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!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 50 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Purpose is a force and passion is fuel
— From Creative On Purpose: An Innovative Approach to Professional Artistry by Scott Perry
If you’ve ever wondered what is the meaning of life and what you are supposed to do with it, very likely you’ve come across the myriad articles, books, and videos offering advice and help.
“Most of it is pretty bad,” says Scott Perry, author of Creative on Purpose. “Here’s the worst advice of all: ‘Follow your passion’.”
Stop right there. Whaaaaaaat?! This is exactly what most of us have been told all our lives.
“Passion is poorly equipped to act as an inner guide or a compass for directing your work. That is because that’s not what passion is for. That job belongs to Purpose.”
Perry states that just as gravity is a force that keeps us grounded and electricity is a force that powers mechanical things, purpose is a force too. If “scientists define ‘force’ as a push or pull upon one object resulting from that object’s interaction with another object;” then purpose “is the push or pull of one object (you), resulting from your interactions with other objects (others, events, surroundings, etc.).”
To figure out your purpose is something that takes a bit of time and that is not set in stone: it will grow and change with you “as your beliefs evolve, your skills develop, and your audience grows.” You’ll want to revisit and tweak your purpose many times throughout your life. Perry provides an illustrative diagram to help understand that our purpose is the intersection of three things:
- Who you are (your core values)
- What you do (your core talents and soft skills)
- Those you serve (people who share your values and are in need of your talents).
(Click on image to enlarge) Source: BeCreativeOnPurpose.com on April 12, 2018.
And where does that leave passion?
Passion, as well as profits, recognition and influence are the results of purposeful work and living. However, by themselves, Perry says, they are “improper motivators” because they lead to compromised decisions and may take you away from your core values and beliefs. Yet none of those results are inherently bad. On the contrary, they are valuable resources “that can be used to fuel and sustain purposeful living and work. They are not the ends, they are the means!”
If your work is driven by a strong and clear purpose, passion will result; and it will become a renewable resource to fuel your life and work.
ACTION
TODAY: When faced with a decision, ask, “what’s it for?” That simple question will start you on your way to making sure that all you do is aligned with your purpose.
2nd ACTION FOR TODAY: Please join Scott Perry and I as we chat about purpose, passion, and professional and personal growth during the Creative on Purpose Live streaming via Facebook. Simply click this link (https://www.facebook.com/CreativeOnPurpose/) at 1 pm EST and join the conversation, we welcome all your questions and comments. I look forward to seeing you there!
FUTURE: When faced with an action that may have important consequences, Perry suggests taking a second to pause and ask yourself: “What’s it for? What’s the real reason? Is it unselfish? Does it align with your values? Is it generous towards others?” Once you have pondered the answers you can determine if the results will be aligned with your personal or professional purpose, and then you can decide what’s next.
Know someone who could benefit from living and working with purpose? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Planning, Productivity, Time, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 40 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Illusions of agreement
— From REWORK: Change the way you work forever by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Raise your hand if you’ve ever been involved in putting together a report that is still sitting on a shelf somewhere accumulating dust… Oh, geez, both of my hands are raised!
Fried and Hansson in their excellent book Rework, say, “The business world is littered with dead documents that do nothing but waste people’s time. Reports no one reads, diagrams no one looks at, and specs that never resemble the finished product. These things take forever to make but only seconds to forget.” So true.
What they suggest is removing layers of abstraction and “getting real.” But what does this mean?
“Instead of describing what something looks like, draw it. Instead of explaining what something sounds like, hum it. […] The problem with abstractions (like reports and documents) is that they create illusions of agreement. A hundred people can read the same words, but in their heads, they’re imagining a hundred different things.” That’s why this famous cartoon about a tree swing is so funny and so on point!
It is similar to when you and your friends read a book: you all have different ideas of what the characters look like in your heads. And when you all go see the movie, you know exactly what each character looks like. “That’s when you get true understanding” and only then, everyone is on the same page.
The authors go on to cite the case of Alaska Airlines building up the Airport of the Future. “They didn’t rely on blueprints and sketches, they got a warehouse and built mockups using cardboard boxes… The team then built a small prototype in Anchorage to test systems with real passengers and employees.” The result was a success, as it increased efficiency by decreasing wait times and passenger frustration.
But this doesn’t apply just to large projects. The book quotes renowned furniture craftsman Sam Maloof who “felt is was impossible to make a working drawing to show all the intricate and fine details that go into a chair or stool.” He would simply get out the appropriate tool for that job and start working on it.
What project are you working on now where you could take out your proverbial chisel? Let’s avoid the illusions of agreement and have something real that we can indeed agree on!
ACTION
TODAY: Take some time to think about the many projects you are working on. Which ones are being handled under illusions of agreement? Don’t feel bad, it’s natural to work that way as we’ve all been conditioned to think it’s the best way. But now that you now the benefits of getting real you can speed up your goal by avoiding the distractions that come with abstractions. (Ha! I’m a poet and don’t know it…)
FUTURE: Keep in mind the distractions and the time spent on illusions of agreement. Share this info with your team and clients. For each project that you start, big or small, get in the habit of asking yourself and those involved, How can we make this real? That will push you to find better ways to accomplish your goals.
Know someone who needs to get real? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Productivity, Resolutions, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 33 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Leaders and limitations
— From Common Sense Leadership: A Handbook for Success as a Leader by Roger Fulton
As I was going about finding an idea for today, I came across this one that I loved: it’s what leaders do when faced with limitations. Normally, I intertwine my thoughts and takeaways with the idea from the book. Yet, on this occasion, the idea is so brief, so concise and so perfectly written, that I’m taking the liberty of sharing it in its entirety here. Since we are all leaders, whether formal or informal, paid or voluntary, of large corporations or of our households… I think the thoughts apply beautifully to all. Enjoy!
“Leaders understand their own limitations, but they are not necessarily limited by them.
As an example, budgets can limit available resources, but a true leader will find a way to get the job done with the resources available. Staffing three shifts can’t be done with only two people, but a true leader will make the most efficient use of those two people to cover the shifts.
Time is always a limitation. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Yet a true leader will make the most efficient use of time available. Luckily there are some things that know no limits:
Dreams.
Human ingenuity.
Love.
Even though you may not be able to conquer the whole world, you can comfortably conquer a small part of it, even taking into account many of your limitations.”
ACTION
TODAY: Think of some limitations or constraints that you are facing in business or life, and put them to work for you. What are some creative ways in which you can deal with them? How can you make the most out of them? Fortunately there’s no limit to human ingenuity: set some time to brainwrite, and remember that there’s no such thing as a shortage of ideas.
FUTURE: Let’s turn limitations upside down and use them to our advantage. Try imposing a few limitations on yourself or your work to see if you become more efficient and effective. For instance, try to answer most emails in less than 3 minutes (the email game). Or try to finish a particular project or chore in 25 minutes. Need more time? Add another chunk of 25 minutes as opposed to giving it all your morning. How about cutting down meeting time from the calendar’s default of 1 hour to 30 minutes instead, and do it standing up to further keep it short? Cut your daily cooking time in half and devote the other half to playing a game with your family or to start working on a personal project. You can be as adventurous or as traditional as you can with this. Create some limitations and put them to the test, see if they work for you and if you become more efficient as a result of them. Then you can decide whether to keep them or not, or tweak and keep testing until you find the ones that work really well for you.
Know someone who would benefit from reading this post? Please share it via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Celebration, Collaboration, Creativity, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 38 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Make it a Honey Day
— From The Art of People: 11 Simple People Skills That Will Get You Everything You Want by Dave Kerpen
Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Hope it’s a joy-filled holiday with your family if you celebrate it.
Growing up, I remember loving Easter because my mom made it very special: when we were little she decided that the Easter Bunny would bring us presents, above and beyond the traditional Easter eggs. So, in the Escalante household, besides Santa Claus coming in December and the Three Kings bringing presents in early January (yes, we Mexican kids have it so good in the holiday presents department!), the Easter Bunny would show up a few months later bearing gifts. One of my favorites was a fluffy, stuffed rabbit toy I called Ynnub (bunny spelled backwards… lots of neurons went into crafting that name…). To this day, decades later, the Easter Bunny continues to bring gifts and now includes my husband and our dog. (I love you so much, Mom, thank you! I know you’re laughing out loud reading this.)
I share this because it’s a perfect example of the topic that I want to talk about today: lovely, made up celebrations that delight and create beautiful memories. How can we make it special for our loved ones, our coworkers, our clients, etc? What kind of holiday or special gift can we come up with to recognize or celebrate an accomplishment, something special, or just because?
One of the best ones that I have come across was “Honey Day” as described in Dave Kerpen’s book The Art of People. Dave is the Chairman and Co-Founder of Likeable, a digital agency (with a great story behind it). He found himself at the office one day thinking it was another regular day… until Brian Murray, the Director of talent and recruitment announced: “Today is Honey Day. The entire day will be dedicated to appreciating the amazing work that Honey does for us.” Out came the balloons and ribbons and even a cake in Honey’s honor: surprise! Honey Comer-Cantrell is the VP of Client Services at Likeable today, yet back then, in Dave’s words, “From the little I know, Honey is a terrific employee. But she wasn’t a manager and hadn’t accomplished anything remarkable. That was the whole point… Just by recognizing someone who worked hard and represented the Likeable core values well, Brian sent a message not only to Honey but to the rest of the team and to would-be team members that this was a group that celebrated hard work and loved to surprise and delight. [… And while no one can] afford to surprise and delight everyone all the time, by surprising and delighting some people at random and unexpected times, you get everyone thinking that she could be the recipient of that special something… the next time.” (Meet Dave, Brian and Honey here.)
When was the last time you had a holiday created just for you? When was the last time you did something to make someone feel i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-y special? Keep in mind that causing delight doesn’t have to cost any money. “It’s all about making people feel special and doing things a little differently to accomplish that.” Also, you don’t have to throw a big party or celebration, you can delight people on a daily basis in small ways too: a kind word, a nice email, a heartfelt compliment, a handwritten thank you note, a piece of candy, a magazine or newspaper clipping (or link via email) of something you saw that reminded you of them… any thoughtful gesture… they all go a long way to brighten up someone’s day.
ACTION
TODAY: Put your creativity hat on and make a list of the various ways—big and small—in which you can delight your family, clients, coworkers, etc.
FUTURE: From the list that you made, select the first way in which you will delight someone. Plan it and make it happen. Depending on what that is, you can schedule a few of these actions in your calendar to make them happen throughout the year. You can choose recurring dates, or at random—such as Honey Day—or you can even go as far as to create a unique tradition—such as the Easter Bunny presents. Enjoy!!
Happy delighting, and cheers to you for creating beautiful, indelible memories!
Know someone who’d be delighted to read this? Please share via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Collaboration, Creativity, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes.
TODAY’S IDEA: Win-Win or No Deal
— From The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success by Brian Tracy
Following along the same path as yesterday’s post on Thinking “both,” I wanted to focus on its application in business by looking at Bryan Tracy’s Law of Win-Win or No Deal from his book The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success. This law states that:
“In a successful negotiation, both parties should be fully satisfied with the result and feel that they have each ‘won’ or no deal should be made at all.”
Tracy says, “Remember, you always reap what you sow. Any settlement or agreement that leaves one party dissatisfied will come back to hurt you later, sometimes in ways that you cannot predict.” And he goes on to tell a story of a tough negotiator who was boasting “about a hard deal he had wrung out of a [distributor] of his company’s products. He had demanded and threatened and negotiated an agreement that paid him considerably more, both in up-front payments and in percentages of sales, than any of the other clients for which this company distributed.”
The author happened to know the people on the other side of the negotiation well, so he asked them to tell the story from their angle. They confirmed the discomfort and toughness of the negotiation and said “they had agreed to pay higher prices and royalties on everything they sold, but they had not agreed to sell any.”
The deal backfired: “the businessman had negotiated a ‘win-lose’ with him winning and the others losing. But those on the losing side had no incentive to fulfill the implied commitment to market the products. They had no incentive to go forward with this person, and no reason to ever want to do business with him again.”
In a zero-sum game, someone always loses. In business it does not have to be that way: aim always for a win-win or no deal. Be clear in your intentions that what you want is the best for both parties. Now, “this doesn’t mean that you [or the other party] have to accept any arrangement that you consider second best.” On the contrary, “when you are determined to achieve a win-win solution to a negotiation, and you are open, receptive, and flexible in your discussions, you will often discover a third alternative that neither party had considered initially but that is superior to what either of you might have thought of on your own.”
ACTION
TODAY: If you are negotiating something today—even if its’ the smallest thing—that’s great! Think win-win, communicate it to the other party, and find out what it is that each of you wants/needs from the deal to consider it successful. Work together to make it happen. If you don’t have any negotiations on your plate now, think about one in the past where you experienced a win-lose (no matter which side you were on). The good thing about hindsight is that it’s always 20/20 and, with that view, you can reconstruct the deal (at least in your mind) to make it a win-win. Learn from it: what would you have changed for the better? How would you have structured the deal differently? Think creatively.
FUTURE: Think win-win from now on professionally and personally. Commit to doing deals where the Law of Win-Win or No Deal applies. Actively seek to find ways to achieve what each party needs and wants out of the situation in a satisfactory way and without feeling that you have to settle for less.
Know someone who could benefit from reading today’s post? Please share it via email, Facebook or Twitter!
