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

Imagine each of these… you’re covered in mud and rolled in feathers, a baseball balanced on top of an upside down cup, you’re watching a dog swim from a goggle-wearing, breath-holding position under the water. All of these things took a split second for you to imagine. You’re good at this!

Of course you’re good at this. We all are! We don’t have any trouble imagining any of these things because their physical and they’re familiar.

We’re Experts at Imagining the Physical

We’ve experienced feathers, baseballs and swimming dogs before. So we can imagine these things quickly. In fact, you can even use your imagination of the real world to predict the future.

For example, imagine the baseball sitting on top of an upside down cup. Then imagine someone stands up from the table too quickly and he bumps the table with his leg. Everything on the table shakes and wobbles. What happened to the baseball?

If you imagined it shaking a bit and maybe even rolling off the top of the cup, you were predicting the future. You were playing a little game our brains love and we call it the “what if…” game. This game is actually a vital part of our success to remain at the top of the food chain. All because we can accurately predict cause and effect.

So, What’s the Hard Part?

Now try to imagine these things… imagine time passing, imagine love, imagine assertiveness, and imagine strategic initiative. Did you find this exercise a little more difficult? We all find this more difficult because we can’t actually imagine the thing itself. It’s too abstract. What you probably did in your mind was to imagine something physical and then adjusted it toward the abstract.

For example, when I said “Imagine time passing” you may have done the Twilight Zone thing and imagined an analog clock face with the hands of the clock spinning around. Or maybe you imagined a person sitting somewhere bored with their head in their hands as the time passed by ever so slowly. Either way, you imagined something more concrete and then adjusted it toward the abstract.

The tricky part for all of us is to try and imagine the abstract. That is difficult! And, this is where I’ve seen presenters and speakers drop the ball. They never provide the audience with assistance interpreting the abstract.

Don’t Burden the Audience!

When speakers deliver abstract and conceptual ideas, the audience will do their best to interpret and imagine it. But, if the speaker never gives a concrete or physical example for understanding the abstract, we will try to create that model ourself. That’s hard work!

The more complex or abstract an idea is, the harder it is for the audience to conceptualize it in a way that helps them understand, remember, and apply it to the future. When speakers don’t provide us with analogies or metaphors to assist us in our conceptualization, we get tired. It’s hard work! In fact, sometimes it gets so difficult to interpret the idea into something more useful than just words and we just quit!

So, What’s the Problem?

Everyone will create their own image of understanding. In fairness, there’s both good and bad in this reality. The GOOD is that each person in the audience will create a unique image to understand, remember and use your concept. If you want creative solutions, this is fantastic! Once you share your idea, you’ll gain a plethora of new ideas from everyone else because they each interpret the concept in their own unique way.

The BAD of the situation is actually the same thing… everyone will have their own idea on what you shared. If the goal of the presentation is to get everyone on the same page, you might be missing the mark. So, what can you do as a speaker to help your audience get on the same page when you need to share an abstract or conceptual idea?

Give them a Metaphor!

Knowing that each person in your audience is skilled in imagining physical items and manipulating those items with cause and effect to predict the future, we can provide our audiences with a metaphor to understand our abstract idea. I’m sure you’ve seen speakers do this before…

“Just like FedEx revolutionized overnight shipping with better logistics, we’re going to revolutionize custom furniture design.”

“A stool with three legs can stand. A stool with only two legs is much more likely to topple over. Our approach to this project will only work with all 3 regions in support.”

“Our plan is like a series of river tributaries all flowing into the Mississippi. We will take the strategic ideas from each region and mold them into one plan for the entire organization. But, just like a river flows in one direction, all our ideas will need to align for us to reach our ultimate corporate goal.”

Saying goodbye until next week is like eating your last scoop of ice cream and knowing you can’t get more at the store until next week…

See you next week,
Russ

Ever wonder what your audience thinks of you? Have you tried your best to read their body language and facial expressions? What do they really think of you? Do they see you as an expert? Do they know you’re not? Can they see you’re nervous? The questions they ask might be your best clue. Here’s why…

3 Types of Requests from Your Audience

My good friend Sara Canaday wrote an insightful book (You According to Them) on how the world perceives you. She goes into amazing depth on the styles of communicators and what your style says about a you. I highly recommend you add it to your reading list!

From what I’ve personally discovered from public speaking, there are three types of questions you’ll get from your audience. Each type of request is a snapshot into how this person perceives you.

Here’s an exercise you can do the next time you speak. Listen to the types of questions you’re asked and document them all. Then, place each question into one of the following 3 buckets. If you get a large majority of questions in one bucket, it should tell you something about how your audience sees you.

1. They Question Your Data

What were the numbers last quarter? How did you calculate that? What were the numbers in the SouthEast Region? This is when your audience asks you to provide numbers on a dashboard for the project you’ve been working on. Just the report card from tracking the data. You’re asked to compile the records, sum the information, and consolidate it all into one report. Then, as you present your dashboard slide, the audience asks questions about the numbers.

The Audience sees you as…

A MESSENGER. You’re a collector of data and information. They want to know you’re a credible source for the data. What happens with the data or how it’s interpreted or used will be determined by the audience. They’ll do the analysis of the data and then decide on next steps. You’re not asked for an expert opinion. You’re just asked to report the accurate data to them. You’re not invited into the decision-making process.

2. They Ask for Your Analysis

Sometimes the audience needs you to interpret the data. They lack the expertise you possess. Your personal interpretation of the data provides helpful insights and meaning. They might ask you, “What does all this mean? Why is this significant? How can we use this information?” The audience will ask you questions they can’t answer on their own because they’re not the subject matter expert… you are!

The Audience sees you as…

An EXPERT. You have the ability to interpret the data. Information becomes knowledge when it can be interpreted for a real-world application. The audience can’t analyze the information on their own because they lack the ability. You’re a sage expert in their eyes. They need your expert opinion to help them find value in the information.

3. They Question the Future

Once we analyze data for meaning, the next step is to apply it to our own personal world. When we learn some information from a speaker, we all go through a translation process. That’s where we take the knowledge we’ve gained and apply it to our own personal world so we can benefit from it.

Every time we learn something new, we all want to know how we can personally benefit from this information. “How do we apply this to our world to make our future better?” That’s the question the audience wants you to answer for them when their questions focus on the future.

The Audience sees you as…

A LEADER. You have the ability to positively affect the future. While all leaders live in the present to get things done, all leaders also have a vision of the future. When the audience asks you about applying information and knowledge to the future they might ask you predictive or “what if…” types of questions. Show them how to get value out of your information by applying it to their future and you’ll be seen as a leader.

“ All leaders are going somewhere and all leaders have followers. —RUSS PETERSON JR.

Now also keep in mind your audience might be asking you the level 2 and level 3 questions even when they have their own expertise or opinions because they are inviting you into an expert or leadership role. The great coaches and leaders develop others by challenging them with questions to take them out of their comfort zone. That is where the growth happens!

I hope you all have a coach in your audience inviting you into the next step of your career.

Let me know if you have any questions!
Russ

I’ve always loved the wisdom found in a short statement. In keynote speaker terms, we call these “sticky statements.” If you’re speaking to an audience and you make a statement that causes everyone to write it down, you just gave them a sticky statement.

As we’ve brought the first quarter of 2018 to a close and we look toward the remaining 75% of the year, I have one question for you…

How’re you doing?

It’s a fair question. It’s a good question. I’m guessing you may have been like me back in January, full of excitement and hope for the new year. I had my New Year’s Resolutions locked and loaded and ready to take on the world. Then, the whirlwind happens. You get caught up in the day to day list of tasks that need to be completed. We become busy but not necessarily productive.

This can be a killer for any leader because it affects the entire team. Leaders have to be time travelers and live in two different time zones. The leader must always have the vision for tomorrow. You know the goal and you know where you’re taking the team.

What about today?

But then you also need to live in today… in the present. Work can only get done in the present. If you only focus on the vision of tomorrow, the work of today will never get done. Failure to recognize this will turn visions into dreams. Dreams with no chance of ever becoming reality.

To keep us all focused on our visions for 2018 and the work we need to get done today, here are 21 of my favorite inspiring quotes to keep us all moving.

Have a GREAT rest of the year!

Best,
Russ

“ Things no one sees creates results everyone wants. —CRAIG GROESCHEL

“ People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. —JOHN C. MAXWELL

“ Capital isn’t scarce; vision is. —SAM WALTON

“ Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. —C.S. LEWIS

“ The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but no vision. —HELEN KELLER

“ Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. —WARREN G. BENNIS

“ There is no best; there’s always a better. —KEVIN KARSCHNIK

“ The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. —JOHN C. MAXWELL

“ Work on tomorrow after you debrief today. —CHRIS HODGES

“ The decision to lead is a decision to change. —RUSS PETERSON JR.

“ A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves. A call to become something more. —ROSABETH MOSS KANTER

“ If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you. —STEVE JOBS

“ We will steer where we stare. —LYSA TERKEURST

“ Vision without execution is hallucination. —THOMAS EDISON

“ The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling but in rising every time we fall. —NELSON MANDELA

“ Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. —JOHN F. KENNEDY

“ No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it. —ANDREW CARNEGIE

“ Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power. —SETH BERKLEY

I knew it wasn’t going to be your normal conference kickoff keynote when I entered the ballroom and found a bongo at every audience seat. I was in the audience that day with about 400 other attendees. We couldn’t help but pick up the bongo, inspect it and experiment with tapping on it. Then one person stepped out onto the stage and a hush fell over the audience.

As we anxiously awaited his first words, the leader on stage didn’t speak. He stood in front of a much larger bongo on the stage and with one powerful motion, he struck the bongo once. We all watched. He just stared back at us and then he struck it again.  This time after he struck the bongo, he motioned with an open hand to the audience. As if we heard the unspoken command, we all instinctively struck our bongo once in response to him.

This follow-the-leader process continued until both the stage and the audience were playing a high-energy duet of amazing beats with additional percussion instruments from the stage band. After 30 minutes of adrenaline and fun, the speaker stopped the music and delivered an amazing 15-minute keynote on the importance and beauty of effective teamwork.

It’s time to Break the Script

That event was delivered by the Drum Cafe. They do an outstanding job of kicking off events with high energy with a message. They are successful for many reasons, but I use them as an example here today because they effectively do what the Heath Brothers (Chip and Dan) call “breaking the script.”

Think about it. When you attend a conference you’re expecting a script. The script goes something like this:

• Opening keynote from a celebrity or senior executive
• Multiple days of sessions with too many powerpoint slides
• Happy hour on the last night (or each night!)
• Closing keynote message from another celebrity or senior executive

This event was already different. The script had been broken from the very start by beginning with the Drum Cafe. When we speak to an audience, we should consider how we can break the script to create a memorable moment. These memorable moments are not just for the sake of being memorable. The benefits include a more engaged audience and followers who are more likely to implement changes as a result of the event.

How can we break the script in public speaking?

This is what I’ve seen in some of my students and from other professional speakers I’ve had the privilege to work with over the past 20 years. Each of these break-the-script moments left a lasting impact on me and I still remember their presentations to this day.

1. Movement on the stage – It was the third team presentation I was observing in Houston. Each team previous had chose to stand at the lectern and deliver their messages. When the third team began, the first speaker stepped out from behind the lectern and moved to center stage in silence. Then he began to speak. He painted a landscape that wasn’t right. The audience could feel there was something wrong with the picture. They felt it too. Then he said, “This is going to be problem with a heavy cost if we don’t address it.”At that moment he stepped toward the lectern while saying, “So the question for our group was, How do we address this issue with the limited resources we have available this year? That’s where our project begins.” As he made that final statement, he was standing back at the lectern and bringing up the first slide to explain their approach. Audiences love movement and they love it even more when the movement is in alignment with the message.
   

   “ The secret to humor is surprise. —ARISTOTLE

2. Change the slide appearance – Kevin Karschnik, the co-founder of iSpeak, is a master of facilitation. He does an outstanding job engaging his audiences into a conversation. One way he gives his audiences variety is with his slide construction. Kevin looks at his slides as a whole story. He creates a flow to the slides so they align with his story. Then, he makes what he calls bumper slides to show a natural transition from one topic to the next. The bumper slides provide either a visual or a question to consider as the story of the presentation naturally progresses. His audiences are never lost or disengaged.
3. Pause – Most speakers we work with tend to fill all available space with sound. They are either talking or they are transitioning to the next thought with a sound like “ummmm.” If you ask any professional speaker what you can do to be a better speaker, they will give you a handful of things you can work on. But, every speaker will give you this tip… “You must master the pause.” The pause is one of the most powerful tools you can use as a speaker. When used effectively it helps provide meaning and feeling to your message. It also sets you apart from 90% of the other speakers who never give their audiences the silence they desire. Pausing works great at a transition or after a question or statement where you want the audience to think about what you just said.
   

   “ Silence is one of the great arts of conversation. —MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO

4. Audience participation – Craig Valentine does a fantastic job with audience participation and engagement. One exercise he does is to have everyone stand and look at the person next to them. He asks them to take note of their appearance. Then, he has them turn away from their partner and change one part of their appearance (remove your glasses, turn your collar up, button one button on your coat, etc.) Then when you turn back around to look at the other person, he asks you to notice that one change. He then asks everyone to turn away and change 20 things. Everyone is stunned and then laughs. His point is that it is easier to make one small change and apply than to make many changes at once. Take one thing away from his talk and go apply it!
5. Don’t use slides – when everyone else seems to have a slide for everything, deliver your message with no slides. Be prepared to send out digital notes to the attendees afterwards. I was privileged to see former U.S. Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich deliver a keynote in Florida several years ago. Newt delivered his message with poise, confidence, and humor using no slides or any notes. It was a welcomed break from the script of endless slides from the other speakers!
   

   “ Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends. —H. JACKSON BROWN, JR.

6. Go Old School on them – Almost 20 years ago I was in Las Vegas as part of an audience of 2,000 sales professionals watching a speaker deliver a message about the industry. The speaker used an old-fashioned overhead projector with transparencies and markers, while sitting on a stool. He didn’t write words on the transparency projector. He drew a picture and walked through it. The step by step delivery and the drawing was so simple and easy to understand, every salesperson had a new appreciation and understanding of the business problem this company could solve for customers.
7. Tap into the emotions – A student in Houston shared a brief story about her brother being killed on the job and the importance of safety in the workplace. I’ll never forget her ending line… “At the end of the day, it’s not about the hats… or the tee shirts… or even the bonus… It’s about YOUR headlights in YOUR driveway.” Wow. You could’ve heard a pin drop in that room. All messages generate a feeling. Unfortunately, in many PowerPoint Slide presentations the feeling is one of apathy or boredom! Think about the feelings you want your audience to have after you finish speaking. Remember, nobody moves until they feel something. Even if you want to argue with me and say, “That’s not true. We move in a direction strictly based on what the data tells us!” I would argue back that you’re moving in that direction because you feel confident the data is accurate.  Confidence is a feeling!

“How is leader presence any different from normal presence?” My student asked this question immediately after I defined the two elements that make up a first impression; your perceived confidence and your approachability. My student persisted with a follow up question before I could even respond, “I mean, isn’t your presence just these two things, whether you’re a leader or not?”

I went to the whiteboard and drew two overlapping circles and labeled one with Confidence and one with Approachability. Then I spoke to the class. “We all have a presence perceived by the audience in these two areas. That is true… but leaders also have a 3rd element.” I drew a third overlapping circle, in typical Venn Diagram fashion, and labeled it Vision.

Let’s Quickly Review the Definition of Leadership

We’ve already reviewed the first two elements of leader presence over the past two weeks. The first week we discussed Confidence, and last week we reviewed Approachability. This third element is called Vision and all true leaders have it.

In the past I’ve given you my simple definition of leadership which consists of only two parts. First, all leaders are going somewhere. If they’re not moving then they really aren’t leading. You can only lead if you go somewhere. Second, all leaders have followers. You actually can’t have one without the other. By definition and simple logic, one cannot exist without the other. If you have one, the other is assumed.

The 3rd Element of Leader Presence is VISION

I remind you of this definition of Leadership because the 3rd element of Leader Presence is also logical based on our definition of a leader. The leaders who project leader presence are doing three things:

• They’re going somewhere
• They’re taking followers with them
• They’re doing this by telling followers about the destination

In other words, the 3rd and final piece is about the leader casting the vision. Without the vision, they may show confidence and approachability, but they can’t be leading because they’re not going anywhere!

Some leaders are so good at communicating their vision of the future that they almost sound like time travelers! The leader describes the future state in such great detail and with such confidence it actually sounds like they’re from the future!

“ Leader Presence is three things: Projected Confidence, Approachability, and Vision.

But… How can I Communicate My Vision?

Here’s the Risky Part…

Do you know exactly what’s going to happen in the future?  No.  Let’s be honest… as much as we analyze the past and then predict and plan for the future, we don’t know with 100% certainty if it will actually happen. It’s not a sure thing. We’re not only asking our team to step outside their own comfort zones, we’re stepping outside of ours too.

We just don’t know and that uncertainty can eat away at our minds and absolutely kill our leader presence. But, we need to project confidence (1 of the 3 key elements of Leader Presence!) and therein lies the rub. When you cast a vision, it will inherently include risk. That risk generates fear in our mind, which ultimately can damage the confidence we’re projecting in our leader presence. Vicious cycle, isn’t it?

How can we overcome this risk of an unknown future?

It’s called COURAGE. Speaking up when something needs to be said, takes courage. Pointing everyone in a new direction you believe in, takes courage. Whether you have a leadership title or not, casting a vision into the unknown will take courage. In a nutshell, it always takes courage to lead. So be ready to kill the doubt when it enters your mind.

Do you want opportunities to practice your leadership skills?  Here’s an easy way to find them… Find the FEAR… and then step into it. Fear is not weakness. Fear is a normal human response to risk. How you respond to that fear determines your courage as a leader. People will see fear when they see risk. It will take courage for the leader to step into it.

So go out there and be courageous!

This wraps up our 3 part series on Leader Presence. Here’s a summary of all 3 blog posts with links to each.

• Today, February 11th – Confidence
• Sunday, February 18th – Approachability
• Sunday, February 25th – Vision