Weekly briefing on how exceptional leaders communicate when the message has to land. Plus exclusive backstage reports on “What the Best Leaders Say” (requires a backstage pass).
Does your talk have enough grip?
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THIS MOMENT COUNTS · 28 A quick note: Today, I’m hosting a public Talk Lab. Join me if you need a yes from your audience they actually mean. It’s free and you can ask me anything. Ok, back to today’s insight … Imagine driving a car on an icy road. You press the accelerator. The engine roars. The wheels spin. But the car barely moves. You give it more power. The wheels spin faster. Still, you’re going nowhere. The problem, of course, isn’t lack of power. It’s the lack of friction between the tires and the road. Without friction, the engine’s power is useless. Inside that very same car, engineers go to enormous lengths to reduce friction. They use oil to keep metal parts from grinding against each other. They design bearings that move as smoothly as possible. They do everything they can to prevent friction from wasting energy and wearing out the engine. So, in one part of the car, friction is the enemy. In another, it’s precisely what makes movement possible. You want as little friction as possible where it gets in the way. And as much as you need where it gets you moving. I think there’s a fascinating lesson here for how we prepare talks. We spend an enormous amount of effort making our presentations as smooth as possible. We simplify our language, polish our slides, refine our transitions, and make sure one thought flows naturally into the next. And rightly so. Nobody should have to struggle to understand what we’re saying. But I wonder if we’re sometimes taking the idea of smoothness a little too far. Because we also tend to smooth over the things that might make people uncomfortable. We soften a point that challenges a long-held belief. We resolve a tension before anyone has had a chance to feel it. We avoid a question because we’re not quite sure how the audience will react. And so we end up with a talk that flows beautifully. Everything makes sense. Nobody objects. People feel good. But nothing moves. And people conclude that their message isn’t powerful enough. However. What if the problem isn’t that our talks lack power? What if they simply lack grip? Grip is good friction. It’s what turns power into movement. And perhaps that’s something we should pay much more attention to when preparing a talk. Obviously not the kind of friction that makes people struggle to follow us. No, the friction that makes it difficult to continue thinking exactly what they’ve always thought. So, what if we were just as deliberate about creating friction as we are about removing it? Let’s put it this way: Make your talk easy to understand. But hard to ignore. In my new Backstage Report, I go much deeper and explore how you can create grip, where you find it, and how you know it’s working. I’ve included a handy checklist to help you distinguish good and bad friction. It’s exclusive to Backstage Pass members. (If you’re on the fence, use this link to test it one month free.) Keep lighting the path, PS: If you want to work with me privately, that’s what a 1:1 Talk Lab is for. |
This Moment Counts
Weekly briefing on how exceptional leaders communicate when the message has to land. Plus exclusive backstage reports on “What the Best Leaders Say” (requires a backstage pass).
What the Best Leaders Say Issue 25 Very often, when someone prepares for a big moment with me, a very similar concern comes up. There’s this one point they’re nervous about because they’re unsure how it will land. Maybe it’s a little provocative, or maybe it simply challenges a common belief. And the question they ask me is how to make it go down easier. “I don’t want to lose the room.” I get that. But before you sand down that point, I would love for you to read this Backstage Report about...
THIS MOMENT COUNTS · 27 At the last public Talk Lab, someone said they loved the idea of “Don’t persuade harder, resonate stronger,” but found it incredibly hard to embrace in practice. They had a pitch coming up and really needed the client to say yes. This gets right at the heart of what I love about the idea of resonance. Here’s roughly what I said: You're treating resonance as the gentle option, the thing you’d try if the stakes were lower. As if there’s a nice way and an effective way,...
THIS MOMENT COUNTS · 26 Elevator music is a remarkable invention. It plays to an audience that literally cannot leave and it still manages to lose everyone’s attention within seconds. It’s clearly there, maybe you briefly think “That's quite pleasant,” but then promptly forget about the tune while it’s still playing. So many talks remind me of elevator music. They’re clearly there, someone’s speaking, perhaps even eloquently. But when you leave the room, you can’t tell anyone what was...