This list had been long brewing in my mind (for years), but the spark to enumerate my thoughts came after a business dinner where we were discussing the ins-and-outs of good communication practices in business. People forget, I feel, that "business" is a world away from our personal lives, at least in terms of how we interact with one another, yet all too often I find people taking things too personally when at work.
All of these *Xs are efforts to improve how humans engage with our modern world. The benefits are real, and the joy of using a system without fretting, stressing, or hitting speed bumps is a worthwhile endeavor in its own right.
Richard Branson is quoted:
Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.
— Richard Branson
Sometimes, you're not alone on stage.
"Great! The other person can do all of the work," you think. Not so fast, Slick. You've gotta shoulder some of that responsibility. If you want your pitch, your presentation, your partner to be successful, you have to participate as well.
While being alone on stage imparts focus and attention from the audience more so than multiple would, having a pair of people on stage can be highly effective in getting your point across. But it only works well if you back each other up. Having another person on stage doing essentially nothing is a distraction. Don't be the distraction!
In a conversation with a successful entrepreneur buddy of mine, he offered an interesting (to me) perspective to take with regards to making forward motion your life. His premise is that most people tend to look for work that "suits their current needs or personalities." This is wrong, according to my friend. Rather, a person should adapt his or her ideas looking for a job that will suit their future needs.
Overheard at a coffee shop, regarding a final presentation for a college communications class:
"Three of us were accountants, but the fourth was a geo-engineer. We all wore business casual, but he wore sneakers and a t-shirt and a backwards baseball cap that he refused to take off [emphasis from speaker]."
Less about about public speaking, more about being connected with your fellow human being — which, really you should be shooting for when you're giving a presentation or speech anyway. But more specifically, when it comes to the work environment:
Connectedness is Effectiveness
My thoughts are in this article on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/connectedness-effectiveness-adam-kecskes/
Oh, man.
Did I take things way too seriously when I first started getting into management and leadership roles. Way too seriously.
Humor goes a long way towards creating powerful relationships and rapport. Don't underestimate it. And seriously, don't take yourself too seriously.
Have you been asked to setup a meeting? How do you arrange the invite and who do you include? How do you prepare and execute? Are you giving the presentation?
Look, we've all been there — the meeting that never seems to end, all the speakers tend to ramble, where the next scheduled group is impatiently knocking on the little glass window in the door, and worst of all, you have no idea what was supposed to happen. When you exit such a meeting, what runs through your mind? I'll bet it's something like, "next time Bob sends me a meeting a request, I'm going to ignore it."
Yeah, probably a good idea.
It doesn't take much effort to find examples of truly deplorable leadership in the present (and it's a slam dunk if you take the historical route). Today, I encountered a LinkedIn article and an NPR radio program that centered around the idea of toxic leadership, so it seemed like an obvious choice for a topic, especially considering how many toxic leaders I've encountered in my own career.
My mother, of all people, use to always say "Screw up, move up." I remember her saying that about politicians when I was a kid and she still says it today. Why is that?
Part it is what is known as the Peter Principle.