by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Opportunity, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 5 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Where do baby (carrots) come from?
— From Hunch: Turn Your Everyday Insights Into The Next Big Thing by Bernadette Jiwa
Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, has been quoted as saying, “Opportunities are like buses – there’s always another one coming!”
And Bernadette Jiwa, business and brand strategist, as well as a fantastic author of many books, echoes Branson’s thought: “every day is filled with opportunities, either seized or missed, ours for the taking if only we can learn to listen for them. Every breakthrough idea starts not with knowing for sure but by understanding why it might be important to try.”
Jiwa goes on to say that we are all able to generate insights to see those opportunities and make the most out of them. Being insightful is not dependent on being special or having resources, innate gifts, special circumstances or any other advantage; on the contrary, anyone can develop killer hunches.
But how?
By cultivating curiosity, empathy and imagination “we become more attuned to opportunities that would otherwise go unnoticed. A hunch happens at the intersection of all three qualities:
- Curiosity
Interest + Attention: Learn to see problems and discern which ones are worth solving.
- Empathy
Worldview + Understanding: Understand how it feels to be the person with the problem.
- Imagination
Context + Experience: Build on what is already understood in order to connect ideas and describe new possibilities for the future.”
Here’s an example of an opportunity that Jiwa calls a case study in imagination: baby carrots. Spoiler alert: there’s nothing baby about them. (If you’re heartbroken by this realization, read on, the story of how they came about is remarkable and will make you smile!).
Mike Yurosek was a concerned farmer: from his yield of 2,500 tons of carrots per day, he’d have to cull 400 tons because “they weren’t ‘pretty’ enough to be sold in grocery stores. Carrots that were misshapen, broken or bent couldn’t be packed for selling.”
One day, he had an idea: he cut the ugly carrots into uniformly shaped 2-inch pieces, and then sent them to a packing plant to be peeled. The edges were smoothed out in the process right before bagging. Ta-daaaaa: “the bagged baby carrot was born.”
Yurosek sent the bags of baby carrots to a supermarket in Los Angeles. “The next day [the supermarket] called and requested that he send them only baby carrots. […] The baby carrots were not only popular with customers; they were also a terrific earner for store owners. […] While other farmers focused on perfecting production techniques in order to minimize waste, Mike reimagined the problem by thinking creatively about what it was that customers wanted, boosting carrot sales by 35 percent and transforming the industry.”
Now every time you see baby carrots you’ll think about this story!
ACTION
TODAY: Take a project you are working on and make a list of things that need improvement or that don’t work well. Then brainwrite for possibilities to solve those issues. Let your curiosity, empathy and imagination flow. What did you come up with?
FUTURE: Whenever you come across something that frustrates you, let that be the fuel to reimagine the good or service in a new, improved light. By doing this, you will be developing and strengthening your curiosity, empathy, and imagination muscles. Take the time and make a game out of it. How many things can you change to make it better? How can you redesign it from scratch to take away the flaws? How can you use it for other purpose? How can you add additional features? How can you strip it to the bare minimum? Your answers will surprise you. Keep asking, keep reimagining.
Know someone who loves baby carrots? Or someone who needs to develop their imagination? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Mindset, Planning, Productivity, Time, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 43 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: How do you spend your time?
— From 100 Blocks a Day (blog post) by Tim Urban, WaitButWhy.com
One of my favorite blogs is Tim Urban’s WaitButWhy.com, the ideas are brilliant and the stick figure illustrations make me laugh so much! A while back he wrote a blog that made me reconsider how I use my time and I want to share it with you here.
The idea is simple but very insightful: if we are awake for about 16 or 17 hours a day, that means that our days are made up of an average of 1,000 minutes. Urban says, “let’s think about those 1,000 minutes as 100 10-minute blocks. That’s what you wake up with every day. Throughout the day, you spend 10 minutes of your life on each block, until you eventually run out of blocks and it’s time to go to sleep.”
How are you using those 100 blocks on a daily basis? How much of that time is spent on working towards your goals? How much of it is spent in doing not-so-important tasks? How much is devoted to entertainment? Family? Friends? Exercise? Food? And how do one-day’s blocks differ from another? Are there any similarities?
The most important thing to keep in mind here is to “think about everything you might spend your time doing in the context of its worth in blocks.”
Imagine they’re laid out in a grid such as this one below that Urban created (click on the image to print it directly from WaitButWhy.com) and that you are going to label them with a purpose.
“Cooking dinner requires three blocks, while ordering in requires zero—is cooking dinner worth three blocks to you? Is 10 minutes of meditation a day important enough to dedicate a block to it? Reading 20 minutes a night allows you to read 15 additional books a year—is that worth two blocks? If your favorite recreation is playing video games, you’d have to consider the value you place on fun before deciding how many blocks it warrants. Getting a drink with a friend after work takes up about 10 blocks. How often do you want to use 10 blocks for that purpose, and on which friends? Which blocks should be treated as non-negotiable in their labeled purpose and which should be more flexible? Which blocks should be left blank, with no assigned purpose at all?”
Interesting concept as to how to see and use time, don’t you think?
ACTION
TODAY: Think of your day in 10-minute blocks. How are you going to use them? What would be the best use of your 100 blocks?
FUTURE: Go through the exercise of labeling the blocks, especially the daily, non-negotiable ones. What is most important to you? Devote at least one block daily to an activity that moves you closer to your goals. Analyze how you are spending your time and determine whether that is the best use of it. If not, find help, delegate tasks, automate them, or, if you can, eliminate those activities that are not getting you closer to your goals. And since you are reading this blog, a big, wholehearted THANK YOU for devoting half a block to it! 🙂
Know someone who needs to organize his/her blocks better? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Celebration, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 53 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Leadership lessons from nature
— From 10 Leadership Lessons from Nature (post on LinkedIn) by Brigette Hyacinth
Happy Earth Day!! To celebrate today, here are a few leadership lessons from Mother Nature from this great post by Brigette Hyacinth. After each lesson there’s an inspiring quote as food for thought.
Patience and persistence. “When it is time for the baby eagles to fly, they are patiently and persistently encouraged… Good leaders patiently coach and support their team until they are ready to fly on their own. They also provide an environment that empowers and enables others to take on greater responsibility so that they, too, can develop into full-grown leaders.” All good things take time to build and grow, especially solid businesses. Hyacinth refers to a quote from Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart in Jim Collins’ book Good to Great: “Somehow over the years people have gotten the impression that Wal-Mart was…just this great idea that turned into an overnight success. But…it was an outgrowth of everything we’d been doing since (1945)…And like most overnight successes, it was about twenty years in the making.”
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu
Teamwork. A good team creates powerful synergy and brings about great results. “Ants focus more on the needs of the colony than their own individual needs. Working for a benefit of self can be detrimental to the overall performance of the team or the entire organization. If any of the ants are not working with the team, it will be noticed. The cohesion and teamwork determines whether the team lives or dies.”
“Snowflakes are one of nature s most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together.” Vista M. Kelly.
Change and flexibility. Nature is dynamic and in a constant state of flux. “There is a season (winter, spring, summer, autumn) and time for everything… Organizations go through different cycles, so always plan and be prepared. It’s imperative to embrace change and take risks. […] You can’t just have a system built on bureaucracy. Be flexible so you don’t break when the harsh wind blows.”
“Dreams are the seeds of change. Nothing ever grows without a seed, and nothing ever changes without a dream.” – Debby Boone
Strong and healthy roots. “Trees have extensive root systems. Roots are the foundation of a healthy plant. While plants can tolerate a fair amount of damage to their upper parts, they are not nearly so forgiving of damage to their roots. It’s important to have a culture that is solidly embedded in ethical and other principles if the organization is to survive. Leadership needs to be grounded in deep values that provide valuable guidance especially when there is a dilemma faced in the decision making process.”
“When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves.”― Anthony J. D’Angelo
ACTION
TODAY: Go out and enjoy nature. While you’re at it, think about your life and/or business. Where can you apply some of these lessons of leadership to make it even better?
FUTURE: Everywhere you look, there are lessons to learn from nature itself as well as from the animals that surround us. Look. Listen. Learn. I know I have learned many lessons from my beloved dog, Aragon, such as forgiveness, being present in the moment, and enjoying the small things in life, among many others.
Know someone who would like to read these leadership lessons from nature? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity, Productivity, Tools
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 32 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Selective quitting
— From Born For This: How to Find the Work You Were Meant to Do by Chris Guillebeau (Here’s a book review I wrote and here’s my interview with Chris at the New York Public Library.)
A quote that is frequently attributed to Einstein is, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” In Born for This, Chris Guillebeau makes the case that “most of us are smart enough to realize that if we try something new and it doesn’t work we can’t just keep doing the same thing and expect different results.” When this happens, we quit and move on, but the key word here is new.
What happens when it’s not new? Guillebeau continues, “the greater problem comes when we’ve become conditioned to success according to a certain method or plan of action. When something works for a while and then it stops working, that’s when it’s tough to change. We don’t keep attempting the same thing over and over because we’re stupid, and it’s not because we don’t know any better. It’s just that we love the familiar and change is hard.”
What to do?
We must go after the right opportunities and selectively quit projects or courses of action that are not in our best interest. But “knowing when to give up and when to keep going can feel like an unachievable superpower,” says Guillebeau. Fortunately, he offers four strategies you can put to work whenever you find yourself in this situation.
1. When the stakes are low, make changes or give up quickly. The best time to make a change is earlier in the project, when the stakes are low and, preferably, when the investment of time, effort, money, etc., has not been as significant as closer to the end (but more on this in point 3 below).
2. Fight your FOMO. FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out “is a very human and natural human emotion, it can be dangerous if it prevents you from quitting when it’s long past time to give up. After all, if you want to be successful, you can’t live your life out of fear.”
3. Ignore sunk costs as much as possible. The term sunk costs is used in accounting and finance to mean “a cost that an entity has incurred, and which it can no longer recover by any means. Sunk costs should not be considered when making the decision to continue investing in an ongoing project, since these costs cannot be recovered.” (Source: AccountingTools.com) But the fact that this term is used in finance doesn’t mean that it doesn’t apply to us if we are not in the field. Why do we keep watching a really bad movie and hoping that it gets better, when the logical thing would be to stop watching or leave the theatre? Because we have invested our time (and perhaps our money) in it, and we’d like to see if we can somehow make the most out of that investment. Why don’t we get rid of things that clutter our homes and offices? Because feel bad about getting rid of them when we think of all the money and other resources that we’ve spent on acquiring them. Why do some people keep working at a job they don’t enjoy? Because they’ve spent years at the company. When you take sunk costs into consideration you become chained to a false commitment, and this prevents you from choosing better options. Do not take into account sunk costs when making a decision.
4. When the stakes are high, ask yourself two questions. The questions are very simple, but don’t let that fool you, the answers will give you much clarity:
- Is it working?
- Do you still enjoy it?
The answers should come to you quickly and intuitively. If both answers are yes, then keep going. If both answers are no, then quit. The tricky part comes when the answers are different: when it’s working but you don’t enjoy it, or it’s not working but you do enjoy it. In either case a change is needed to get you to where you want to be. Here’s a brief diagram of what the questions and answers look like:
- Is it working? → Yes → Do you still enjoy it?→ Yes → Keep going
- Is it working? → Yes → Do you still enjoy it? → No → Change something
- Is it working? → No → Do you still enjoy it? → Yes → Change something
- Is it working? → No → Do you still enjoy it? → No→ Give up
And while giving up or quitting has a bad connotation and we don’t want to think of ourselves as quitters, just remember that by quitting something you’re not giving up on you. On the contrary, you are giving yourself the opportunity to fully chase those goals and dreams that you want to achieve.
ACTION
TODAY: Think about one project or commitment that you have going on and that is spreading yourself too thin. Apply the four strategies above and figure out whether it merits continuing or not.
FUTURE: Adopt these four strategies for figuring out what you want to keep and what you need to give up. Once you take on additional projects, make a point of evaluating your progress every so often by running your projects through these strategies. This way you’ll ensure you’re involved with projects/actions that are moving you forward, instead of weighing you down.
Know someone who needs to selectively quit a thing or two? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Celebration, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 45 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: It’s never the right time
— From What to Do When it’s Your Turn (and it’s Always Your Turn) by Seth Godin
In What To Do When It’s Your Turn, Seth Godin talks about our fear of doing things because it’s “not the right time.” He concludes that, “It’s never the right time. When you are starting a family, it’s not the right time. When your kids are about to go to college, it’s not the right time. When there’s an elderly parent depending on you…” You simply have to take the leap because the right time will never come.
Godin mentions that when Gutenberg launched the printing press it was “a foolish time to bring a book manufacturing system to Europe [because] 96 percent of the population was illiterate.” It was indeed too early to launch considering the following: only one in 25 knew how to use the product and learning to use it (reading) would take years. Can you imagine if Gutenberg had decided not to move forward because it was not the right time?
And “when Karl Benz introduced the car to Germany, it was against he law to drive a car. He had to get a letter from the King granting him permission to use his new device. And, worth mentioning, no one knew how to drive a car. And there were no roads. And no gas stations.” Too early again…
We have a million reasons to give up because it’s too early, too late, or simply not the right time. On the other hand, when we take the leap, we are giving ourselves, our loved ones, and those who surround us, the gift of a project that can benefit us all. Godin says, “This is the chance of a lifetime, our lifetime. Not someone else, us. Not later. Now.”
I’ll leave you with this quote as food for thought:
“Do it or not do it—you will regret both. … To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose one’s self.” – Soren Kierkegaard
ACTION
TODAY: What have you been postponing lately because it’s not the right time? Ask yourself: if not know, when? Set a time to get started. Even if you begin with a tiny step, it will be a step in the right direction.
FUTURE: Think of all the things you have postponed because it’s never been the right time. Which of those are still part of your life/business goals? Pay attention to them and set up a time to start. We need you to share your gifts with the world!
P.S. – I have a favor to ask today, please: for a long time I postponed launching my blog because it was not the right time. I’m so glad I finally took the leap to share these ideas with you daily! Since EntreGurus will be celebrating 100 posts soon (woo-hoo!), I want to learn how the ideas have been helpful to you, what your favorite post has been, what other books/topics you’d like me to feature, and what I can do to improve or enhance EntreGurus. Could you please help me by sharing your comments with me in here? Thank you so, so much!
P.S. 2 — Know someone who is waiting for the right time? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 58 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Peter’s Laws
— From Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler
Peter H. Diamandis was named one of “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” in 2014 by Fortune magazine. He is the founder of more than 15 high-tech companies. He recalls how, in the early days of one of his business ventures, his office mate put a copy of Murphy’s Law on the wall as a joke. It read: “If anything can go wrong, it will.” After a few days it started to get under Diamandis’ skin, so he went to his whiteboard and wrote, “If anything can go wrong, fix it! (To hell with Murphy!)” And above that, he wrote, “Peter’s Law.”
As time went by, he started collecting more laws, which now serve as his rules to live by. I want to share all those rules here with you, but before that, here’s some advice from Diamandis: “The maxims presented below are the ones that have worked for me, but that’s no guarantee they’ll work for you. So come up with your own. Borrow from anyone you like. The point isn’t to produce pretty pictures covered with inspirational quotes. The point is to trust your history. Plumb you past to plot your future. Start collecting mind hacks by examining your own life and seeing what strategies consistently worked along the way. Turn those strategies into your laws.”
Peter’s Laws ™*
The Creed of the Persistent and Passionate Mind
- If anything can go wrong, fix it! (To hell with Murphy!)
- When given a choice—take both!
- Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
- Start at the top then work your way up.
- Do it by the book… but be the author!
- When forced to compromise, ask for more.
- If you can’t win, change the rules.
- If you can’t change the rules, then ignore them.
- Perfection is not optional.
- When faced without a challenge—make one.
- No simply means begin one level higher.
- Don’t walk when you can run.
- When in doubt: THINK!
- Patience is a virtue, but persistence to the point of success is a blessing.
- The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
- The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live.
- The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!
- The ratio of something to nothing is infinite.
- You get what you incentivize.
- If you think it is impossible, then it is for you.
- An expert is someone who can tell you exactly how something can’t be done.
- The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.
- If it was easy, it would have been done already.
- Without a target you’ll miss it every time.
- Fail early, fail often, fail forward!
- If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
- The world’s most precious resource is the persistent and passionate human mind.
- Bureaucracy is an obstacle to be conquered with persistence, confidence, and a bulldozer when necessary.
* Laws 12 and 15 by Todd B. Hawley. Law 17 adopted from Alan Kay, Law 21 adopted from Robert Heinlein, Law 24 by Byron K. Lichtenberg, Law 25 adopted from John Maxwell.
ACTION
TODAY: Take a look at Peter’s Laws and see which ones apply to your life and business. Keep the ones that suit you and add at least one more of your own.
FUTURE: Take a deeper look into Peter’s Laws in these blog posts (here and here). You’ll learn what’s behind some of these rules; and the thoughts, I’m sure, will spark some ideas to come up with a few rules of your own for your list of Laws. You can download a copy of Peter’s Laws here.
Know someone who could use some law’s in business and/or life? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset
Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 55 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Leading by example
— From Common Sense Leadership: A Handbook for Success as a Leader by Roger Fulton
Actions speak louder than words. Nowhere do we see a clearer case of this as in children who do as parents do, not as parents say (!). This gives way to the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do phrase that usually comes from an exasperated parent…
🙂 All joking aside, what about in the business world? What should we pay more attention to: the actions or the words of our leaders?
Roger Fulton, in his book Common Sense Leadership, shares the following:
“One Fortune 500 executive told his people, ‘You may do anything you see me doing.’
Subordinates will emulate, consciously or subconsciously, their bosses.
If you are forward-thinking, innovative and progressive, then your department will move consistently forward.
True leaders are also willing to roll up their shirt sleeves and do whatever is necessary to make a project succeed. Their commitment and dedication in such a situation sets the example for all of their people.
True leaders are excellent role models.”
Truth is, no matter our age and no matter the setting, actions indeed speak louder than words. We seem to have a radar to detect the word-action disparity when it exists. And because we know others are watching, we must be congruent in word and deed.
“The example of good men is visible philosophy.” – English proverb.
ACTION
TODAY: Think about what you do and what you say in your business. Are your words congruent with your deeds? If not, why not? Ask yourself why five times (or as many as needed) to get to the bottom of it. Once you find the real reason why, address it and change it so that you can speak and act in a way that sets an example for others to follow.
FUTURE: Take inventory of the things you do and say in the different areas of your life. Where are you being incongruent? Don’t judge yourself harshly, we all do it at some point or another. The important thing is to detect it and find the reason why we do it. Ask why five times or keep asking until you find the real reason behind it. Once you know why there is a disparity, you can change it and lead by example.
Know someone whose words are not congruent with his/her actions? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Growth, Mindset, Resources, Tools
TODAY’S IDEA: Waiting for the other shoe NOT to drop
Sometimes it seems unavoidable. An undesirable thing or event is about to happen. It’s inevitable, we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.* But does it have to drop?
“What if the ‘other shoe’ doesn’t have to drop? Instead, what if the other one rose? What if the first shoe sent down a rope for the other? What if when things went well, you were creating a baseline from which to soar higher? What if things never went backward? What if when you ‘lost’ something, it was always an invitation to expand your love, expression, or sense of identity? Your life moves in one direction always. It’s always giving you the chance to grow. What if things could get better than your best experience ever?”
ACTION
TODAY: Is there a part of your life where you are waiting for the other shoe to drop? What if it didn’t? What options are there to move you upward and onward? Brainwrite some ideas for other preferred outcomes: you’ll see that there are always different options. And with a bit of creativity, they can turn out to better than we could have ever imagined!
FUTURE: Know that you always have the choice to change your mind, see things differently, and look for alternatives. Same as above, when it seems that something is inevitable, take the time to brainwrite some ideas for other preferred outcomes. This creates a shift in mindset and will enable you to seek more favorable options. Then find the resources (ask your network) for the best possible outcome to happen.
Know someone who’s waiting for the other shoe to drop and who could welcome other options? Do them a favor and please share this post with them via
email,
Facebook or
Twitter, thank you!
*For our international Gurupies**: “waiting for the other shoe to drop” is an expression in the U.S. that means, “to await a seemingly inevitable event, especially one that is not desirable.” The phrase originated “in New York City, and other large cities, during the [housing] boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Apartments were built, similar in design, with the bedrooms located directly above and underneath one another. Thus, it was normal to hear a neighbor removing their shoes in the apartment above. As one shoe made a sound hitting the floor, the expectation for the other shoe to make a similar disturbance was created.” (Source: Wiktionary)
** Gurupie = blend of guru and groupie = how I fondly refer to the EntreGurus’ community, because we all follow the ideas of the gurus.
by Helena Escalante | Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Resources, Sales, Tools
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 30 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: The listening matrix
— From Dynamic Communication: 27 Strategies to Grow, Lead, and Manage Your Business by Jill Schiefelbein
We’ve talked about listening before (here and here), but always focusing on you: how you listen and how you can listen better. But have you ever stopped to think how others listen to you? This is especially interesting in a business setting, when you need your listener to take action (sign the dotted line, for example).
In Dynamic Communication, Jill Schiefelbein broke down the listening modes into a very handy matrix to understand how people listen. “In order to move people to action, you need to understand how they are listening to you. […] Are they listening for information, or are they listening for knowledge? The answer is the difference between action and inaction—making a sale or missing an opportunity… People who listen for information do not decide. People who listen for knowledge decide.”
The listening matrix is a four-stage continuum: stages one and two comprise the time when people are listening to gather information; stages three and four comprise the time when people are listening to acquire knowledge and make a decision. The goal is to move the listeners from any of the first three stages towards stage four so that they can take action, whatever form this action may take (buy, go, do, donate, vote, enroll, etc.). The examples below are mainly focused on sales, but you can adapt them to whatever situation you need where the goal is for the audience to take action.
This is what the matrix looks like:
INFORMATION [1: The Writer → 2: The Thinker] → KNOWLEDGE [3: The Interpreter → 4: The Decider]
Stage One: The Writer
The writer is simply taking notes and collecting information, but is not there to make a decision. “Transitioning your audience from a writer to a thinker… can be done with a relatively simple line of questioning.”
- What do you think about [insert topic]?
- What is your opinion on [insert topic]?
- What are your feelings on [insert topic]?
- What is your view on [insert topic]?
- What is your perspective on [insert topic]?
Stage Two: The Thinker
At this point “your audience is still listening for information, but they may ask questions to clarify facts, figures, details, etc.” Once they take a breather from their notes, you can further engage them with these questions:
- What do you know about [insert subject]?
- Would you share with me what you know about [insert subject]?
- What does your company know about [insert subject]?
- How do you see that process working for your business? (This question is not designed for a yes/no answer; it’s used to generate further discussion.)
Stage Three: The Interpreter
Your audience is past the Information half of the matrix and is on to the Knowledge half. At this stage is when your audience “starts to interpret how something will apply—its consequences, its benefits—in their business.” By asking the following questions you will gain intel that will enable you to understand how your audience will adapt your information to their context. Schiefelbein says, “Remember, knowledge is information applied.”
- How would your business change if…?
- What would it look like if your organization used…?
- How would your job be easier if…?
- What would be the best outcome for you if…?
- How would you react if…?
- What would it take for this to work in your…?
Stage Four: The Decider
“Your success at this stage will be determined on how well you’ve connected with your audience and how well you articulate your request… Your job in this stage is to get the action.” Here are the questions that will help you get there:
- Can you see this working for your business?
- Do you see this meeting your needs?
- Are you comfortable recommending this to your board?
- Is this solution within your budget?
- Do you want to get started today?
- Is this something you feel your sales team could benefit from?
- Shall we talk about some solutions that we can work on together?
“No matter what, at this stage you need to get a “yes” or “no” and move to the next step of the relationship.”
ACTION
TODAY: Pay attention to the stages that your listeners are in, especially if you are having any conversations that require action. Adapt the questions above to move your audience to the next stage until they agree to take the desired action.
FUTURE: Adapt the questions above for your desired outcome whenever you are going to have a conversation where you need to move your audience from The Writer to The Decider. Document what works best for you and keep it as handy reference to use in a future. Don’t be afraid to test out new questions according to your project or situation. Once your audience takes the desired action, celebrate your success! And send me an email to let me know, I’ll be cheering for you. 🙂
Know someone who could benefit from this info? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
P.S. – If you are in New York City next Monday, April 23 and want to meet Jill Schiefelbein (she is lovely and brilliant), she will be speaking at the same event as I: Unlearnings Live. This is a two-hour event to help you expand your world, your thinking, and the actions that make your work urgently important. Unlearnings Live is going to provide you with ideas to clear out any negativity surrounding you and create amazing environments that inspire your important work to scale. This will be an opportunity for your story to be told and for your ideas to be put into action. Please join us, we’d love to see you there!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Goals, Marketing, Planning, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 39 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: 5 Theses of the power of a presentation
— From Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power[point].” –Abraham Lincoln
And with this fantastic quote [and its oh-so-funny addition] begins Slide:ology, a great, practical book by Nancy Duarte on how to craft great presentations and slides. We all have been at presentations where the slides are insufferable. (!) And if we are lucky, we have also been at (or watched on video) incredibly moving, beautiful, memorable presentations, such as TED Talks. What’s the difference, above and beyond the delivery? The visuals. You can have death by PowerPoint (very funny video), in which the slides act as a crutch for the presenter and are a true distraction for the audience. Or you can have slides that “act as a visual aid to reinforce the presenter’s message,” and help with recall of the main points afterwards.
“The audience will either read your slides or listen to you. They will not do both. So, ask yourself this: is it more important that they listen, or more effective if they read?” If they read, there’s no point in doing a presentation. “People will love you for respecting their time enough to use the media appropriately.”
“Communication is about getting others to adopt your point of view, to help them understand why you’re excited (or sad, or optimistic, or whatever else you are). If all you want to do is create a file of facts and figures, then cancel the meeting and send in a report.” – Seth Godin
Duarte created a manifesto with 5 theses that are the foundation on which powerful presentations stand. They may seem basic, but sometimes we need a reminder of the obvious, since we are so involved in the project that we don’t see it. I’m sharing the 5 points with you here verbatim as I think they have enormous merit.
- Treat your audience as king. “They didn’t come to your presentation to see you. They came to find out what you can do for them. Success means giving them a reason for taking their time, providing content that resonates, and ensuring it’s clear what they are to do.”
- Spread ideas and move people. “Creating great ideas is what we were born to do; getting people to feel like they have a stake in what we believe is the hard part. Communicate your ideas with strong visual grammar to engage all their senses and they will adopt the ideas as their own.”
- Help them see what you are saying. “Epiphanies and profoundly moving experiences come from moments of clarity. Think like a designer and guide your audience through ideas in a way that helps, not hinders, their comprehension. Appeal not only to their verbal senses, but to their visual senses as well.”
- Practice design, not decoration. “Orchestrating the aesthetic experience through well-known but oft-neglected design practices often transforms audiences into evangelists. Don’t just make pretty talking points. Instead, display information in a way that makes complex information clear.”
- Cultivate healthy relationships. A meaningful relationship between you, your slides, and your audience will connect people with content. Display information in the best way possible for comprehension rather than focusing on what you need as a visual crutch. Content carriers connect with people.”
Lastly, always remember the Golden Rule of presentations: “Never deliver a presentation you wouldn’t want to sit through.”
ACTION
TODAY: Watch one or more TED Talks and look at the visuals (here are one, two, and three presentations with slides from the 25 most popular TED Talks of all time). Notice how they help drive the point home. What made them memorable? How was the information displayed so that it delivered the idea/message and made it memorable?
FUTURE: Here are Seth Godin’s rules to avoid Really Bad PowerPoint. Go through them as well as through the 5 theses above every time you have to build a slide deck so that you can ensure that it will be successful and well received by your audience. And if you love design as much as I do and want to learn more about it to apply it to all aspects of your life, here’s an awesome free online course (one lesson per week, learn at your own pace).
Know someone who needs to improve their PowerPoint skills? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
