The ABC's of Executive Speaking: Brevity

"The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do."
Thomas Jefferson

In my last post, I introduced you to the “A” of the “ABC’s of Executive Speaking” framework– Authenticity. In this blog I will examine the “B” of the “ABC’s” - Brevity

My dad was a great speaker and successful executive. When I would listen to him speak, I remember being impressed by how he would say what he needed to, make his point and leave the impression he desired on his audience all without saying a lot or taking too much time to say it. I never saw him lose an audience or a single listener.

My dad would counsel me about speaking with a favorite adage, “The brain will absorb what the rear end will tolerate.”

Shakespeare wrote that “Brevity is the sole if wit.” In executive speaking, Brevity is a sole of retention.

When it comes to executive speaking, Brevity is an essential skill to practice. To exhibit Brevity in executive speaking, you should have a command of the skills of being:

• Concise

• Succinct

• Economical

• Compact

Let’s explore each of these skills.

CONCISE

I have witnessed many executive speakers struggle to contain the amount of what they say into the time they’re allowed to say it.

In business, time is money. Today’s businesses proudly extoll how their people are doing more and more with less and less available time. It therefore stands that these same employees prize their time as a precious possession. An effective executive speaker does not waste an audience’s time.

Why waste it explaining a concept, getting to your point, or asking for the action you want people to take?

The ability to be Concise means that you are able to give a lot of information clearly and in a few words. It means you are brief but comprehensive. Getting to the point requires you to weed out any unnecessary content. It means you must learn to be precise in both content and language. It means you should have a plan and a formula to use that will help you control your content as well as shape its impact.

SUCCINCT

It is tough to be terse.

The act of being a Succinct speaker can be achieved when what you say is briefly and clearly expressed. Thomas Jefferson’s sage words above, “never to use two words when one will do”, must be heeded. The words you chose should be commonly understood. An acronym must be explained before it is used again. Being Concise means learning how to become terse; a speaker of few words. But your words must be chosen with purpose. To have impact you must have value in both your content and message.

ECONOMICAL

Executive speakers often struggle with limiting the vastness of their knowledge when they speak to their audiences. As subject-matter experts, executive speakers have a tendency to dowse their audience with a fire hose when a sprinkler will do. As a result, they are neither economical in content or time.

To be economical means to use no more of something than is necessary. It also means to give good value or service in relation to the amount of time or effort spent.

Being economical of language and content is a great way to practice the brevity essential to your skill as an effective executive speaker and leader.

COMPACT

Being Compact in your executive speaking requires you to organize your content for maximum impact. Adhering to a formula or outline enables you to be precise in your approach and delivery. In speaking, this means expressing yourself with fewer words than normal. You must learn how to get your point out and then get to that point with precision, purpose and potency.

BREVITY

Listeners put a high price on speakers who value their time by being Concise, Succinct, Economical and Compact in their presentations and speeches. Demonstrating you are an executive speaker who has command of the skill of Brevity will enhance your stature, your level of influence, and your image as a leader within your organization.

It is true! In speaking, less really is more. 

• More understanding.

• More influence.

• More credibility. 

I urge you to keep Brevity in mind as an effective speaking tool. There is no reason why you, as an executive speaker, should not value and practice Brevity every time you speak. Brevity is your key unlocking the door to deeper understanding, greater impact and wider influence through saying more with less.

Thanks for your support as a reader of my blog and I eagerly welcome any comments on how you’re thinking about achieving the possibility of your promise. Also, I would appreciate any suggestions you might have for future posts in this blog on a topic near and dear to you in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Where are you in the audacious and tenacious stories you tell when you speak?

"Nobody is a villain in their own story. We're all the heroes of our own stories."
George R. R. Martin

One of the great joys of speaking may be found in that moment when something you say inspires or motivates your audience. There are two ways you can make this happen.

The first is through sharing deeply profound insights that clear the cobwebs from your audience’s mind, allowing them to see clearly through to an outcome you envision.

The second is through the telling of inspiring and motivating stories.

If you take option number 2, you should tell stories of audacity to inspire and tenacity to motivate. When you tell these stories, they will have greater impact on your listeners if they have you as the hero.

AUDACIOUS TALES

I have heard many speakers, keenly intent on inspiring their audiences, tell heroic stories of other people’s accomplishments. True as these stories may be, they lack the first-person credibility a speaker needs to add gravity to the inspiring point they seek to make.

One reason for this, is many speakers do not feel comfortable telling stories of their own audacious experiences. They view this act as “bragging”. But, it is not. It is merely the opportunity to humbly share lessons learned through your own experience at the crucible of life.

Audacity (being audacious) is the ability to take bold risks. If you want to really inspire your audience, take the time to reexamine your life and look for those moments when you stepped outside of your comfort zone. It could be the story of your first time away from home or you're the time you took on a project without any idea of how you would pull it off. Audiences are inspired when they hear stories about the possibilities of human endeavor. The stories that resonate the most with them are delivered through first person testimony.

When audiences hear you tell stories about the achievements of famous people, the listening rule they follow is “If the story is not about you, then why are you telling me?” To be your most effective as a speaker, open up and let them hear about your trials and triumphs.

TENACIOUS TALKS

When I speak on success, I often ask my audience if they have “A capacity for tenacity?”

My goal with this question is to help them gain an understanding that success is not an instant experience, but an accumulation of many instances of success over time. In other words, you can motivate your audience to see why a dream is possible if they can attach themselves to the bigger vision with a massive amount of tenacity.

One story I tell is how I trained my dog to ring a bell hanging by our back door to alert us when she needed to go outside. Now this may not seem like a big deal, but for the dog and our family it was. This story combines elements of overcoming the nay-sayers, calling upon extreme ingenuity and innovation, patience, understanding, commitment to the vision, teamwork and success.

When your audience learns, through your stories, that no dream of theirs is too small to be given their all, they will become motivated to reach for newer and bigger goals.

HEROES AND VILLAINS

George R. R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones series said, "Nobody is a villain in their own story. We're all the heroes of our own stories."

To be a really effective speaker you must feel comfortable being the hero of your stories. To inspire your audiences, you will need to seek out the memories of where you have boldly gone and look for the wisdom within the tale. You can use this to drive home the critical point of what you want to say. To motivate your listeners to new heights, you will have to revisit the life experiences that will help others learn the value of focused commitment as a means toward achieving greatness.

Have no fear, speakers can be heroes too.

Thanks for your support as a reader of my blog and I eagerly welcome any comments on this post or suggestions you might have for a future blog on a topic near and dear to you in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Do you know what the 3 stories are that every executive must be able to tell?

"If you've heard this story before, don't stop me,
because I'd like to hear it again."
Groucho Marx

Once upon a time there was an idea that struck a very eager entrepreneur as the basis for the creation of an amazing enterprise. As time passed, this visionary’s dream began to generate amazing products and services that not only changed the world, but the way the people who used these great products and services began to see themselves. One user of this company’s fantastic, revolutionary, and cutting-edge technology transformed itself overnight into a dynamic, global leader in people to people commercial exchange and a paragon of social action and responsibility.

There are no names to put to this story. There is really no need to. Because, whether the facts are real or imagined, the elements of this story are essential to the culture, growth and sustainability of every business. The stories within this larger epic are the three basic stories that every executive must learn and be able to tell with unbridled enthusiasm, humility and sincerity.

Do you know the three stories that every executive must be able to tell?

Allow me, please, to share some insights with you regarding the three stories and how you can use them to promote yourself and your business.

First, what are the three stories?

The three stories every executive must be able to tell are:

1. The Origin Story

2. The Product Story

3. The Customer Story

Let’s look into each one and see how it might best serve your needs.

THE ORIGIN STORY

Origin stories are tales of passion. They ignite the imagination of the listener and ask them to surrender their attention to the details of a rise from nothingness to established existence. Some origin stories are about unlikely partnerships uniquely forged upon a spark of genius. Others portray courageous visionaries steadfastly pursuing a dream from a garage or a dorm room.

Whatever story relates the foundational moments of your enterprise, as an executive, you must learn how to embrace it, retell it and infuse it with a passion equal to that of the originators in your story.

You must be ever mindful of the many audiences a good origin story serves. Origin stories can inspire investors, recruit top talent, establish a solid ground for a longer relationship, and provide the fundamental core behind a business’s culture and its proud traditions.

Without exception, the telling of the origin story is a primary duty of every executive from the middle to the top and back again.

THE PRODUCT STORY

Once the purview of marketing and public relations, the proliferation of social media into business marketing channels has enabled all executive players within an enterprise to relate the value, features and benefits of every product in the line.

Behind every service or product is the story of why it exists, how it came to be and what unique qualities justify the loyalty of consumers or end users. The product space is crowded in this arena, (social media) where the best, boldest and cleverest grab the lion’s share of the bandwidth shared by readers and raters for shoppers and buyers.

Today, people exhaust all avenues to uncover the good, the bad and the ugly of a product before making their “buy” decision. An artfully crafted and well told product story can have enormous effect on cementing a product’s ranking in search engines, blogs and other aggregators of opinions and reviews.

As an executive, you must know these stories down to the deepest detail. You must be able to recall them with enthusiasm and purpose. The product story is an incredible opportunity to relate value, innovation and excellence in a single experience.

THE CUSTOMER STORY

Whether you read or hear a review from a customer, it has real bearing on your perception of a company and its products. The customer story is a powerful way to relate to prospective customers the deep levels of satisfaction your company and its products have achieved.

Many executives ignore this fertile ground of storytelling, failing to understand its powerful role in breeding new customers and retaining current ones as well.

A well told customer story is a powerful testimonial bearing witness to the passion, promise, and reliability of doing business with your organization. It extends beyond the performance of a single product or products to reach the much more significant value of a relationship built on trust and fidelity. Every executive should have a briefcase (or backpack) full of customer stories suitable for sharing with a vast array of audiences.

THE STORY YOU HEARD BEFORE

As Groucho Marx quipped, “If you've heard this story before, don't stop me, because I'd like to hear it again." As an executive storyteller, you will. Likewise, you will become used to telling these stories and yearn for the chance to do so at every opportunity. The telling must never be done rotely or robotically. Instead the telling of these stories should be fulfilled by those within any organization with a high degree of passion and the honor it bears.

An executive telling any of the three stories, The Origin, The Product and The Customer, should never tire of the unique opportunities they afford to build, buoy and bond a relationship for the betterment of the served and the server.

I deeply appreciate your support as a reader of my blog and I eagerly welcome any comments on this post or suggestions you might have for a future blog on a topic near and dear to you in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Here's what it takes to speak like an effective executive.

“There are good leaders who actively guide and bad leaders who actively misguide.
Hence, leadership is about persuasion, presentation and people skills.”
Shiv Khers

A survey conducted a couple of years ago with leading CEOs and CHROs by the Society for Human Resources (SHRM) and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) concluded that the one skill most valued and most absent in the current workforce was communication skills.

Let’s let that settle in for a moment.

Huh? How could that be?

Don’t big companies prefer leaders that know how to “get things done”, “increase productivity and efficiency”, and “inspire greatness in their employees”?

Well, “Yes” they do. But guess what, these are all things that hard skills find extremely challenging to accomplish.

Why? Because they deeply rely on changing the mindsets and behaviors of people. There are no pills for this. No algorithms, forecasts or computer models either. The only method known to mankind for achieving these business aspirations is the effective practice of genuine, highly focused and clear communication.

Today, this role in business is filled by the executive speaker. The reality is, it is not being done effectively in far too many corners of the business world.

So, how can you become a more effective executive speaker?

THE ABC’S OF EXECUTIVE SPEAKING

Becoming an effective executive speaker requires you to practice and master The ABC’s of Executive Speaking. They are Authenticity, Brevity and Clarity. These three attributes comprise the heart of every effective executive speaker. If you truly want to speak like an effective executive, with all of its power and promise, you must exhibit these qualities when you speak. Nothing less will do.

AUTHENTICITY

Being an effective executive speaker begins and, for intents and purposes, ends here. If you cannot speak with an authentic voice your value, trustworthiness and legacy as an executive will not be firmly established. Authenticity is the foundation upon which everything you say as an executive speaker is built. Authenticity can be thought of as a quality of genuineness, supremely unique to you, the speaker. It is a state of existence in which your natural personality, ethos and pathos are free to surface and make sincere connection to your audience.

Do not confuse Authenticity with Transparency. Transparency is about establishing clear and unfettered access to all elements of an enterprise or endeavor. While an Authentic speaker should be comfortable with being transparent, what can and cannot be disclosed at certain times to certain audiences still remains situational within the world of business. Delicate discretion is a key tool of the Authentic speaker.

Authenticity is a genuine quality of self. Your Authenticity will be established when your audience senses you are …

Genuine – being true to yourself
In Hamlet (Act 1, Scene 3) Shakespeare wrote, "This above all: to thine ownself be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." Do not pretend to be someone you are not. Beyond honesty being the best policy, it is the only policy for a speaker.

Credible
Do not knowingly deceive or misrepresent the facts to your audience in order to support a false agenda. All professional speakers know that the most important character you bring to the stage is the one of a truthfulness that holds the highest respect for your audience, while you safeguard them from harm.

Valid
Your audience must understand the information you share has value. Value in your perspective, concreteness of fact, and the sincerity of your intent. Your content must be timely, accurate and impact them in a meaningful way.

Legitimate
As an authentic executive speaker, you confidently own content that is originally yours, credit fully content you have borrowed from others, and humbly share what you have learned with your audience.

Trustworthy
When writing on success, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Self-trust is the first secret of success.” You goal as an authentic executive speaker is to leave your audience feeling comfortable and trusting in the content you have shared. You must be able to help your audience trust you by showing them you trust yourself through both words and actions.

From Authenticity we connect to the next attribute, Brevity.

BREVITY

While Shakespeare was busy getting Hamlet to be a truer person, he was also letting us know that getting to the point of your message (not sword) is essential to effective speaking when he wrote, “Brevity is the soul of wit.”

In executive circles, Brevity is a sign of respect. “Time is money,” as they say. In today’s business environment, people are doing more and more with less and less available time. They prize their time as the precious possession it is. Effective executive speakers do not waste their audience’s time.

In business this means being…

• Concise

• Succinct

• Economical

• Compact

Getting to the point requires you to weed out any content that may be unnecessary. It means you have to learn how to be precise in both content and language. It means learning how to be terse.

It’s tough to be terse.

Executive subject matter experts struggle with limiting the vastness of their knowledge when speaking to their audiences. They often dowse them with a fire hose when a sprinkler will do. Being economical of language and content is a great way to practice the brevity essential to your skill as an effective executive speaker.

Now we can bring it all together by connecting Authenticity and Brevity to the third attribute, Clarity.

CLARITY

For an effective executive speaker, Clarity equals Certainty. You speak and share only facts about which there is no doubt based on the current information you have validated.

To speak with Clarity, you must:

• Choose your words with a preciseness that avoids confusion or obfuscation.

• Avoid confusing your audience with a plethora of acronyms and jargon.

• Help your audience maintain their focus on what you are saying by limiting or removing all interferences including “ums”, “likes” and “you knows”.

• Speak clearly with proper pronunciation, articulation and grammar.

• Answer every question you pose.

• Be confident, assertive and determined.

• Clarity is the ability to help your audience remember and repeat the core of your message and the point of your speech.

GOOD LEADERS ARE EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE SPEAKERS

Shiv Khers, one of the world’s leading self-help authors, motivational speakers and activists said, “There are good leaders who actively guide and bad leaders who actively misguide. Hence, leadership is about persuasion, presentation and people skills.”

Every executive ought to challenge their ability to be an effective executive speaker by learning and practicing The ABC’s of Executive Speaking. The Universe knows how sorely lacking and how desperately the world needs effective executive speakers. It shouldn’t take a survey to tell us what we already know. The best way to motivate, inspire and transform people is through the power of the spoken word. Humanity has been doing this since the first spark ignited a communal fire.

The best way for you to accelerate your career into and through the executive ranks, build consensus for your most important initiatives, and establish yourself as a thought leader in your professional field is to become a master of The ABC’s of Executive Speaking. When you do you will become highly valued and sought after by businesses, organizations, and colleagues.

This blog is rooted in helping my readers develop the essential people skills they need to succeed as speakers and in other areas of their lives. Many of you are executives, aspiring to become one, and/or a more successful speaker. This blog is here to support you with articles like this one. I deeply appreciate your support as a reader of my blog and I eagerly welcome any comments on this post or suggestions you might have for a future blog on a topic near and dear to you in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

What are you really saying when you offer an apology for your work?

“No good apology ever included the words, “if” or “but”.
Anna Silk as Bo Dennis in Lost Girl

Years ago, there was a friend of mine that was so used to apologizing even the license plate on her car read “I’M SORRY”.

I always felt a little sad for her because she was and still is a really great person, with a shining personality, genuine self-esteem, and as faithful to her word as a saint. She truly had little to apologize for even after life dealt her some incredibly hard blows. In the face of these tragic occurrences, she never made excuses. Instead, she just dug down deep inside her well of persistent determination and gave it everything she had.

My friend saw the world as such a sunny place, that I am sure it was the reason she was always so “Sorry” for everything that happened, whether she had a hand in it or not. Perhaps we should be grateful there are good people in this world who really want the world to be a better place, even to the extent of taking the blame for its shortfalls.

I believe most people offer an apology from a sincere heart. In fact, I have operated on this principle most of my life. But lately, I have been subjected to a string of heartless apologies from insincere companies and professionals that makes me question the value and sincerity of a 21st century apology.

WHY DO WE APOLOGIZE?

In today’s world of business, the act of offering an apology has been strategically hi-jacked. Companies readily offer apologies for everything from a missed appointment to outright failure to perform. Most of these apologies are offered as a way of sounding sincere with the expectation of taking the bite out of the bark of a disappointed customer. The apology given as a corporate strategy with little or no intent to cure an error is about as empty an apology as you can find.

I’m not saying it is the wrong to apologize, I just believe it is pointless to apologize without a promise of action.

I can only think of two reasons why anyone should ever offer an apology.

• Reason #1: As the result of an action in order to establish terms for a redress of the aggrieved party.

• Reason #2: As a means of accepting responsibility while asking for foregiveness for a promise you could not keep.

WHAT ARE YOU REALLY SAYING WHEN YOU APOLOGIZE?

When you enter into a relationship with someone, whether personal or business, there exists an expectation of performance based on something called an “implied contract”. Whether you know it or not, you move in and out of these implied contracts all day long. Implied contracts are based on an expectation of intention. When you pump gas into your car, you are allowed to do so under the intention that you will pay for it. You are willing to pay for the gas because you have an expectation of performance based on the brand’s reputation or octane rating. That is the implied contract. It is an informal type of promise. Promises are the bedrock of Trust; hard to earn, easy to lose.

When you apologize for not keeping a promise, what are you really saying about yourself or your business:

•  “I overstated my ability to deliver on the promise I made to you.”

• “I made this promise to you out of desperation without considering how you might react if I could not fulfill my promise.”

• “I made this promise to you, but I figured if I could not keep my promise to you I could just apologize, and you would forgive me.”

• “It’s easier for me to apologize and inconvenience you, than it is for me to get it right the first time.”

•  “I make promises all the time with no intention of keeping them because that’s just how things are.”

•  “I specialize in empty promises.”

None of the above are acceptable responses under any conditions. If you are a leader or run a business, accept that you will, at some point, need to apologize for some shortfall of your team or business. When you do, be sincere and have a plan for erasing the bad taste of a promise broken.

HOW TO AVOID EMPTY APOLOGIES

• Do not offer an apology without a plan to make things not only right, but better.

• Do not apologize without having the intent to double down on future efforts to win back lost trust.

• If you make an apology, insist that you understand its acceptance will be performance based.

• Never include the words “if” or “but” in your apology.

In an apology, the injured party holds all of the chips. After failing to perform, an apology should not include any conditional language. A sincere apology cannot be made according to the giver’s terms. The giver of an apology has no right to dictate or negotiate its terms.

WHEN SPEAKERS SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT APOLOGIZE

Speakers tend to apologize for a lot of things including skipping a section, forgetting their place, having a cold, and so on. I once heard a speaker apologize for being boring. But, the number one thing I hear speakers make an apology for is not being “perfect.”

Remember, your speaker’s credibility is the foundation of the trust an audience confers on you. The relationship between a speaker and an audience is a fragile implied contract in which one party offers their focused attention in exchange for valuable information, motivation, and enjoyment.

That said, every speaker has the right not to be perfect. No audience has the right to expect perfection from a speaker.

Whatever you think you need to apologize for as a speaker, think about what you might be saying to your audience when you do. Are you saying:

• “I lost my place because I did not put enough preparation in to this effort.”

• “I left out that section because it was probably not that important.”

• “I’m not that excited to be here talking about this stuff.”

• “I was up all last night getting plastered at the hotel bar.”

When you speak, only apologize for those things beyond your control. Everything else, the stuff within your control, requires your full intention in order to deliver on the promise of your speech. How you fulfill this promise is up to you.

I will make no apologies for this blog’s content. I trust you enjoyed it and it will help you to avoid making future empty apologies in your personal and professional life. I appreciate your support as a reader of my blog and I welcome any comment on this post or suggestions you might have in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer