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I'm Going RED

Sara Grace and I are doing our best to practice and even improve upon our "Green" living. Do we do this because it has become pop culture (thankfully)? No, we do it because we believe in being better stewards of the environment we have been given. It for one is healthier and apropriate. I do many little things here and there @ work to make our company greener. I encourage us all to remain "green" focused and look for ways to not abuse the environment or ourselves. While we are certainly pro-green, I am going RED and you should to.

Why RED you ask? Not to sound morbid or doctoral, but it's the blood color of all human beings regardless of where they come from or what color their skin may be and that is where I plan to invest my life and my gifts - To enhance the existence of human beings and the organizations in which they get to work. I believe that if we touch hearts before we ask for hands - we will have more IQ! That is not Intellectual Quotient - It is Inspirational Quotient! When we can inspire someone from the inside out, it is then that we can get them to see any color in the prism and surely inspire a "greener" focus.

We need to make RED the new green. Humans were created with the most care, are given the most grace and afforded the most forgiveness. Scripture tells me that you were fearfully and wonderfully made, everything else was just made on a specific day. My stock is going into RED and the human potential that bleeds what we all enjoy -better lives, better businesses, better leaders, better nations.

Before you get wrapped up in a "green campaign" (albeit noble) - make sure your "RED" is getting the most Leadership Oxygen possible. You simply cannot truly go green without being brilliantly RED to start with.

Join me, spread this and let's make RED!

GIVE your speech

While still on the idea of a speech, I want to share something else with you that I have thankfully learned at a whipper snapper age. In his book Give Your Speech- Change the World, Nick Morgan gives us a great historical account of speech giving dating back to the period of Greek Orators. In that stream of his book he talks about the paramount importance of literally giving your speech. He exposes the simple truth that our speeches are for our audience, not for us. When he talks about GIVING your speech, he tells us that we are GIVING our passion to our audience. If you have a message and someone has decided they want to hear it - your goal is to GIVE them something they can put into action and hopefully change the world.

We are in the season of massive political speeches of which I enjoy watching. With each party's convention a thing of the last two weeks, I could not help but think of Nick Morgan's advice as I engaged the speech buzz. Each party usually has an "up and coming" member slated to give a speech and inspire the citizens of said party. When you listen to the media, they talk much about how this and that person has their chance to be the "next big thing" in their party much like Barack Obama did in 2004 @ the DNC. He very much arrived on the radar screen with a great speech. I have an urk with this mentality. It is built up to be a speech that is all about the person and not the audience or the country for this matter.

Their talk is for their country and their party and that is where they should focus. The wording needs to be "for you" and "for us." Certainly these people have a chance to shine (not talking about the nominees) before the world, but they need to be all about their audience. If they have a powerful message to GIVE, that is just what they should do. Give it to their audience and not to themselves. If they are excellent communicators with an action oriented message - they will fare just fine in the future.

Whether you are speaking to a national audience or a nucleus of people at work - you are GIVING a talk, not receiving it. Do just that - Give your message and passion to your audience and move them to action.

For the best on audience centered presentations - check out Nick Morgan's Blog.

Preparation P2

When giving a speech surely you know to be prepared, better yet immaculately prepared. If the only reason to give a speech is to change the world, why would you not be prepared? I confess that I have not been as prepared as I should have when giving a talk. I was encouraged and empathetic last year when I watched one of America's most popular biz speakersgive a speech that he was not prepared for. I could not believe it nor could several thousand others in the audience. He pulled it off as no other could, but nonetheless it was a mess. Why was I encouraged? I guess if you play golf, it's like watching a tour player hit one in the woods - everybody is human and is never perfect.

However, we cannot be the best if we are not the best prepared. I have been blessed in my life with the good fortune to observe some amazing communicators and even receive coaching from the very best. Some of the most valuable coaching/criticism I have received pertains to preparation. Here is a solid sampling of what has really helped me prepare:

1) Have fun while preparing. You "get to" give your talk. Do not worry about getting up in front of people. You have the chance to improve the lives of those people. So, realize what you "get to" do and envision your words touching someones life in a way they will never forget or landing that big deal you are after. Put those words in an order that you know will move someone or something to action.

2) Prepare in the right place. What type of environment stimulates your thoughts and inspires you. Is it a certain type of music, a busy starbucks, a pin-drop quiet room? Prepare in the right environment that works for you - NOT the environment that works best for others. YOU are the one giving the speech.

3) Catch your mind on the fly. How many times do you get an idea while working out, driving, conversing, reading, praying? Capture these ideas wherever you can. I have left myself voice mails, sent myself emails, etc. I have a journal that I use only for potential speaking material. Any of my random ideas ultimately get transferred to that book. Capture capture...read an old post on this = (Defeat the thief of your thoughts)

4) Design your talk before you start writing it down sentence by sentence or point by point. A big white-board or storyboards work well. Just start tossing words up there and ideas - as many as you can. You can organize and eliminate appropriately later. Let your mind go wild while never losing site of your waiting audience. You will find platinum in your thoughts that might lead to your very best line. For an incredible resource on designing speeches, power points, etc you will want to purchase Presentation Zen! by Garr Reynolds.

5) The very best advice I have been given numerous times is going to be the one you are most likely to skip. Please don't. REHEARSE REHEARSE REHEARSE. It is super beneficial to run through your talk in front of others. Even if it is your family or a few close friends, giving your talk out loud will improve your final product incredibly. Your confidence will increase greatly. No, it will not delete your nerves, but it will bring them down a notch. At least do it once and more if you can. Even if you cannot get more than one full rehearsal do this: think about the part of your speech that you are most uncomfortable with, at least two hours before your talk, give that part of your speech into a voice recorder and play it back while getting ready. You will win by hearing yourself and you will improve your final delivery. This is the exact advice that was given to me following a talk that I got a wee bit jumbled on.

Following these simple steps will improve your next delivery whether it be to thousands or your two team members.

Preparation

Preparation seems to be a popular word right now if you live on the southeast or gulf coast. I must say that I miss being in South Florida slapping up hurricane shutters, tying down boats and helping the neighbors with any preparations they may have. However, it appears that our new home in NC is going to get some storm love this weekend. Waiting until the last minute to do hurricane prep can bring on quite a level of stress and worry that was preventable through preparation.

How well do we prepare for our biz lives? Do we wait for a work storm to loom before we focus on preparation. Often times we do not wait til the storms are looming, we wait until they are all over us and our absence to prepare becomes a repair. When we are in a state of repair, our work is saddled with counterproductive stress and an unhealthy urgency to make things right.

Of course we all deal with the unexpected and necessary repair beckons our attention. Most of the time however, focused preparation can keep us just ahead of the curve or even the next big thing.

Two bits of thought advice that have aided me and many others I know:

Got a meeting coming up?

1) Have a meeting before the meeting. My friend Chad Eudy is keen on this. If Chad has responsibilities for an afternoon meeting, sometime prior he is going to have a meeting before the meeting with key people to make sure they are all best prepared.

Disorganized with your workload?

2) Take time at the close of business on Friday or Sunday evening and spend 30-60mins doing your best to plan each day of your upcoming week. Keep in mind that you need to leave time margin for interruptions. A successful executive once shared his pre-week planning and in his discussion he mentioned that only 10% of working professionals actually plan for their week. At the time, I knew his Monday's were less chaotic than mine. I have made progress in that area with a ways to go, but this method of preparation is fruitful. 

Next post will be on preparation as well - pertaining to giving a speech.