issue then… solve the problem not the symptom!

Have a great week,
Russ

After the conference one of your friends poses the question, “Which keynote speaker did you like the best?” As soon as one person answers everyone else immediately jumps in and says, “YES! Me too! She was so good. Why do you suppose we all loved her so much more than the others?”

I can tell you one thing she probably did… She engaged your brain!

What exactly does “engage their brains” mean? It simply means this… keep their minds working with things they love to do. Now there are different ways to keep their minds busy. Remember, there’s a reason why reading a dictionary vs. watching the next Mission Impossible movie feels different. One of these would be difficult to do for even 10 minutes while the other can be done for over 2 hours and it seemed like 10 minutes!

So there’s got to be more to it than just keeping their brains busy. We have to look at how you’re keeping their brains busy. What are you asking their brains to do? Pick the right tasks and you can be more engaging too!

How can we engage their brains?

The best way to do this is to make the entire experience engaging! We do this by engaging different regions of their brains. Remember, don’t make these into huge engagements like the grand finale of a fireworks show. Most of these techniques are extremely subtle, but they’re still quite effective.

Here are 5 techniques you can use to engage your audience’s brains throughout your message.

1. Say the words “imagine…” or “picture this…”

I know, I know… this one sounds too simple! It’s crazy how effective this technique is with an audience. But just picture this… a speaker is on the stage. You’re in the audience listening. She pauses for a moment of silence as she looks down and away. Then her gaze comes back up to the audience and she says, “Will you all do me a favor? I want you to imagine something. Think about…”

When someone tells us to imagine, we immediately warm up our imagination to picture whatever she is about to tell us to imagine. That creative, imaginative part of our brain is quickly put to work. Creating scenery in our minds is something we’re good at and it’s something we love to do. By the way… did you see how I started this explanation by asking you to picture the speaker on stage? Engaging right?  

2. Offer one line of dialogue

My manager popped his head in my office and asked me, “Hey Dave, would you have any additional headcount to support the Alpha project this quarter?”

This is an example of dialogue. When the speaker is actually quoting someone else, but they deliver it to the audience as if we’re all (audience included) hearing this line delivered for the very first time. It’s as if it’s being performed LIVE for us to relive the actual moment with the speaker. Our imaginations will create a scene in our minds as we watch the scene unfold. We construct that scene so quickly we don’t even know we’re doing it. It’s fun. It’s easy. We love doing it. It’s engaging!

3. Propose a tough question

But what happens if we invest in this upgrade and 18 months later, the software is obsolete? Is it worth the risk to save thousands next year?

Our brains love to solve problems. We love doing it on our own because we gain a sense of accomplishment, but if we can’t solve the problem on our own, we want someone to help solve it with us to remove the internal tension. Think about it. You know this is true. When someone proposes a really tough trivia question and you don’t know the answer, it can drive you crazy if you don’t know the answer. Luckily today we just turn to Google or Siri for the answer. Wa-LAH! Tension is gone! Give your audience a tough question to wrestle with to engage their problem-solving brain. Then lead them with your message to your proposed solution.

4. Generate a feeling

I’m sure you’ve heard it before. This quote is credited to Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” I can prove this is true. Think about the 5 most memorable experiences in your life. I certainly hope there were more than 5, but we don’t have all day. Just pick five. Now… can you recall a feeling from each one?

Sharing stories or experiences can help generate both positive and negative feelings in your audience. They will remember how they felt when you finish speaking. As you saw in last week’s blog, we use feelings from memorable moments to reconstruct each memory. Engage them with a feeling you want them to have walking away… excitement, anxiety, fear, pride, confidence.

5. Give them candy for their 5 senses

We don’t like to just hear a story… we want to experience it! The way we experience a story in our mind is with our mind’s senses. When we hear someone talk about a loud clang or a bright flash of light, we use our mind’s ear and our mind’s eye, respectively, to internally recreate the sound or the sight. The regions of our brain that handle actual sound and sight are stimulated even when we are just imagining them through a recreation in our mind!

If you want to engage the audience’s brain, then describe parts of your story with words that will stimulate their senses.

• The sandpaper feel of grandpa’s hands.
• The warm sweet aroma of apples and cinnamon.
• The loud tinging clash of the metal frame falling.
• The salty taste of the ocean.
• The yellow-orange haze of dawn over the meadow.

I’m not asking you to turn your next business presentation into story time, but I am challenging and encouraging you to stimulate their brains. The audience wants a logical presentation but they also want to love the journey.

Engage their brains!

Have a great week,
Russ