“That will never work.”

“It’s never been done before.”

“Don’t bother – we already tried that once.”

“Nice idea, but can you prove that it will work?”

“We can’t sell that to senior management.”

We aren’t taught to question things that are familiar to us. Which reminds me of an experiment that can be done with five monkeys.

Start with a cage containing five monkeys.  Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it.  Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana.  As soon as he touches the stairs, spray the other four monkeys with cold water.  After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result – the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water.

Soon enough, any monkey that tries to climb the stairs will be stopped by the others.

Now, turn off the cold water.  Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.  The newcomer will see the banana and try to climb the stairs. To his surprise, all of the other monkeys attack him.  After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original monkeys and replace it with a new one.  The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked.  And the previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.

Continue the process – replace the third monkey with a new one, then the fourth, then fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. But most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs – or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Regardless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know, that’s the way it’s always been done around here.

Companies all over the world repeat this experiment every day with their own people. What about yours? Or do you promote a culture that is eternally curious about why they do what they do?

If you want to improve your presentation skills, there is no one better to study than Apple CEO Steve Jobs. His keynotes captivate audiences – and you can learn to do the same. Communications coach Carmine Gallo breaks down his methods in the video below.

Here is a summary of the Jobs presentation approach:

1. Create a headline that sets the theme. Make sure that it is clear and consistent throughout your presentation.
2. Provide an outline. Then open and close each section with a clear transition. This makes it easy for others to follow what you’re saying.
3. Generate enthusiasm. Nothing is worse than a listless presenter. Remember, great communicators don’t transfer words – they transfer emotion.
4. Make numbers meaningful. You should back up your points with numbers, and those numbers should be expressed in context.
5. Make it visual. Limit bullet points and text. The more data you put into each slide, the more likely it is the audience members will start checking their PDAs.
6. Create a memorable moment. Identify this ahead of time, then spend your presentation building up to it. Jobs is known for keeping audiences in suspense waiting for his “one more thing” – a traditional joke he makes before announcing the next big thing at the end of his keynotes.
7. Rehearse. No one – not even Steve Jobs – can pull off an intricate presentation with video clips and demonstrations without hours of rehearsal. If people are willing to invest time listening to you, then you ought to be willing to spend the time necessary to create a polished presentation.

While I agree that it matters who you know, that doesn’t mean the goal should be to have thousands of online friends. Quantity alone doesn’t mean that you’re truly connected.

Here’s a thought: make your network smaller. Then take that network and focus on making it tighter. Do this by reaching out to people more frequently (about them, not you) and connecting them to others.

This approach takes time, but it’s the best way I know to build a real network.

Now the opposite is true. With less revenue, the company started showing signs of financial strain. So the CEO and other senior managers made some very quick decisions. Those decisions were made with limited information, and they backfired. Now the company is in serious trouble.

The main rule of decision making: as soon as you have a reasonable amount of information, decide what to do. Any more or less could be catastrophic.

There is another kind of follow-up that seems hard, but really isn’t. And since it takes place in moments other than when a sale is on the line, it’s much more powerful.

I’m not talking about generic thank you emails or satisfaction surveys. They’re boring, and do nothing to create customer loyalty or referrals. What I mean is someone from the company connects with the customer in meaningful way.

Let’s use an easy example: high-end restaurants. People aren’t dining out as much these days, and those that do are typically buying cheaper wine and ordering fewer courses. To lure customers in, many restaurants now offer value menus or run promotions. Fine. But the only time they follow-up with a customer is when confirming a reservation.

What if they decided to follow-up with patrons in a simple but unconventional* way? Someone from the restaurant could call to ask how dinner was the night before. Or the wait staff could send handwritten thank you cards to their customers. And if those doing the follow-up are empowered to resolve problems, than you’re much closer to establishing an emotional connection with your customers than you were before.

This small act is inexpensive, and chances are it will do more to generate repeat business and referrals than advertising ever will.

*This is unconventional for a restaurant, which is why it might work. The point here is that you need to figure out what is unconventional for your business and act on that.

We’re in the midst of the 22^nd recession since 1900, and so far it’s been an ugly one. And while the rate of job losses has recently slowed, many companies are still in retreat – freezing salaries, raising health-care premiums, and eliminating training programs.

If you’re a linchpin, this is an incredible opportunity.

I was privileged to attend the book launch in New York City. During the presentation, I learned that the original title of the book was The Chef, The Cook, and The Dishwasher.

In a restaurant, the dishwasher is clearly the lowest job available. Someone will always have to fill this kind of role, but that someone doesn’t have to be you.

The cook follows a recipe – make a particular dish one way, every time. Everyone can follow instructions, so it should come as no surprise that there are a surplus of people available to perform these jobs. And since a cook doesn’t create any real value, they have little hope of making more than an average living.

The chef is different altogether. A chef may be aware of recipes, but chooses not to follow them. Which means that unlike the cook, her best work is completely unknown. By creating instead of following, she turns her work into art.

In the post-industrial age, the artist is the one in demand. Linchpin is the type of book that will push you down this path. It goes on sale today (January 26th). I hope that you’ll pick up a copy – it is by far Godin’s best yet.

At first, it is difficult to wrap your arms around the magnitude of that loss. But what bothers me most is how quickly they folded. After all, this was the first women’s professional soccer league in the world. The owners should have expected success to take time.

ESPN began in 1979, but didn’t turn a profit until 1985 (six years). Turner Broadcasting Systems lost money during its first twelve years of operation. Robert Murdoch expanded into the U.S. market in 1973, but wasn’t profitable until 1983 (ten years). Airbus? They took twenty years.

The list goes on. What concerns me is that I regularly talk with entrepreneurs who think that the only way to win is by front-loading their idea with lots of cash and staff. The reality is that even if you have a great product, the smart thing to do is operate with as little money as possible. Had the WUSA done that, they might still be around today.

I’m not suggesting that you stop thinking big. Keep doing that. Just act small.

A lot of people think that we overextend ourselves. “Slow down,” we’re told. “Take a breath every once in a while. You can’t run at the extremes all of the time.”

We disagree. The days of moving slow are over. Look at the leaders of yesterday – battered, bruised, and frozen in fear. Running at the extremes is now an important component of winning.

How fast do you run?

Too many in business have the same attitude.

That’s a problem. It’s a problem because although it looks like we’re starting to emerge from the recession, we’re not out of the woods yet. So the stop-loss efforts made by many (job cuts, salary reductions, training program elimination) have accomplished little more than buy time. Yet time is running out, and there are still fundamental business challenges that need to be addressed.

Crying for help – as many are doing – isn’t going to solve anything.

You can improve your business a number of different ways. But before you do anything else, make sure you have the right attitude. Because no one is going to carry you to safety.

Of course not. But we will need to make changes if we expect this year to be better than the last.

Start by ignoring the negative news. Research after the economic downturn of the 1990’s found that those exposed to excessive negative news reports had lower levels of motivation and engagement than those who ignored the news entirely.* Remember, sometimes media folks will overreact to something in order to make a point.

Second, redirect your energy on new ideas. Fortunately, Seth Godin compiled a (free) ebook that will help you get started. “What Matters Now” was written by more than seventy big thinkers – contributors include Guy Kawasaki, Gary Vaynerchuk, Hugh MacLeod, Dave Ramsey – the list goes on.

To download, click on the ebook cover above. Or simply go here.

Some of the ideas will apply to you; others will not. But each one will get you to think, and hopefully lead to even bigger ideas when you discuss what you’ve read with others.

Here’s to a great 2010!

* I made this up. See what I mean about making a point?