New Grads Should Follow PepsiCo CEO’s 5-Step Success Model
I’ve been speaking recently on the topic of communication skills to advance a person’s career. In my presentations I talk about Indra Nooyi’s “5 C’s” model of leadership. She presented it publicly several years ago, but it’s more relevant today than ever....
Reduce The Chance Of Choking Under Pressure By Following These Recommendations
Few of us will ever face a public grilling the likes of which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is dealing with on Capitol Hill, but how he prepared for the big event offers a lesson for anyone who wants to perform their best when the stakes are high. After day...
Famed Golfer Phil Mickelson Has The Mindset Of A Winner
At the age of 47, golf pro Phil Mickelson is playing some of the best golf of his winning career. Entering the 2018 Masters at Augusta National, Mickelson is driving the ball 10 yards farther than he did five years ago, and longer than many of the younger...
Mark Zuckerberg Should Follow Aristotle’s 3-Step Persuasion Formula To Rebuild The Public’s Trust
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faces his toughest task this week—to persuade lawmakers and the public that he takes privacy seriously and will implement the steps necessary to restore the public’s trust after recent privacy issues has shaken confidence in...
Apple’s Latest Product Launch Presentation Was Vintage Steve Jobs
Apple introduced new products today for the education market, and its presentation was vintage Steve Jobs. From the way they told the story behind the new iPad for students to the way the slides were designed, Apple's leaders used the same techniques that...
An American Wine Pioneer Who Leveraged The Remarkable Power Of Emotion To Sell His Product
The California wine industry is rich with characters, mavericks and risk-takers. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy meeting and learning about the pioneers who put California’s wine regions on the map. One of those pioneers passed away recently—Robert Haas....
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s Clear And Consistent Vision Rallies Employees Around A Common Purpose
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella read a book that changed his outlook on leadership and business. The book was Mindset by award-winning Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck. In the 2006 book Dweck explores the habit of having a “growth mindset:” the belief that...
Fix The Primitive Mental Bug That Threatens Your Happiness
I’ve been obsessed with happiness lately because few people seem to have it. It’s an important subject for leaders, entrepreneurs, business professionals and students because our thoughts control our behaviors. Neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists...
Apple And Duke Basketball Find Success By Paying Attention To The Details
A person can learn a lot about success from carrying a clipboard--if you're carrying it for Duke University basketball legend, Mike Krzyzewski, Coach K. In a New York Times article about the team's student managers, it's clear that Coach K's winning record...
How Southwest Airlines Uses Emotional Storytelling To Connect With Its Customers
There are 175 seats on Southwest Airlines’ new Boeing 737 planes. And every seat tells a story. Southwest’s leaders recognize the power of emotional storytelling to connect with employees and customers on a deeper level than the average company. Over the...
Warren Buffett Loves This Ancient Tool Of Persuasion To Enliven His Annual Letters
Analysts and Berkshire Hathaway shareholders look forward to reading Warren Buffett’s annual letter for its wit, wisdom, and insights. I enjoy it because I can always count on Buffett, a life-long student of communication, to use metaphorical references to...
A Brilliant Communicator, Stephen Hawking Used Humor And Simple Words To Capture Our Attention
Physicist Stephen Hawking tried to answer some big, complex questions: Where did we come from? How did the universe come into being? Are we alone out there? The way he answered those questions reveals a brilliant mind who was equally brilliant...
Lift Your Potential By Following These 3 Steps
The people around us matter--a lot, according to happiness researcher Shawn Achor in his new book Big Potential. "The height of your potential is predicted by the people who surround you." Achor spent eleven years at Harvard where he lectured in one of the...
Great Business Leaders Are Unshakable Optimists (A Conversation With Harvard’s Steven Pinker)
Twenty years ago, I read a book called My American Journey by retired four-star general (and later U.S. Secretary of State) Colin Powell. One of his rules for successful leadership sticks with me to his day. Powell said, “Perpetual optimism is a force...
Every Product Has A Back story – Even A Talking Wine Bottle
I was at a dinner party recently where the host had graciously pulled out a $100 Napa Valley cabernet, but a $10 bottle of wine stole the show. It talked to us, literally. Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) is the first to create "talking wine labels" to stand...
Jordan Peele Acceptance Speech Displays A Winner’s Mindset
Jordan Peele made history at the 2018 Oscars when he became the first African-American screenwriter to win an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Peele wrote and directed "Get Out." In his acceptance speech, which is going viral on social media,...
How Warren Buffett Conquered His Fear Of Public Speaking
Warren Buffett recently released his 53rd annual letter to shareholders recently--a financial analysis that investors and financial experts are always eagerly devour for its wit and wisdom. The Oracle of Omaha commands attention, but it wasn't always that...
Why 18-Minutes Is Rule The Perfect Length For A Sales Pitch
Your brain is an energy hog. It takes an enormous amount of energy to listen intently for a long period of time. One secret to keeping your audience glued to your pitch or presentation is to keep your presentation short. But how short? TED Talks have found...
People Don’t Care About What You Are Selling. They Care About This.
I'm looking at an intimidating 800-page binder as I write this article. It contains confidential information about a new product category. When I prepare the company's leaders to launch the product, I'll be thinking about a technique Steve Jobs and Google...
Once You Realize Your Customers Don’t Care About Your Product, Your Sales Will Increase
I'm looking at an intimidating 800-page binder as I write this article. It contains confidential information about a new product category. When I prepare the company's leaders to launch the product, I'll be thinking about a technique Steve Jobs and Google...
Leaders, Own Your Story Or Someone Else Will
Harvard business professor John Kotter once said that leaders “under communicate their visions for change by at least a factor of 10.” A single email, a single presentation, a single tweet is not enough. Changing a narrative requires repetition. I was...
5 YouTube Video Tips To Make You Look And Sound Like A Pro
Business professionals are often surprised to hear a little known fact--YouTube viewers spend ten times the amount of time watching educational content than they do watching pet and animal videos. According to the company's Head of Culture and Trends,...
When Is The Perfect Time For A Meeting? We Asked Bestselling Author Dan Pink
The famous TED speaker and New York Times bestselling author Daniel H. Pink, along with his team of researchers, spent two years analyzing more than 700 studies in fields ranging from economics to psychology to unearth the hidden science of perfect timing....
When Is The Ideal Age to Start a Business? The Answer Might Surprise You
At the age of 35, I walked away from a six-figure job with a prestigious title to start a business. I had one project lined up for $1,200 (and I had to pay my travel expenses out of it). I had a new mortgage in a very expensive California town and a baby...
Abe Lincoln Captivated His Audience Used A Tree Stump Like A TED Stage
President’s Day is a good time to think about the lessons past presidents have taught us, especially those leaders like Abraham Lincoln whose words and actions changed the world we live in today. While researching a new book on individuals who stand out in...
This 5 Year Study Reveals The Communication Secrets Of Great Leaders
In a groundbreaking study of 5,000 successful employees and managers over a five-year period, UC Berkeley management professor Morten T. Hansen found that top performers have an extraordinary ability to persuade other people to buy in to their ideas. I...
This Five Year Study Reveals What Propels Top Performance
A remarkable new study of top performers finds that great leaders are great communicators. And they are great communicators because they’re great at simplifying. I recently sat down with UC Berkeley management professor and former Harvard Business School...
Bill Gates’ Favorite Book Will Change Your Life In The First 6 Pages
If you're pessimistic about the state of world today, Bill Gates and Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker have a message for you: "This bleak assessment of the state of the world is wrong. And not just a little wrong--wrong wrong, flat-earth wrong,...
Richard Branson’s Brain Trick To Reframe A Mindset
Richard Branson has never been reticent to share his personal experience with dyslexia. In the opening sentence to a recent blog post, Branson writes, "I'm often asked how I went from being a dyslexic school dropout to founding many successful businesses."...
Budweiser’s Super Bowl Commercial Taps The Brand’s Best Marketing Tool
UPDATE: The day after Super Bowl LII, USA TODAY ranked the top 5 ads based on feedback from thousands of panelists who voted for their favorite Super Bowl ad. From a list of 65 commercials, Budweiser’s “Stand By You,” came in third, reinforcing the power...