March 28th, 2010
Can you take the heat of the C-suite?
Senior executive discussions aren’t what most people think they are. They are often not just fast-paced but also very aggressive. I mean that in the nicest way. If you aspire to the C-suite (i.e., CEO, CFO, CIO,…) , just think of the consequences of your dreams: are you ready to speak out even if you receive extreme attack? Can you take powerful criticism in front of others? Yes? Then maybe you ARE ready for the C-suite.
Posted in Career Advancement, Executive Communications, Influencing | No Comments »
Return to top ^March 28th, 2010
UK US: Perfectly worded, but so what?
Beautiful language or wording is not something we think of the average American having any interest in using in everyday speech. However, people from the United Kingdom are raised to seek the most attractive wording they can, even for everyday speaking. This might seem like a nice-to-know, but if you are from the UK and are working in the US, your focus on finding the perfect wording might actually hurt your career. I see this pretty regularly, and it’s a shame, because I love to hear beautiful wording. This is especially a problem at senior executive levels, because most don’t have the patience to wait for beautiful wording.
Tags: talking effectively with senior executives, UK US differences in speaking style
Posted in Influencing, Speaking Style | No Comments »
January 7th, 2010
If you REALLY want to annoy people…
If you really want to annoy people, take yourself too seriously. Just don’t be self-serious. What the heck is “self-serious.” I bet you know the sound of self-seriousness on someone else. You know: they enjoy giving their opinions or proclamations a little too much. A little too self-absorbed. A little too self-focused and insecure sounding at the same time. No humor to it, and it can even come across as comical. I get a kick out of this subject of self-seriousness, because it’s so subtlely obnoxious. And the thing that concerns me the most when I get a self-serious client is that they are so often quite nice people underneath it all. Not as arrogant as “one” might suspect.
Tags: Being Boring, Self-Seriousness, Technical Experts
Posted in Influencing, Presence, Speaking Style | No Comments »
January 7th, 2010
Attack Dogs: Why Do People Talk Like That?
The name-calling! The accusations! The passionate anger? Are they committed or commitable? We’re so unused to strong feelings that it’s frightening to see people show them so nakedly. What do you do when someone uses that kind of passionate speaking on you? Easy – 3 steps:
- Depersonalize. Say, “This is not about me. This is about X (issue, project, obstacle.)
- Turn the searchlight on them even though they seemed to have focused the spotlight on you, and set them up to speak reasonably rather than in an inflammatory way. Say, “What are your actual concerns?” Did you notice the word “actual?” They can’t just victimize you when you are insisting that they focus on something genuine rather than inflammatory attacks.
- Listen, but then rephrase your version of what you heard.
Posted in Influencing | No Comments »
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