Common Ground

To Tweeet or Not to Tweet?

Considering Twitter, but put off by all those folks with 000s of followers.  How do they do that?  We're not talking major league VIPs here, just ordinary folks' observations about, say, buying a pint of milk.  Something tells me the hours I've spent agonising over these blog posts has not been time well spent.

Too "try-hard" for web 2.0?

Influencing Up: Does Flattery Work?

I'm working on a new pdf about effective influencing up - that is, making an impact on those higher up the food chain than you.  Someone mentioned the other day that "big egos respond well to big flattery".  Can this possibly be true?

On Stagefright

Wish I had a pound for every time I've been asked for the cure for stagefright, nerves, pre-presentation anxiety.

My answer tends to disappoint, but I think it's the only fair one.  There is no cure.  Nerves are the body's way of preparing for a big occasion.  You can't eliminate them.  You CAN learn to live with them, and a nice piece in Business Week shows you how.

Watch the Shake II

I see there is already plenty of handshake history between the two... 

Watch the Shake

So the final presidential debate has taken place.  I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but I reckon the first five seconds has something important to say.  Watch how Obama lingers over the handshake, whilst McCain comes over as wanting to escape pretty damn quick.  Same ritual in all of the debates, including Biden/Palin.  McCain's body language suggests antagonism - "Let's get the pleasantries over with real quick and get down to business".  Obama (and Biden) offer something different.  "Sure I can't stand you, but this is a moment of human interaction, and as such deserving of respect." I'm sure it's a deliberate move from the Obama camp.  And there's plenty of research out there to suggest that you underestimate the power of your shake at your peril. 

Peters on Obama

Great post at Tom Peters' blog about Barack Obama's presentation skills. Just 17 minutes of great presentation at the 2004 Democrat convention were enough to lift Obama out of obscurity to the point where he has, as Peters puts it, a 50-50 chance of being the most powerful man on the planet.

Watch that speech here:

Touch

Imagine you are preparing for a job interview.  You've done your research.  You've had your hair cut.  Your breath is sweet as a daisy.  Bet you won't have given any thought at all to another make or break aspect of your impact.

New research from the University of Iowa confirms that a firm handshake is an important part of a successful job interview, while a "dead fish" can put the panel off before you begin.

"We've always heard that interviewers make up their minds in the first two or three minutes, no matter how long the interview lasts," says Greg Stewart at the Tippie College of Business. "We found that the first impression starts with the handshake and sets the tone for the whole interview."

So what are you?

Dead fish?

Bonecrusher?

Arthritic's Revenge?

Only one way to find out.  Shake a friend's hand and ask for some feedback.

Your Brand Tag

One of Seth Godin's readers points us to Brand Tag, a site that shows you a brand name and asks you to supply a word you associate with that brand.  You then get to see what other people associates with some of the biggest corporate brands around.  Interesting themes emerge - and boy are Exxon in trouble...

This got me thinking about applications to personal brands.  What would your colleagues & friends write in the box if your name flashed up? 

If, perhaps, the tags wouldn't be totally complimentary, I hope to help.  I'll be blogging in the next couple of weeks about what you can do to turn around your personal brand.  Ten easy ideas in all, under these headings:

Look, Sound, Touch, Learn, Disclose, Donate, Focus, Build, Personalise, Stretch

What Makes A Great Speech?

Answer supplied by veteran US presidential speechwriter Ted Sorensen in the New York Times:

"Speaking from the heart to the heart, directly, not too complicated, relatively brief sentences, words that are clear to everyone."

He cites as an example Churchill's opening line when announcing to the country the fall of France:

"The news from France is very bad."

Almost comic on first reading, the line later resonates with the essence of good communication: clarity and authenticity.

Question: could the same bad news ever be delivered unvarnished today?

Cameron's Keynote Makeover

It's long been a mystery to me why political speeches continue to be crafted from a template at least 30 years out of date - you know the kind of thing, clunking rhetorical tricks, over the top crescendos, constant pausing for (often) non-existent applause...

Today, David Cameron gave the stump speech a welcome makeover.  No notes, no lectern, no flights of rhetorical fancy.  Just a measured, conversational tone and a very simple structure.  Whatever your politics - whether or not you agree with the substance - take a look here. 

Do you agree that this style heaves the political keynote into the 21st century?