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Steve Jobs (1955-2011): It’s Time to Pay Tribute to a Great Visionary

October 6th, 2011

Along with the rest of the world, I am mourning the loss of Steve Jobs today. This morning at breakfast I was thinking about the services that will be held to honor his life and wondered who would be giving the eulogy. Imagine being selected to give the eulogy at the funeral services of someone who has been compared to Leonardo DaVinci, Thomas Edison, and Walt Disney—imagine being asked to give the final tribute to an icon whose technological vision ushered in a new era of innovation.   

While giving the eulogy will be a great honor, I’m sure the speaker, whoever it is, will quickly realize that he/she is not only eulogizing a great man, but will be doing so using the communication medium that Jobs perfected. Never before will Marshall McLuhan’s dictate “the medium is the message” be more in evidence.

Whoever gives the eulogy has big shoes to fill in both what they say to honor Jobs’ gifts and talents throughout the course of his life, and in how they say it. I hope they model the techniques that Jobs so effortlessly used, such as choosing those powerful signature words and phrases he loved, like “magical,” “boom,” and “one more thing.” I hope they organize the eulogy content around one key theme. Most of all, I hope they use elegant delivery skills that even Jobs would be proud of. These are the skills I highlighted in my August 25th blog about Jobs when he resigned. Of course, it would also be fitting if the speaker sparks a wide and generous smile, has a delightful twinkle in his/her eye, and uses comfortable and natural gestures—just like Jobs always did.

It’s no secret that Jobs was known as a challenging and difficult personality, and often not a respectful or skillful communicator. There are countless examples of his brash and impatient communication style, and stories are pouring out today in a loving and forgiving way from people who had first-hand experience with his berating and belittling barrages. What I find so interesting, though, is that he was such a masterful public speaker and never showed this side of himself on stage. Given his proclivity to explode the way he did, it is a tribute to his self-control that he had such discipline in front of large groups. Granted, he practiced a lot, but perhaps he knew more was at stake for Apple in these highly public performances.

So if the eulogy were up to me, I’d talk about the Steve Jobs whose brilliant mind led him to create wildly innovative products but who also let his heart guide Apple, like when he agreed to put a tribute to George Harrison on the company’s home page after Harrison’s death. I’d talk about the Steve Jobs who inspired and led young and old alike—the charismatic technology evangelist who spoke like a prophet and gave us products we didn’t even know we needed. But most of all, I’d talk about the Steve Jobs who gave us the greatest gift of all—the gift of knowing that anyone can change the world.


October 6th, 2011 | Permalink | Trackback | 1 Comment » | Bookmark and Share



Steve Jobs, One of Today’s Great Presenters, Steps Down from the Main Stage

August 25th, 2011

Anyone in the public speaking business has likely paused at the news that Steve Jobs has resigned from the iconic Apple Computer. We all knew it was coming, given the serious health issues he has battled since being diagnosed with treatable pancreatic cancer in 2004. But it is a surprise nonetheless.

His career has been nothing short of inspiring. Jobs had been named the most important person in personal technology at the start of his career in 1978, and then again at the end in 2011. Over the years, he has brought a wealth of innovative products to the world that have touched and changed nearly everyone’s life. And though his primary goal wasn’t to inspire presenters, that’s exactly what he did, giving us all a solid roadmap to follow. As sad as having him step down from his role at Apple is, the thought that he will no longer be giving his exciting keynote presentations is even sadder.

I have analyzed Jobs’ speeches many times over the years, and while I have never had the privilege of working with him, I admire that he is such a thoughtful and skillful practitioner of the best public speaking principles. He embodies the core success principles top notch speakers are known for, and he seemingly follows the DeFinis Communications methodology to a T, such as:

Delivery Skills: Jobs has excellent physical presence skills (eye contact, facial expression, posture, gestures, and movement), highly developed vocal resonance (uses his voice carefully, clear pronunciation and enunciation, and effective use of pitch, inflection, rate of speech, and strategic pauses), and a masterful use of distinctive language (uses short sentences never more than eight to thirteen words, chooses exhilarating words that are both powerful and emotional, and keeps his language clean of fillers and unintentional slang). He has the talent for drama, clearly conveying his passion.

Content Development: Jobs clearly understands his audience, and as such, he respects the importance of structuring his presentation’s content for each group he addresses. He defines his purpose and states it clearly and succinctly. He develops a clear beginning, middle, and end. He begins with a strong hook, states his purpose, and then lays out the agenda of his three to five main points. He develops the body of his presentation with a series of touch points, including analogies, metaphors, stories, data, statistics, and humor. And he uses thoughtful, sequential transitions, and ends with a summary, thank you, and final thought—“one last thing.” It’s textbook perfect in every way.

Visual Aids: Jobs’ visual aids are the opposite of the dense eye charts we so often see in typical technical presentations. His slides are image based with large colorful images, one big statistic, or one powerful graphic. He uses these images to augment his key point, not to overshadow it or mute his performance. His slides are exciting and dynamic visual entertainment, with a powerful point.

The Bar Has Been Raised

Jobs has consistently been one of the most powerful and best role models for business speakers in high tech. And he makes public speaking look easy, seamless, and enjoyable. But this is not due to a natural talent. I’ve heard that he works hard to prepare and even harder to rehearse so that every moment is well coordinated. He spends days, not mere hours, in preparation for one of his large main stage product announcements. Indeed, he has set the bar high.

In the only commencement speech he ever gave at Stanford University six years ago, Jobs told the newly minted graduates, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” That statement is so true for public speakers. While it’s great to use Steve Jobs as a role model for excellent presentation technique, what made him really great was that his technique allowed him and his message to shine through. And he would be the first person to tell you to model his skill, but to develop you own personal spirit and style.

In his resignation letter, Jobs wrote, “Apple’s best days are ahead of it.” While that may seem hard for us to believe today, we know that by stating this, he is preserving his legacy—a legacy of poise, power, and passion.


August 25th, 2011 | Permalink | Trackback | 1 Comment » | Bookmark and Share



Blog Carnival Today! Sales Coaching: Top Tips for Increased Productivity

August 17th, 2011

 As you know, every once in a while we enjoy hosting a Blog Carnival. The “carnival” gives our readers a unique opportunity to gain valuable knowledge from numerous authors all in one convenient spot. Today’s offering features top bloggers in their fields who offer timely and thought-provoking tips on every aspect of sales coaching.

Whether you’re a sales manager or a salesperson, the information presented by the expert bloggers in our Blog Carnival will broaden your understanding of this important topic. As an added benefit, you may discover new blogs to follow and develop new professional relationships.

I highly recommend that you spend time learning more about each of our talented bloggers. They have a lot of valuable information to share.

Thank you to all our contributors!

The Secret to Sales Productivity: Customer Data
Ginger Conlon - 1to1Media

The most productive sales people are those with the most current, accurate customer data.

The One Tip that Could Significantly Impact Your Productivity
Mark Hunter – The Sales Hunter

Building a Sales Team That Manages Itself

Execution Based Coaching
Tibor Shanto – The Pipeline

Effective sales coaching process needs to be based on two pillars of sales success.

How to Add Value to Your Sales Offering
Dave Kurlan – Understanding the Sales Force

A look at how to sell and build value.

Improve Sales Performance with 3 “Art of Sales Management” Functions
Dan McDade - PointClear
Sales managers have six basic jobs and they generally fail at  three of them.

5 Ways to Sell More by Getting Organized
Craig Klein – Sell, Sell, Sell!

Time management techniques that you need to implement.

Three Tips to Boost Sales Productivity
Michael W. McLaughlin – Consult This

Sometimes the shortest path to improved productivity is to eliminate what no longer serves you well.

How To Turn Your Salespeople Into Order Takers
Kristin Zhivago - Revenue Journal

Learn how your closing rate can average 90%.

Does the Sales Model Do What We Need It To Do
Sharon Drew Morgan – Sharon Drew Morgan’s Blog

What exactly is “sales” and how must it shift to keep up with our global economy?

Sales Management Math: The Sales Coaching Formula
Bill Eckstrom - EcSELL Institute Sales Leadership Blog

Examining the Sales Performance Equation™.

Sales Coaching: Top Tips for Increased Productivity
Drew Stevens PhD – Stevens Consulting Group

Exploring the most important attributes of a sales coaching relationship.

Productivity Tips from the Field
Tim Rohrer – Sales Loudmouth

Some thoughts about how youth soccer skills can improve productivity in the sales department.

Sales Management, It’s About Inspecting The Process, Not Transactions
Dave Brock – Partners in Excellence

Sales managers must focus on managing the process! Learn why…

How the Whole Organization Can Help Sales Management Increase Productivity
Heather Rubesch – Savvy B2B Marketing

Here are a number of productive themes that make sales organizations more successful.

Building a Sales Team That Manages Itself
Ken Thoreson – Your Sales Management Guru
The good news: It is possible to turn that dream of a self-managed, high-performance sales team into reality.

The Art of Selling – In Person and Cyberspace
Katherine Winkelman – Gioia Company, LLC

Learn how selling is an art from someone who sells art.


August 17th, 2011 | Permalink | Trackback | 5 Comments » | Bookmark and Share



How to Create “Enchanting” Relationships

May 9th, 2011

The word “enchant” means to cast a spell on or bewitch; to delight or captivate utterly; to fascinate; charm. Guy Kawasaki’s new book, Enchantment, The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions, has given us a new spin on a more traditional approach to persuasion, influence, marketing and customer care.

Kawasaki defines enchantment as “the process of delighting people with a product, service, organization or idea. The outcome of enchantment is voluntary and long lasting support that is mutually beneficial.” He adds, “The greater your goals, the greater you’ll need to change people’s hearts, minds and actions.” And then he sets out to give us a step-by-step process for creating enchanting relationships.

This book is for anyone who has ever dreamed a dream and wanted to see it materialize. If you are a small business owner or entrepreneur, if you work for a large enterprise, or if you’re a recent college graduate, you’ll find tips in Kawasaki’s book that will help you engage your prospects or customers so that you can compete in this changing marketplace.

With such chapters as “How to Achieve Likability,” How to Achieve Trustworthiness,” “How to Prepare,” and many others, Kawasaki gives tools for mounting a campaign that is geared to achieve your vision and goals by creating powerful relationships. The book is packed with interesting personal profiles, from everyday working people to celebrity icons such as Steve Jobs and Al Gore. And because the book took a year to write and a lifetime of experience to create, it is loaded with background research, which provides a nice balance to the short paragraph format. I especially enjoyed his “hat tips,” where he acknowledges anyone whose idea he shares. 

Yes, this is a great book for the everyday entrepreneur, but is the concept of “enchantment” too soft for the C Suite? In a recent Forbes interview, Steve Denning asked Kawasaki how he communicates enchantment as a business proposition to CEOs, CFOs, and other senior leaders. How does he persuade this serious group that they too need to be in the business of enchantment?

“The best way is to use examples,” says Kawasaki. “Wouldn’t you like to have the evangelistic base of Apple or the likeability of Virgin America? Wouldn’t you like customers to trust you the way they trust Zappo’s, so that they will buy shoes, sight unseen? Even the most hard-core pencil-pushing bean-counter will have to say, ‘Yeah, I wish we were Apple or Virgin America or Zappo’s! That’s not such a bad place to be.’”

If you want to get a taste of your company’s ability to cast a spell and enchant your audience, listeners, customers, or prospects, take this test Kawasaki created: Guy’s Realistic Enchantment Aptitude Test (GREAT). Then, no matter what your results are, read Enchantment. You’ll get practical, doable suggestions that could just make your company the next Apple. Now, wouldn’t that be great!


May 9th, 2011 | Permalink | Trackback | No Comments » | Bookmark and Share



Need a last minute gift for your favorite Public Speaker?

December 20th, 2010

Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences, by Nancy Duarte

Nancy Duarte gives us a reason to Resonate. Her new book, Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform aAudiences, is part how-to guide and part narrative that gives justification for an approach Duarte calls “story based messaging.” Using techniques from storytelling and the cinema, she explains her methodology, explores case study applications, and guides readers through a unique process for building presentation content.

Duarte bases her premise on a simple phenomenon in physics: If you know an object’s natural rate of vibration, you can make it vibrate without touching it. Resonance occurs when an object’s natural vibration frequency responds to an external stimulus of the same frequency. She then builds the case that this same ide is what moves audiences and that all presenters should strive to create resonance with their listeners.

According to Duarte, resonance in speaking is created when the presenter delivers a memorable story in a powerful way. To help readers accomplish this, Duarte builds a new language for story creation. Her content development process gives readers a model to create presentations, and it advocates using a well-developed, example rich storyline coupled with powerful, visual design. By incorporating Edward Tufte’s sparkline concept, Duarte provides a way for readers to build and analyze presentations visually.

What’s wonderful about this book is that at the same time Duarte is telling us what to do, she is also showing us the steps visually. In this way, she practices what she preaches: the beautifully designed pages come to life and resonate with the reader.

Resonate has many gems, but one that stood out was Duarte’s explanation of the STAR moment. As she explains, STAR is a presentation device that drives home the big idea of a presentation for the audience. STAR stands for Something They’ll Always Remember, which Duarte states “should be so profound or so dramatic that it becomes what the audience chats about at the watercolor or appears as the headline of a news article. Planting a star moment in a presentation keeps the conversation going even after it’s over and helps the message go viral.”

In this book, the visuals are Duarte’s STAR moment. She is a master of visual design. Where at times the text was tedious, the visual images were always exciting and memorable.

Particularly interesting are the case studies ranging from Ronald Reagan’s eulogy after the Challenger disaster to speeches from people like Richard Feynman, Michael Pollen, Pastor John Ortberf, Steve Jobs, Markus Covert, Leonard Bernstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others.

While the case studies are powerful examples of her methodology, I was disappointed that there were so female speakers mentioned. With so many women in the arts, science, education, fashion, business, politics, and the law, readers can learn much from great female speakers like Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey,  Gloria Steinem, Wangari Maathai, Isabel Allende, Renee Fleming, Elizabeth Gilbert,  Carol Bartz, and Elana Kagan, just to name a few.

As unique and useful as Resonate is, be forewarned that this book is not for casual readers who are looking for a few tips to help them succeed in front of a group. Rather, it is a complex book that requires concentration and commitment to interpret and adopt the process, models, and graphs. As Dan Post, President of Duarte Design, says in the book’s Foreword, “Resonate is intended for people with ambition, purpose, and an uncommon work ethic.” In other words, this is a book for professionals who want to delve deeply into the study of what makes powerful presentations.

If you take your presentations seriously and want to build “presentation literacy” this book is an important resource and well worth the effort. Duarte’s work is thoughtful and inspiring. By synthesizing disparate points of view and using examples of speakers from many disciplines, she has created something unique in the industry. While it’s hard to improve on the speaking lessons from the ancient Greek Orators, Duarte has done it. Resonate will give you a fresh, new look at an age-old subject.


December 20th, 2010 | Permalink | Trackback | 2 Comments » | Bookmark and Share



Blog Carnival: The Impact of Public Speaking on Top Sales Performance

March 24th, 2010

Over the last few weeks I’ve been engaged in discussions with a number of talented and experienced sales professionals. Our conversations have focused on various aspects of the sales process including: establishing credibility, understanding customer needs, reviewing various options and recommending a solution. Everyone was in agreement about one thing. No matter where you are in the sales process, strong communication skills including exceptional presentation skills are critical for success.

Continue reading »


March 24th, 2010 | Permalink | Trackback | 4 Comments » | Bookmark and Share



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