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When is a weakness not a weakness?

When it’s a strength!

It’s my strongly held belief that there’s no such thing as a weakness.

And what’s more when I’m training people to manage others I encourage them to believe the same thing with a surprising level of success.

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The single most important thing to know about structuring a Presentation – Start with the Murder

A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end – but not necessarily in that order.

So says Jean-Luc Godard. And he’s good at telling stories.

In the many Presentation Skills courses that we have run over the years I have met some great people with huge knowledge and enthusiasm for their work.

There are other equally interesting people who come with a doom laden sense that their subject is very dry and boring to any sentient being. Of course if they believe that to be the case then they will undoubtedly be proved right by the audience reaction.

 

So time and time again I find myself asking:

What’s the point?

 

For anyone about to make a presentation or a pitch this is the single most important question you must ask yourself before you begin. If you don’t know the answer then to be honest I wouldn’t bother to go ahead.

 

Once you know, then you’re off…. Read more

Values and the Art of Influencing

It’s rare that a (training) day goes by when I don’t mention my old friend Aristotle and his words of wisdom on Influencing & Persuading – see my earlier post on decision making for more details.

Recently I’ve been giving more thought to the ethical bit of the triangle and how our values come into play when we’re influencing others, particularly those that are different to us.

And the assumptions we make about the values of those who manifest the same behaviours and decisions as us – does it necessarily mean they share our values?
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