Learn From da Vinci And Jobs How To Unlock Your Inner Genius
<h3>Walter Isaacson's new book about da Vinci shows readers how to unlock their inner genius.</h3> Apple co-founder Steve Jobs makes several appearances in Walter Isaacson's new biography of Leonardo da Vinci. The two creative geniuses have a lot in...
Richard Branson’s Most Important Tip For Entrepreneurs
If your pitch can't fit in this format, don't bother pitching the Virgin billionaire. The spark that created one of the fastest growing companies in Richard Branson's Virgin empire came courtesy of a beer coaster. In his new autobiography, Finding My...
According to Richard Branson: Storytelling Is Your Advantage
Richard Branson is an entrepreneur, billionaire, adventure and risk-taker. He’s also a storyteller, which he made clear in my recent conversation about his new book, Finding My Virginity. “My dad was a great storyteller,” Branson told me in this video...
Richard Branson’s Best Tip For Anyone Pitching An Idea
If your pitch cannot pass the ‘Richard Test,’ billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson isn’t interested in your idea. The Richard Test has two components. First, the pitch must be free of jargon. Second, the pitch must be short enough to fit on a drink...
British Prime Minister Theresa May Could Have Saved Her Disastrous Speech In These 3 Ways
When a speech or presentation doesn't go according to plan, there are some simple tips to avert a fiasco. We've all been there. You're giving an important presentation and 'stuff' happens: A technical glitch, a cough, an interruption. The secret is to turn...
The Answer To This Question Will Help You Deliver A More Impactful Presentation
On my first day of journalism school, I learned to ask the single most important question of good writing. It's the question that every reader and every television news viewer has on their mind: Why? The question can take several forms, depending on the...
Scientists And Speechwriters Say This Music Style Sparks Creative Ideas
As I write this sentence, the soundtrack from the movie, Rudy, is playing in the background. It always inspires me. By the next paragraph I might hear my favorite film score, Gladiator. The last song, “Now we are free”, gets me every time. I know it’s only...
Give Your Presentation An Emotional Punch The Ken Burns Way
If you want to make an impact in business, tell emotionally engaging stories. If you want to make an impact in your profession and stand out from your competitors, tell more stories--and not just any story, but emotionally engaging ones. If you're stuck on...
Twitter Expands Its Character Limit, But You Should Stick To The Magic 140
Twitter is experimenting with expanding the number of characters allowed on posts to 280. The test began this week with a small, random group of users. If the company finds that people like it better and are more actively engaged on the platform, then good...
Three Traits Recruiters Find Most Desirable In Face-to-Face Job Interviews
Recruiters and hiring managers have always considered conversational skills an important trait in new hires, but a new survey now places communication at the very top of the list. The recruiting software company, Jobvite, together with Zogby Analytics, has...
This Billionaire Reveals What You Must Overcome To Reach Your Potential
Billionaire Ray Dalio founded Bridgewater, one of the world’s largest and best performing hedge funds. A true entrepreneurial success story, Dalio started his company in a two-bedroom apartment. He was a self-described ordinary kid and a worse-than-ordinary student. Forty-two years after starting his company, Dalio decided to share his success secrets in his new book, Principles.
Three Presentation Tips From ABC’s 90-Second Hurricane Tutorial
Scientists, teachers, entrepreneurs and leaders who deliver complex information might want to take some lessons from a 90-second video on how hurricanes form, produced by ABC News. Chief meteorologist Ginger Zee explains hurricanes clearly, simply and...
IBM Marketing Expert Will Transform How You Think About Your Product
Here's how one company learned to market a complex product, simply. Watson, IBM's artificial intelligence (AI) platform, helped one company save $11.2 million a year. A large winery used Watson to reduce its water use by 25 percent. For doctors, Watson can...
A Startup Uses Third-Grade Words As The Cure For Confusing Health Plans
If you have trouble understanding health insurance terms, you’re not alone. According to a study in the Journal of Health Economics, only 14% of respondents could correctly answer four questions about the most basic components of a health insurance plan....
Brian Buffini’s Rags to Riches Story Teaches 7 Secrets of Success
A New York Times bestseller explains how he came to America with nothing and built a coaching empire. Brian Buffini has lived the classic rags-to-riches American success story. He left Ireland as a 19-year-old with $92 in his pocket. Today, he runs a top...
A Virtual Therapy For Stage Fright That’s Remarkably Realistic
A team of virtual reality (VR) experts, psychologists, and former Google and Facebook engineers are using modern tools to tackle phobias that humans have faced since the beginning of time — social anxieties, including the top social fear of all, public...
Four Proven Tips To Stay Creative After Labor Day
Did you have an epiphany on your vacation this summer? I've written some of my best articles in a beachside café, from a lounge chair at lake Tahoe and sitting poolside at a resort. Like most people I’m more creative when I’m out of the office. The further...
How Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s “7 Bucks Moment” Helped Him Grow In Work And In Life
In a recent Instagram post that has generated more than five million views, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson recorded a short video to tell a little known story from one his early career setbacks. Standing on a balcony overlooking the city of Vancouver, Johnson...
Take These Three Steps To Craft Your Pitch Quickly
If you only had 24 hours to craft and deliver the pitch of your lifetime, what would you leave in and, more importantly, what would you leave out? To make the exercise even harder, you’ll have only 10 minutes to give the pitch. I met with a group of senior...
Make Social Outreach A Habit And Set Yourself Apart From The Rest
It's never been easier to share your ideas on social media. Take a tip from Richard Branson on doing it authentically. Billionaire entrepreneur and business storyteller, Richard Branson, recently posted a short video of himself on his Instagram profile...
The Interview Skill Guaranteed To Give You An Edge
If two job candidates have equal qualifications, which person is more likely to get the job? According to a new survey of HR and recruiting professionals, 63 percent of recruiters say they’d give the job to the person who has better “oral communication...
It’s Essential To Do This At Least 10 Times Before Giving Any Presentation
The CEO of a large company lost the audience—his top salespeople—in the first two minutes of his presentation. I was there to witness it. Slides were out of place and financial data was wrong. “Sorry guys. I threw this together last night,” the CEO...
Two Words That Make You Sound Unprofessional
The annoying filler words used by entrepreneurs, job applicants, TV pundits--and maybe even yourself. As a communication coach, I know how important it is to eliminate filler words from our conversations. I also know that the advice is easy to dispense and...
This Human Trait Gives You An Edge In An Age Of Robots
In the information age you are only as valuable as your ideas. Your ability to package your ideas with emotion, context, and relevancy is the one skill that will make you more valuable in the next decade. During a visit to the Silicon Valley headquarters...
Tim Gunn’s Fashion Tip For Jimmy Fallon Is A Perfect Example Of Constructive Feedback
“Do you have any fashion tips for me?” Jimmy Fallon recently asked his Tonight Show guest, Project Runway mentor, Tim Gunn. Gunn’s response: “I love your suits. I love the fit of them. You are classically handsome. You have a great physique. You are the...
Why Richard Branson Loves The Early Tradition Of Campfire And Story
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson says the best ideas for taking his company into the future are found when he’s practicing the ancient custom of storytelling by a campfire. “Telling a story is one of the best ways we have of coming up with new ideas,...
GE’s New CEO Uses An Effective Communication Technique To Focus His Agenda
On his first day as the new chief executive of GE, John Flannery sent an internal letter to the company’s 300,000 employees. It’s been 16 years since GE has had a new CEO, so Flannery made sure the direction was clear. “I have a relentless focus on three...
These 3 Words Put the British Open Champion Back on Track
Great performers in any field practice this one habit to calm down, build confidence and regain focus. At the age 23, Jordan Spieth became the youngest player to win the British Open since 1979. It almost didn't happen, but Spieth regained his mental edge...
A Kitchen Entrepreneur Turned Millionaire Offers One Secret To Success
Jo was fifteen when a teacher told her that she wouldn’t make anything out of her life (Jo had dyslexia, a largely misunderstood condition at the time). She dropped out of school, but was determined to prove the teacher wrong. Today, Jo Malone is the name...
Train Like This Astronaut To Overcome Your Fear Of Public Speaking
Few things trigger more fear than the thought of public speaking. But going blind during a spacewalk while circling the Earth at five miles a second might be scarier. Few things trigger more fear than the thought of public speaking. But going blind during...