Clippings

Editing Your Speech: The Power of Precision

1. Your speech has more than one overall point (Saving the environment AND supporting the health care program - both points could be used as supporting points in a speech about political philosophy, but then the one overall point is about the political philosophy).

2. You are presenting points as soundbytes instead of stories. When you tell me what you want without showing me why you want it, you are wasting your breath and my time.

3. You are presenting more than one point every 4-6 minutes. In a 60 minute speech, have ONE overall point (saving the environment) and no more than one supporting point for every 10 minute period. Your audience can only take in so much information at one time.

4. If you aren't allowing your audience to Go Ahead and Laugh at least every 2-3 minutes, you need to find the humor in your speech before your listeners transform into uninterested watchers, cartoon scribblers, or Blackberry escapees. When you add to, you'll always need to edit out.

5. You find yourself running out of time before you reach your conclusion - preferably in your practice sessions as opposed to live, paying audiences.
via speakanddeliver.blogspot.com

From Rich Hopkins, advice on recognizing that your speech is too long. Whole post contains the tips for what you can do about it.

Appreciation

From Tom Peters

The great American psychologist, William James, tells us, "The deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated."

I have long thought that those are among the most profound words I've ever stumbled upon. For I do fervently believe that appreciation is indeed the most powerful force of nature and hence, practically speaking, the premier "motivational" "tool" available to bosses-managers-leaders (not to mention parents and teachers and spouses)...

And that pair in turn leads me to the last of this set, and back to the James brothers, this time the prominentnovelist Henry: "Three things in life are important: The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind."

Tough times, which are still the context for many of us, provide the greatest tests of character. Tough times are the period when basic human decency matters most. From a commercial standpoint, tough times are the best of times to deepen relationships with employees, customers, suppliers, and the communities in which we work and live. Yes, difficult decisions must be made ... again and again. But the way in which these decisions are approached and executed is the bedrock for the relationships that will re-ignite first and most fiercely and move us forward with alacrity when the worm does turn.

Relationships based on thoughtfulness and benevolence and kindness and appreciation are the sort that you "can take to the bank." Or, to use the strategy mavens' metaphor du jour, deep relationships make for the deepest of "blue oceans"—a/k/a, sustainable competitive advantage.

Believe it!

The whole post contains more examples and is worth reading.

Light My Fire | The Company You Keep | Fast Company

Listening to the lyrics in The Doors song, “Light My Fire”, I think they might just have the answer to helping business through these challenging times. “Try to set the night on fire/The time to hesitate is through/No time to wallow in the mire/Try now we can only lose,” rings true.

What do you do when there are only embers?  How do you stop worrying about wet matches? No fuel, no problem.
via fastcompany.com

Great application. How can this kind of thinking be used in other contexts?

Well, That Didn't Take Long

Teaser in this morning's Washington Post

Afghanistan

Wavering on 2011 Withdrawal

Defense Secretary Robert M, Gates says it'll probably take two to three years to get all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan

I'm not surprised to see this, just surprised to see it so quickly. I wonder how long before we start hearing about the need for a bigger military buildup from others. Article here.