Relevant Leadership Blog

A Storytelling Lesson From The NBA Playoffs

I love basketball almost as much as I love storytelling. Luckily for me, today they will come together. We are in the middle of the NBA playoffs and without question the single best player so far in the playoffs has been Kevin Durant. He is averaging over 30 points per game. And it’s not only this year. Durant has been the best player in the playoffs the last three years. In fact, in his entire playoff career he has averaged over 29 points a game which has only been outdone by Michael Jordan & Jerry West. The interesting thing to

Read More »

Stories Make Everything Better

On Monday, I sat in an Irrigation Company Board meeting in Idaho for shareholders who own water rights. We bought a cabin/ranch property last year and with it bought water rights on the canal that runs through our property. The shareholders in the room were primarily farmers and ranch owners – this is a gruff bunch. The President of the Board started the meeting with a funny little story that poked fun at farmers and made everyone laugh and my thought automatically was – Stories make everything better Storytelling a skill that can enhance virtually every situation.   Last week

Read More »

5 Powerfully Simple Presentation Tips

1. Get Rid of Pleasantries – There is no need to talk about the weather, how grateful you are to be there, to apologize, or reintroduce yourself. You only have a few seconds to grab their attention so start with a question or jump into your content. 2. Make it Conversational – Act like you are speaking to one person. Make it conversational. Ask questions. If it is a small group you might create dialogue, with a large audience ask questions and give a pause for people to think about the question. Keep them engaged in the conversation. 3. Tell

Read More »

Three Things The Right Story Can Do For You

Gary Vaynerchuck, the Wine Library TV star and bestselling author of Crush It! said, “Storytelling is by far the most underrated skill in business.” The reason that statement is true is because stories make you, your products and your brand relatable, engaging, and multidimensional. If we are in the interview process we want to be liked and remembered. If we are in sales we want our product to be chosen over all of the competition.  And every company in the world wants their brand to be valuable in the minds of consumers. Well-told stories in the business world create three

Read More »

Advice From Joseph Stalin That Will Change The Way You Communicate

I am currently working with Colorado Children’s Hospital to help them develop their story for their upcoming fundraising campaign. Colorado Children’s is a remarkable facility that has moved to the number three ranked children’s hospital in the nation and the goal for this upcoming campaign is over $300 Million dollars.   How impactful would your communication need to be to raise over $300 million?   As we had our initial meeting I shared a thought that is helping to shape the story and it is an important concept for every communicator to understand if they want to be effective and

Read More »

Presentation Tips From Shark Tank (1)

My favorite show on TV is Shark Tank. If you haven’t ever seen it – it is a reality TV show where hopeful entrepreneurs pitch their business/product ideas to millionaire and billionaire investors – inviting them to invest in their companies with their own money. These investors include Mark Cuban (Owner of the Dallas Mavericks), Daymond John (Creator of FUBU) and others. I am an entrepreneur at heart. I love seeing innovative ideas and people who are creating something from scratch. I love the sacrifice and the passion. I love the negotiations and the valuation process of a pitch. But

Read More »

How To Tell A Story That Moves People

(Book Excerpt From The Power of Storytelling – https://bit.ly/17T5ctj) Great storytellers focus on the audience. They have done their homework, they know who they are speaking to, and they pay close attention to how the audience is responding, whether through their words, their laughter, or through their eyes and body language. Only when you truly know your audience can you make your message about them. That is what creates influence, and the most important facet of making it about them is to tie your message into their primary motivations. If you find out what drives them, what their hot button

Read More »

Should You Give Sales Presentations or Have Sales Conversations (Part 5)

I only have a few more posts on this topic. If you have been following this ongoing conversation – I hope you have learned something. I have received tremendous feedback and appreciate all your thoughts. To view earlier parts – click on the earlier blog posts below. Last post we talked about the importance of asking questions to turn your sales presentation into a sales conversation. With that in mind I want to talk about the role & importance of both competence & confidence. If you are going to make it a sales conversation than you need to know that

Read More »

Should You Give Sales Presentations or Have Sales Conversations? (Part 1)

Interesting question: Should you give sales presentations or have sales conversations? Over the next couple of weeks I am going to share my thoughts around this subject and in the spirit of the post I will ask you to participate in the conversation. Feel free to comment, send me your thoughts and pass this on to others to join in the conversation. So here is the starting point – if you are in sales, or involved with people for that matter – you are an influencer. I believe influencers should have one focus and that is on the other person.

Read More »