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 Stories – People love stories. Stories inspire, stories motivate—stories evoke emotion in people that causes them to respond, to take action, to adopt your ideas, and buy your products. Robert McKee put it well when he said, “Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.”
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Six Ways To Build Your Confidence
Confidence is a valuable tool to have in leadership and in life, but is often not easy to cultivate. These strategies may be simple, but each will have a very positive effect on your self-confidence. You can incorporate them gradually, only use some of them, or adopt them all. As you do, you will find that your confidence will grow steadily, and with it your results will improve. Smile Have you ever tried to think negatively or act sad while smiling? You can’t. It is impossible! Smiling triggers and releases endorphins in the brain, which send a wave of happiness through your entire body. Barbara Johnson said, “A smile is the lighting system of the face and the heating system of the heart.” So, smile often. You will feel more confident and you will look better too. Make eye contact This may seem like such a small thing, but unconfident
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Real Leadership Is About Building Leaders Not Followers
Ralph Nader said that, “The function of leadership is to produce others leaders, not just other followers.” If that is true then the question becomes how do you produce other leaders? And if our focus is on empowerment and leadership development then the legacy of a leader is not what they do when they are at the helm, but rather what happens after they leave. Two years ago, with this thought process in place, I had a chance to test out some of my theories on leadership and can now measure the result. In June of 2013 I was put in as the President of the Mountain West Chapter of The National Speakers Association. This position was a one year commitment and I wanted to not only make an impact during that year but I wanted to set it up for the chapter to continue to thrive after my term
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Are You Making Others Feel Small?
Last week I was having a conversation with my assistant about another person. She paused for a moment and said, “Can I be honest?” I said, “Of course.” Then she said, “Every time I have interacted with him, I feel like he has somewhere more important to be. He makes me feel like I don’t matter, like he is having the conversation because he has to and not because he wants to and he is ready to move on as quickly as possible.” Have you ever felt that from someone else? I’m sure we all have at one time or another but the more poignant question is – Have you ever done that to someone else? My friend Kevin Hall wrote a great book called Aspire. In the book he dissects the meaning of words and in the first chapter he introduces an Indian word – Genshai. Genshai means that
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Leaders Need to Embody the Three A’s
I believe that every leader chooses the level of influence they have based on the approach to leadership that they take. If you choose to lead based on title and position – your influence will be situational and small. Some would argue that your influence would be non-existent. On the other hand, if you choose to lead based on relationships and by adding value – your influence will be lasting and unlimited. Leaders today who choose to lead based on relationships and by adding value need to embody The Three A’s: Accessibility Approachability Authenticity Accessibility: As a leader are you accessible to your people? Do you take the time to be with them and available? The Marines call this eye ball leadership, being face to face, belly to belly with your people. If you want to build genuine relationships, you need to spend time with them, get to know them
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The Four Elements of an Effective Team
This week I had a chance to speak in New Orleans. My friend Jimmer Fredette is playing for the New Orleans Pelicans so I took the time to go to see them play. The Pelicans were without their star Anthony Davis (who is injured) and I was impressed with the teamwork they displayed, so I thought I would share a post I wrote about the formula for effective teamwork from several years ago. The old acronym for TEAM is T- Together E- Everyone A- Achieves M- More While I agree with the sentiment – it is only true if the team learns to work together. I have been a part of teams in business, sports, and community efforts as well as church and service projects. Some have been effective and some haven’t. So what makes a team effective? There are Four Elements of An Effective Team. It is the acronym
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The Rule of Two – How to Connect with People
The Rule of Two – How to Connect With People A few months ago I wrote a blog titled, Stop One-Upping If You Want to Connect with Others https://tybennett.com/stop-one-upping-people-if-you-want-to-connect/ I had a lot of comments on the blog from people who recognize that they do this and others who talked about how annoying it is when people do it to them. We all know what it feels like when someone makes the conversation about them or shares a bigger and better story than what was just shared. It causes us to shrink back, disengage and feel defensive. Last week I was speaking for Anthem Insurance in California and at one of the breaks a salesman named Joe asked if he could share an insight with me. Earlier that day I shared an idea that I teach to focus on being interested, not interesting and he said it reminded him
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Perfect is Great – Done is Better
Last week I was coaching a friend who is launching a speaking business. She is great on stage, has a killer message and is ready to start to market herself in a big way. One essential marketing piece for speakers is a video. In November she had a speech recorded that went well, but there are a few little mistakes that bug her about the video. The question that followed was, “Do I put out a good video now and upgrade when I have better footage or do I wait?” My response is a favorite saying – Perfect is Great: Done is Better I believe one of the keys to success is to focus on progress not perfection and to constantly be in action. For my speaker friend – start to market yourself now and you will have more opportunities to get better footage. You will progress quickly and so
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Who Cares Who Gets The Credit?
As a leader have you ever been moved to action knowing that you will not be the one to get the credit? Leadership comes in all shapes and sizes and often winds up in places that you least expect it. A little over a year ago I heard a song on The Voice that was emotional and beautifully done. The original version of the song was done by Great Big World entitled “Say Something.” Music has a special way to move us by completely being relatable, heartfelt, happy, sad or sometimes just entertaining. In other words it touches you and makes you feel something. Apparently that is just what happened when Christina Aguilera heard this song for the first time. She loved it and wanted to know everything about the artists and song writers. She was on a mission. The short story is this – she tracked down Great Big
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Today’s Leaders Need An Entrepreneurial Mindset
According to Financial Times an Entrepreneurial mindset refers to a specific state of mind, which orientates human conduct towards entrepreneurial activities and outcomes. Individuals with entrepreneurial mindsets are often drawn to opportunities, innovation and value creation. I recently spoke at an association conference for Food Service Leaders. The CEO of a major food company introduced me and when I finished my speech and came back stage he was there waiting for me. He thanked me for my speech and said, “I wish that my leaders would think the way you think.” I asked, “What do you mean,” and he said, “You are an entrepreneur, so you think like an entrepreneur. You take an owner’s mentality and see the big picture. Leaders need to think like entrepreneurs if they want to be successful in today’s market.” I have thought a lot about what he had to say and he is right.
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