I chose Benjamin Zanders article as he is one of the most inspiring speakers I have ever seen – very similar, I dare to say, to one of our new speakers who will be presented to you after Easter. This is my last Blog-post for the next two weeks. I will be indulging in the luxury of living without my computer. The next blog will be online on 16th of April. Have a great time and speaking with Benjamin Zander: Practice the language of possiblity!

BENJAMIN ZANDER: The Art of Possibility (from: World Business Forum, Executive Summary, page 14)

“…The new world is the most exciting in human history. To take advantage of it you have to get away from the language of the downward spiral and the habit of constant comparing and measuring. A voice in the mind drowns out the “music” of possibilities and prevents organizations and people from taking the risks necssary to radically expand their opportunities.

The secrets to success:

1. Visualize your role as a leader, not as the central figure of control, but getting players to explore the possibilities. When you make a mistake, or others do, respond with “How fascinating!” and don’t place blame.”

Read the whole article:Ben Zander Executive_Summary_WBF2011

The findings suggest that the risk of receiving stress-related medication increases significantly for employees at organizations that change, especially those that undergo broad simultaneous changes along several dimensions. (Source: Management Science, 09/2010) Specific importance are attributed to change requests in employees’ cooperation and communication patterns. “Such changes concern the daily routines of the employees and create therefore a lot of stress and feelings of uncertainty,” says Dahl (Source: managerSeminare January 2012).

Fact is that communication and cooperation patterns are only the visible part of relationships between people and are therefore a direct expression of a persons’ personality. Programs that ought to change such patterns are hence specifically stressful as people enter into conflict with themselves.

Good leadership communication plays a crucial role in helping collaborators to overcome the internal barriers of change and be able to adapt new routines. Leaders have to play two different and equally important roles:

1. the role of the role model: when change is required the leader must live it first
2. the role of the lighthouse: winds of change can feel for some of your employees like long awaited breezes of oxygen and for others like tornados. But in any case it needs the lighthouse to show the direction and give certainty in troubled waters

Let me give you four concrete tips regarding point two:

1. KEEP YOUR DOOR OPEN – at least at clearly defined times. SHOW RELIABLE PRESENCE. A lot of managers are tempted to retreat in order to become less vulnerable in hard times but the contrary is necessary right now. DIRECT DIALOGUE with all concerned groups is vitally important in times of change.
2. Define your MAIN MESSAGES, BELIEFS and VALUES and don’t become tired of repeating them and yourself every day. When old routines have to be broken new ones have to be established. Only routine provides the certainty and structure for an organization to become productive – in a climate of constant change no one can be productive on a larger scale. This is also why simultaneous changes on several levels or subsequent changes of direction are that destructive.
3. SMILE MORE OFTEN. A genuine smile not only provides a feeling of well-being but also tells the others that you are approachable, cooperative and trustable. More so, if you smile, most of the times the other person automatically smiles back and as our facial expressions trigger corresponding feelings this smile also changes the feelings in that person in a positive way.
4. EXERCISE THE ART OF ACTIVE LISTENING. Turn your head and torso to face the person who is speaking directly, make eye contact, lean forward. Nod from times to time and tilt your head slightly. Avoid any kind of multi-tasking (checking your notes or smart-phone, etc.)

That sounds simple – and yes, sometimes it is enough to do simple things repeatedly in order to make difficult things more easy.

Thomas Seifert at TEDxPannonia 2011

 Connecting to the “REVOLUTION” – topic of my recent blog-posts let me present one of the “Speakers for Change” to you: THOMAS SEIFERT, International Correspondent, Author and Photographer. His latest book “Black Book on Gold” is still “hot”.

He is not only travelling and exploring the countries which are currently in a state of BOTTOM-UP REVOLUTION, but also countries which are in a state of REVOLUTIONARY EVOLUTION – like India and China. Just recently he gave a speech full of inspiration and insight at the TEDx Pannonia on “How Eastern Education and Innovation are driving Asia’s development“.

We know a lot of the war-zones and so-called “developing countries” of this world but most of all the negative sides – death, pain, tragedy, poverty, injustice. But who is interested to dig deeper and to try 1^st to SEE and 2^nd to UNDERSTAND what lies behind that surface of an “undesirable life” as it might seem to us?

Thomas Seifert discloses with his speeches the extraordinary know-how of people and countries that otherwise we would not see, not understand and not be able to appreciate.

“Just to take an example”, he says, “there is a lot to be learned from Guerrilla Fighters – and more than that: WHAT WE HAVE TO LEARN if we want to survive. We live in an age of absolutely revolutionary break-ups; the geo-political foundations of our system are under total deconstruction. Problems become more complex, unpredictable and inter-connected and we are losing more and more control. States see their role of absolute power dissolve and non-governmental parties are gaining power. The old geo-political paradigms of the “Balance of Power” are not any more valid – we will need to get accustomed to the fact that “resilience” and resistance become much more important than the pure exertion of power.”

He speaks about the “David vs. Goliath – Principle” or the “Beauty of Asymmetry“ when he explains how it was possible that only 500 to 1000 Hezbollah-Fighters could stand up against 30.000 Israeli soldiers and let’s us understand why Fanaticism is always better than Fatalism when he states the case of “What Hezbollah-Chief Hassan Nasr Allah and Steve Jobs have in common“.

See his complete profile here: THOMAS SEIFERT

Fern Lebo, FrontRunner Communications

I find this article highly usefull and would like to share it with you and introduce by this the work and blog of a long-time expert in effective communication:

Author: Fern Lebo of FrontRunner Communications, Toronto (Canada)

Like any good performance, a presentation must have a beginning, a middle and an end. Plus, it must be easy to hear, so your audience “gets it” and responds positively. Let’s be clear; you present to sell.

To deliver a winning sales presentation you must:

• differentiate yourself from your competitors
• convince your audience you are worth listening to
• deliver information so that it is understood and appreciated
• grab your audience and keep them listening from the very first word.

Too many presenters waste their most important opening minutes with the standard “Thank you for inviting us” quickly followed by the “My name is…” and sailing right into the “I’d like to introduce you to our team.” If that’s what you do, you are achieving the exact opposite of what you intend. First, you sound like everybody else. Secondly, your beginning is instantly forgettable. And finally, you have given your audience good reason to disengage right from the get-go. Indeed, you are seriously out of tune with the needs of a listening audience.

When you want to win, you need a perfect pitch. Here’s the how and why in 7 easy steps.

Step 1: Begin with your Big Message–the one you have polished until it sings.

Click here to read the whole article: http://frcommunications.com/blog/2011/10/organize-a-powerful-sales-presentation-7-steps-to-the-perfect-pitch/ 

When Patrick Lencioni came in as the first speaker he managed to drag me into his presentation right from the start. With his

• energetic voice,
• clear articulation,
• vivid eyes and
• immediate jokes he had me – and not me alone.
• He told quite a lot of stories, illustrating each point in his presentation which was completely based on his (not so recent) book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”.

So he was easy to follow and there was not so much content -  the notes are quite complete. What misses are the stories. He left his audience with a clear message and quite amused, I’d say.

Tamara Erickson came in immediately afterwards and I had great difficulties with her at first.

• Her voice sounded bad to my ears. It was somehow “pressed” and I felt this pressure myself. It hurt.
• Secondly, on the picture she looked totally different (btw, this is something that happens very often with women: in real-life they look totally different from their press-image). This came as a suprise. 
• She made no jokes nor did she anything else to “greet” her audience

So I was somehow reluctant to listen to her after Lencionis’ firework. But then, it was around the 6th minute or so, I was finally (and I would rather say “suddenly”) captured by the CONTENT of her presentation “Managing across Generations”. She finally talked about something I could directly relate to and this is when she dragged me in and from that point, I have to admit, I took notes but they are not exhaustive – she told no stories, she just showed the results of her study and what you will find in the notes is the bare minimum of what she said – there was much more content but I did not manage to scribble it down. The only way of illustration she used were pictures in the slides (which were missing in Lencionis’).

So at the end she left me stunned by the in-depth know-how she provided and the new ways of thinking she opened up with her presentation. And this final result calmed my spirit and made me forget her uncomfortable voice, her misleading image and her way to not make contact… At the end I found her presentation much more valuable than Lencionis’.

As the third speaker in a row, Claudio Fernández-Aráoz had quite a difficult task: the audience was tired already after listining for more than an hour.

• He is Argentine and this is something one could clearly hear – for me he was difficult to understand and therefore hard to listen to
• at this point in time he made too many intro-jokes and told too many too long stories – would he have been first, this would have been ok, but when everybody is tired, speakers should come to a conclusion more quickly
• his presentation ended when actually new, not already well-known content was expected to follow

You will see in the notes that the output is somehow meagre due to the above mentioned reasons. The final statement was also not further more elaborated in the discussion between the three which followed afterwards.

Apart from the notes that you are invited to download here the following points are important to take care of when writing your presentation/ your speech:

1. be aware of the time at which you are supposed to speak and which “number” you have in a succession of speakers – being the first implies other necessities to work with your audience than being last
2. don’t waste time by a. not connecting to the audience at the beginning of the presentation, b. looking completely different than on your press-picture and – with a bit of additional training – c. speaking with a voice which is hard to listen to
3. your first duty is to deliver content, not stories - people are getting also tired of listening to stories, especially if you are not the only speaker. Stories should illustrate the content – and not the oher way around (there are way too many story tellers on the podiums of this world)

And here comes the Download: WBF 2011_Day 2_Notes on Lencioni&Erickson&Fernandez-Araoz