It’s frustrating to listen to people, companies, and politicians say they stand for something while at the same time they try to please everyone. It doesn’t work that way, no matter how hard they try to convince us otherwise. A company’s story can’t be about convenience, low-cost, premium-value, and great selection. A politician can’t talk [...]
Present Like Steve Jobs
The purpose of a presentation is to change minds. Yet this won’t happen if the presenter uses PowerPoint or Keynote to hide behind a wall of bullets and graphs. Of course, that doesn’t mean people still won’t try. If you want to improve your presentation skills, there is no one better to study than Apple [...]
Improve Your Follow-Up
Most businesses look at follow-up as something that’s easy. Wait until someone shows interest in your product, then call or email in an effort to push the sales cycle along. But that’s a call about you, not them. There is another kind of follow-up that seems hard, but really isn’t. And since it takes place [...]
Slow Down
Well, in a few minutes I’ll head out to another networking event. And I’m terrified. It’s not what you think. What terrifies me is how people approach networking these days. In an age where the masses no longer exist and individualism is king, many still network as if it were a contest to see who [...]
Who Cares About You?
No one enjoys difficult conversations. I experienced one of these the other night. I was engaged in small talk – in other words, nothing being discussed was going to alter the quality of my life. But small talk led to a colorful conversation, which quickly resulted in a difference of opinion. No big deal, right? [...]
