Do you have humility agility?

"Great leaders don't need to act tough.
Their confidence and humility serve to underscore their toughness.” 
Simon Sinek

One of the most essential habits for a speaker to exhibit is the act of humility. With humility, a speaker’s content reaches levels of effectiveness audiences will appreciate and admire. Without humility, a speaker’s content may sound empty and self-serving leaving an audience to feel exploited but not served.

Every speaker is a servant speaker. To not comprehend this simple characterization is to miss the essence of why you speak and why you have an audience. The passion to speak is driven by the axiom, “I speak because I have something to say that needs to be heard by someone other than me.” The validation for speaking is, “I speak because what I have to say will be said to the benefit of those who hear me speak.”

With these two guidelines in place, you must learn how to speak with humility in order for your message to reach and serve your audience. Building your content around three elements can help you become a speaker with effective and sincere humility agility.

The three elements are:

1. Falling Down

2. Lifting Up

3. Learning From

Let’s look further into how these three elements can create humility agility when you speak.

FALLING DOWN

When you take the stage, your audience expects you to share intimate details of your life journey with them. They want to learn vicariously from your travails without having to experience it first hand for themselves. As a result, they want to know about the times you fell down. It is not only okay to tell them about your failures, stumbles and short falls, it is expected.

Don’t worry. Everybody falls down. We are humans, not robots or gods. We dream, vividly imagine, plan and still come up short. That is not an issue. Part of having humility agility is the level of comfort and familiarity you have with telling your “falling down” story. It is a moment on the stage of self-reflective insight. Feel free to tinge it with humor of a self-deprecating nature. Poking a little fun at yourself makes you more human. And that will help you establish a connection with your audience. 

More lessons are learned from falling down and rising to triumph than any other experience. We all have them. They only need to be of value. Whatever lesson you learn from missing your mark is of great value to your audience. It inspires them to perceive what is possible if they apply themselves to a purpose. 

Your story does not need to be an earth-shifting monumental tale. While your story may not have changed the planet, it most likely changed your world. That’s impact from the stage. You just have to learn how to humbly own the story, extract the learning significance from the story and then place it appropriately within your larger message.

LIFTING UP

English author John Donne famously wrote, “No man is an island entire of itself…” In other words, no one is self-sufficient; everyone relies on others. There is a good chance that, in your life journey, you have as well.

We all get help. Some of this help may come from friends, family, colleagues, teachers or coaches. In this element of being a speaker with humility agility you should look to extol the virtues of someone who helped you in your journey. Sharing the credit with a person who either inspired or guided you on your path to accomplishment sets into motion for your audience an examination of their journey. Who has been of assistance, inspiration or guidance in their life?

When we humbly acknowledge the contribution of another person to our personal achievements, three things happen. First, you give credit where credit is due. Second, you inspire others to give selflessly of themselves, for nothing more than the shear reward of seeing someone else triumph. Third, you establish a special place of respect and admiration in the minds of your audience for those that have been of support, inspiration and guidance to them.

This is a moment in your speech when you should speak humbly and sincerely. You can’t fake it here. Only honest, genuine sentiment, culled deeply from your heart, will pass muster. When you lift someone up through humble praise you raise us all.

LEARNING FROM

We already know what every person in the audience is thinking before you speak, “What’s in it for me?” Sharing a learning from moment is your opportunity to answer that question.

The goal is to humbly share the “A-ha” moments of your journey without bragging. This is when you let your audience know the payoff you’ve received from the road you’ve traveled. For many speakers, it is an unexpected humbling experience. Many times, the lesson or lessons speakers ultimately learn from their journey extend far beyond mastering a skill or conquering a challenge. You may come to learn that the most humbling lessons are often the ones you learn about yourself. Lessons spoken of with humility about your ability to whether the crucibles of commitment, resolute intention, and perseverance can have a profound impact on your audience extending your message significantly beyond a foundational phrase or your speech’s theme. Humbly sharing the learning from of your experience is a powerful skill that will well serve your humility agility when you speak.

THE POWER OF HUMILITY

Humility is the quality of being humble. It means you have the ability to put the needs of another person before your own. It also means not drawing attention to yourself unless by doing so you can inspire others, acknowledge those who were of support and guidance to you, and create value for others by humbling sharing lessons you have learned along the way.

Dr. Wayne Dyer said, “Practice radical humility. Take no credit for your talents, intellectual abilities, aptitudes, or proficiencies. Be in a state of awe and bewilderment.”

A humble speaker is a modest speaker offering honest wisdom and perspectives they have been blessed to experience and then share from the stage. Master the skill of humility agility and your speeches will have lasting impact beyond your deepest desire.

Thanks for your support as a reader of my blog and I eagerly welcome any comments on how you’re thinking about achieving the possibility of your promise. Also, I would appreciate any suggestions you might have for future posts in this blog on a topic near and dear to you in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

4 simple tips to help you limit the stress of public speaking.

"You can’t always control what goes on outside
 but you can always control what goes on inside.”
Wayne Dyer

The key to becoming a stress-less speaker is to have a plan for what you plan to say.

Sounds simple. Right?

For lots of people (and perhaps you) the simpler things are, the harder they are to believe in. We humans like the clutter and challenge of the complicated. Why not? With so many variables that the complicated offers, we can relish in the comfort of knowing that if we come up short, we at least “gave it a good try.” The simple does not afford the luxury of “if at first you don’t succeed”. The simple if very Yoda-ish. “Do or do not. There is no try.”

If you’d like to become a stress-less speaker, think simple. It is not a complicated process. It only becomes that way when you avoid the simple and reach for the complicated. In this blog, I will share 4 simple tips you can use to become a stress-less speaker. The four tips are PLAN, OUTLINE, EXTRACT and KNOW.

PLAN

Steven Covey wrote in the 7 Habits of Successful People that you should “begin with the end in mind.” This is where your stress-less speaking plan should begin. Simply take a moment to  think about what you want your audience to “get” from your speech. What you determine, should let you know if you are speaking to persuade, inform or entertain. Then just write a simple sentence (this is known as a topic statement) stating the purpose of your speech. This has to be a simple sentence. “Ifs” and “Buts” are OK but absolutely no “ands”. If you find yourself including an “and” stop right there. This is a clear indication that you have two speeches. And, that is a very complicated thing to do.

Having a plan is critical to stress-less speaking. A plan will help increase your focus and elevate your intention. The more you intend to do with your speech the less stress you’ll have when you speak.

OUTLINE

If there is one piece of wisdom I repeatedly share with anyone who tells me they need to write a speech, it’s this: “Don’t write that speech!”

If you write a speech, what do expect will happen?

•  Will you fall in love with the beautiful words and phrase you’ve written? Yup.

•  Will you try to commit the speech to memory? Yup.

•  Will you needlessly add a whole layer of avoidable stress to the speaking process? Yup.

Writing a speech is an exercise in futility. You will write with your brain echoing the words of your 11th grade English teacher who admonished you to use complex sentences. Therefore, your sentences will be wordy (20 – 30 words or more). They will be indigestible to your brain’s memory core and even harder for your audience to swallow. 

We communicate differently for the eye than we do for the ear. The ear processes on the fly, without the ability to slow down, parse, or rehear what has been said. The ear relies on the short and the simple.

Instead, develop your speech using an outline. Only put down simple sentences. Follow an outline format so you will stay on track. This will help you curb verbosity while maintaining an approach that plays to a tried and true recipe for making your speech infinitely memorable and repeatable.

EXTRACT

I once heard an author deliver a speech about a list of 10 things you needed to do that she had in her book.  She had only fifteen minutes to speak. She never got beyond #3 on her list.

Really effective speaking is a subtraction process. Most speakers (and their audiences) suffer from information (content) overload. They use a fire hose when a sprinkler is required. The key to becoming a stress-less speaker is learning how to eliminate content that, while interesting, may not be critical to reaching your speaking objective.

Once you’ve determined what content you need to have in your speech, begin to refine it by extracting the key words and phrases within your content. By doing this you will trigger the deep knowledge and understanding you have about your topic. This refining will also allow you to speak spontaneously and fluently about your topic.

From here it just becomes a matter of practice and familiarization.

KNOW

There are three things, and only three things you should ever speak about; What you Feel, What you Know and What you have Experienced. Many speakers encounter a lot of stress regarding the confidence they have in What they Know. This is often the result of being a surface dweller on the topic you have selected. If you are speaking about What you Know, then you should relax and take solace in the following expression, “I know what I know.” This does not mean you know everything, and that’s OK. Nobody knows everything about any one thing. They may know a lot, but not everything. 

Experts come in all sizes and with varying levels of knowledge. In most instances, even when there is someone in the audience more accomplished than you, the audience is genuinely interested in hearing what you know about the topic of your choice. They will take from your content what they need to further their own knowledge. This may include new information as well as corroboration of their existing knowledge.

Stress-less speakers “Know what they know”. They find comfort in knowing there may be people in their audience who no more or less than what they will share. But they are full of intention, well-practiced and familiar with their content, and they “Know what they know”.

DON’T SWEAT THAT SPEECH

If you’re interested in learning the art of becoming a stress-less speaker, begin by following the four simple tips I shared in this blog,  PLAN, OUTLINE, EXTRACT and KNOW. When you do, you’ll find yourself more readily embracing each opportunity to share of your passion, wisdom and experience with audiences eager to add your content to theirs.

Thanks for your support as a reader of my blog and I eagerly welcome any comments on how you’re thinking about achieving the possibility of your promise.  Also, I would appreciate any suggestions you might have for future posts in this blog on a topic near and dear to you in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Insights on being a transformational speaker.

"People today make promises, break them blithely and then excuse
themselves by saying, “I tried”, when the truth is, they did not."
Kevin Hearne from “Hammered: Book 3 of the Iron Druid Chronicles”

Lots of people attend self-help motivational presentations every year. Some folks do this year in and year out. And yet, there they remain stuck in place. Sometimes, the only thing that actually transforms is a declining balance in their bank account. Inspirational speeches can show “What” is possible for you to achieve. Motivational speeches can clarify “Why” it is important for you to achieve a goal. Without the key “How” you can get from a truly Transformational speech, you’d be stuck without a clue how to achieve your goal.

All of the insights and wisdom in the world will not help you achieve a single thing if you do not know how to put them to work for you. That is what makes transformational speaking such a powerful communication form. Transformational speaking brings the What and the Why into the potentially attainable by engaging the listener in the How they desperately seek.

Transformation is when something experiences a thorough or dramatic change in either form or appearance.

TRANSFORMATIONAL SPEAKING

Transformational speaking is most effective when it shares a story that provides an audience with an insight into How they can transform from where they are to where they liked to be.

I had planned to share a story about my father’s experiences as a salesman to help you understand the transformational How of achieving success. But, as I was writing this blog, I had a chance to view the Tom Hanks film, Cast Away.

While watching this profound story of a castaway’s struggles to survive, I saw in the  Castaway the same attributes I saw in my Dad. They both had a firm grasp of the most critical step in How a person can achieve success. They both understood that, to succeed, you need to make and honor promises to yourself. You must accept that these must be promises you will not break.

The castaway’s inviolable promise to return drove him to find his How through the use of his inner strength and ingenuity. He made a simple promise to return and he would not turn his back on it. Though he struggled and failed, he would not relinquish the promise he made, not only to others, but to himself. Ultimately, he succeeds in fulfilling his promise. It is a small triumph when compared to the challenges he will face when, after five years of living a solitary life, he must reintegrate himself into society. There’s a lesson in this too.

Every success brings new challenges. The promises you make and keep are the key to achieving any goal.

THE HOW OF PROMISE

How often do you make a promise to someone and then go out of your way to keep it? For most of us, because we live by the phrase, “My word is my bond”, we will do handstands if that’s what it takes to keep a promise. But, what about the promises you make to yourself?

Are you less worthy of having a promise kept to you than everyone else is?

The journey to success is not easy, but it is worthwhile. There will be many obstacles, starts, stops, attempts, shortfalls and overshoots. Without a promised-based plan to achieve your success will be massively unattainable. You have to be committed to the promises that will engage the How’s of your transition to achievement.

Booker T. Washington said, “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.” Overcoming challenges, like the castaway, requires flexibility and a deep commitment to the promise of a greater goal. Transformation is about the How. The How includes the promises you must make to yourself that you will not break during your journey to success.

Remember, Success is only a landing place, representing the journey you took to get there. It is not a destination. If you rest on your laurels, you will soon find new goals are slipping below your attainable horizon.

THE KEY INSIGHT TO TRANSFORMATION

For speakers and leaders who desire to influence their audiences, you will achieve your greatest affect when you connect through stories. Stories that inspire the What of Possibility, the Why of Potential, and the How of Promise.

The biggest insight, within the world of Transformation speaking, I can offer is to find solace in knowing there is always a How. Start by make yourself a goal-focused promise and then do everything you can not to break it. Make your speeches conversations of value. Dig deeper within your knowledge core to find the nuggets of wisdom others will embrace and eagerly pay forward. To be an influence, you must be willing to give of yourself without reservation. When you do your influence will move from ripple to wave to tsunami.

Thanks for your support as a reader of my blog and I eagerly welcome any comments on how you’re thinking about achieving the possibility of your promise.  Also, I would appreciate any suggestions you might have for future posts in this blog on a topic near and dear to you in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Insights on being a motivational speaker.

“Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do
because they want to do it.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower

There is a phenomenon in the small business start-up world called “The Wall”. It is a moment someplace between the second and fifth year of a new business when the founder begins to lose enthusiasm for the business. The money, the fulfilling work, and the independent spirit that attracted the founder begins to fade behind a myriad of stuff like paperwork, staffing, and the grind of doing the same thing day in and day out. In short, the founder has lost hold of their “Why”. They do not see the importance of the opportunity that once motivated them to step out, take a leap of faith and seize control of their future.

Motivational speaking is the art of helping people see and concentrate on why something is important for them to achieve. Motivation is about translating the importance of opportunity into a Why they will believe in. If, as a speaker or leader, you cannot help your audience connect to their underlying motivation for doing something, you will have little if any influence on them.

In this blog post I will share some insights on being a Motivational Speaker and the essence of helping your audience discover the importance of opportunity inside the “Why they should be motivated toward achievement.”

MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKING

A Motivational Speaker shares stories and perspectives with their audience about understanding the importance of opportunity in connecting to their “Why”. The story will help them discover how important their Why is for them when seeking to achieve a desired goal. Motivational speaking extolls why achievement is essential to humans. When you motivate people, you provide an injection of positive energy that fuels their thinking and propels them into a world of achievable expectation.

A well-chosen motivational story will not only motivate your audience and support your message it will enhance your credibility and your effective influence too.

When you speak, true motivation comes from telling a story about a person who achieved a goal because they incorporated the importance of opportunity into their vision and its mission. Just like an inspirational story, a motivational story need not be about some fantastic accomplishment. In fact, the more common and relatable the story is to your audience’s own life, the more effective it will be.

The secret to motivating people is to share with them a story of an everyday achievement by an everyday person like them that illustrates “Why importance of opportunity” is critical toward reaching a desired goal.

MOTIVATING WITH A COMMON IMPORTANCE OF WHY STORY

In the motivational portion of my keynote presentation, Won’t Power: How to become a Hope Less Success, I share an importance of opportunity Why story about my grandfather and the Great Depression. It is a story of a common man using the importance of opportunity to answer his Why. Through his journey, he discovers that his innate ingenuity is the key to survival for himself and his family. The story clearly answers the question of “Why the importance of opportunity” is a motivating force in energizing a person’s drive toward achieving a goal.

When telling a motivating story, your audience should be able to relate to your main character and also imagine themselves in your main character’s place. Will they feel the urgency? Would they be able to determine the importance of opportunity in their Why? Would they, like your main character, feel motivated by the importance of the opportunity?

I will briefly share the story I tell about my grandfather and the Great Depression so that you can see how the story motivates people to embrace the importance of opportunity in discovering their Why.

A COMMONLY MOTIVATING STORY

When the Great Depression began in 1929, my grandfather operated a small gas station. Overnight, his business disappeared. People barely had enough money to eat. Putting gas in a car was beyond frivolous. On the night he closed his gas station for the last time he went home and thought to himself, “As long as I have two hands and a brain, my family will not starve. But, I need an opportunity to provide for them.”

He assessed his resources. Sitting in his driveway was a station wagon with a full tank of gas. He thought to himself, “How can I use this car to make a living?” The son of  blacksmith, my grandfather was very familiar with how to work with metals. Grabbing an acetylene torch from his workshop he spent the night converting his station wagon into a pick-up truck. You might say he built the first El Camino.

Armed with his new vehicle, my grandfather looked for a market to serve. After driving through town, he noticed that some stores had cast aside the baskets and other containers their produce came packed in. He gathered these discards and then spent the rest of the day using his blacksmith skills to recondition these containers.

The next day he got up before dawn, took his “new” goods,  and drove to a nearby farmers market. He observed many of the farmers selling their produce and then casting the empty baskets aside. At the end of the market, he approached many of the farmers and offered to sell them his “new” baskets at a bargain price. They bought. He gathered whatever discards he could find, took them home and spent the rest of the day reconditioning them.

The next day he repeated the same process as the day before, with much the same result. He continued this practice for some time. Eventually he built up a reputation and a dependency on the part of the farmers for his “new” baskets.

My grandfather found his new motivating Why in the importance of an opportunity. The result was the eventual founding of the Smith Bag & Box Company, a business that would provide and sustain him for the next five decades.

INSPIRE THROUGH STORIES OF “WHY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF OPPORTUNITY”

My grandfather’s story is a common motivational tale. There is nothing within the story, like a patent or incredible discovery, that aided his success. His success came from a profound revelation of the importance of an opportunity in finding his Why for a success. His story serves to make this motivational point; if you want to succeed in life do not look for intervention beyond your own ingenuity and invention because the importance of opportunity in finding your Why is all you will need.

When you speak or lead, if you want to motivate your audience, use stories with the importance of opportunity as a Why of motivation. Let these stories be about common people achieving in the course of their everyday lives. What motivates an audience is knowing they can do it too. That they can do it without any special tools, programs, or miracles because they will have found the importance of opportunity in discovering their Why.

Thanks for your support as a reader of my blog and I eagerly welcome any comments on how you’re thinking about achieving the possibility of your promise.  Also, I would appreciate any suggestions you might have for future posts in this blog on a topic near and dear to you in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

How to Grow Your Speaking Voice through Respect.

“Stupid is as stupid does.”
Forrest Gump

These words above, from the fictional title character of the film, Forrest Gump, have amazing clarity and truth. Think about it as it applies to you. We all do stupid things, mostly by accident, sometimes by omission, and other times strictly due to a lack of concentration. But, “Stupid is as stupid does.” Let’s take a closer look.

I feel safe in venturing that few, if any, of us wake up each morning with the singular goal of, “Gee, what stupid things can I do today and still live to tell about it?” Yet, we manage to do more stupid than brilliant things without really trying. The fact that we are not aware of our own propensity for stupidity may be more of a curse than a blessing. The fortunate end of this is that most often the stupid things we do are little things which, when taken individually, have little or no effect on our life each day. Yet day after day we still do the stupid without regard to the cumulative effect it has on our lives as a whole. While some consider doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result to be a definition of insanity, I like to think of it a dose of good ole homegrown stupidity. This type of behavior will eventually call into question the foundation of Respect we have for yourself.

RESPECT AND THE SPEAKER

As a speaker, you must be ever aware that your authority to speak rests greatly and precariously on the foundation Credibility you established for yourself. A large portion of your credibility is impacted and shaped by the depth of respect you have for yourself, your foundational message, and your relationship to the audiences you serve.

In many cases, as a speaker, it is what we do when we are saying nothing that can easily betray the depth of our credibility and the level of respect we maintain.

You’re at the airport on the way to a speaking opportunity when you step into the newsstand to pick up some water and a snack for the flight. As you walk down the aisle you cross in front of another shopper who is tortuously deciding which chewy snack will hit the spot and you do so without even offering a courteous, “Excuse me.”

“So, what,” you say, “they probably didn't even notice!”

You might be right. But, that’s not the question you should be asking yourself. The real deep question here is. “Did you notice?” And if you did notice and did not offer a polite, “Excuse me” you may have committed a double offense, one to the person you offended and two to your personal dignity and respect.

When you walk in to your speaking engagement the next day, you are greeted by the very person you were rude to at the airport. You feel stupid for having acted badly in a situation you can never undo. You cannot NOT communicate and the message you have sent through your action is a sign of disrespect and questionable credibility.

RESPECT AND YOUR SPEAKING VOICE

“Actions speak louder than words” and growing your speaking voice is less about what you’re saying and more about the foundational base from which are speaking. While you are diligently digging to discover content that matters to you and will impact your audiences, your actions throughout the process will help solidify a platform with the integrity to support your message.

The more actions of respect inward and outward that you perform, the stronger your experiential base as a speaker will be. Not only will what you say grow, but the strength of conviction within the voice behind those words will grow as well.

SPEAKING OF RESPECT

The general point here is that it is more than just a common courtesy so say “Excuse me” when we infringe on another’s space. By doing so, we acknowledge there are rules of conduct which we ascribe to as a civilized society. These rules help us to create order while they relieve us from the potential rule of chaos.

Saying, “Excuse me” not only bestows a measure of respect on the infringed, it bestows a measure of civility on the infringer as well. This behavior can and will establish an atmosphere of mutual respect between each person involved in the encounter. Respect makes our world a better place to live. It makes our common efforts rewarding. It makes us understand the basis of our common existence.

My challenge to you is to try to be courteous and respectful in all situations. Particularly those when you are about to knowingly do something stupid. Give yourself a break. Take yourself off of autopilot and take command of your vessel. At the end of the day, acknowledge the stupid little things you have done and make a conscious effort not to repeat them.

Remember, the most important person in the world is you. If you don't show yourself the maximum amount of respect you deserve, it's quite possible no one else will either. If you keep on going day after day repeating one small stupidity after another, it will have a cumulative effect on your reserve of self-respect.

 “Stupid is as stupid does,” but stupid does not have to become a standard of performance or an excuse to be rude.

Thanks for your support as a reader of my blog and I eagerly welcome any comments on this post or suggestions you might have for a future blog on a topic near and dear to you in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Do you know what the 3 stories are that every executive must be able to tell?

"If you've heard this story before, don't stop me,
because I'd like to hear it again."
Groucho Marx

Once upon a time there was an idea that struck a very eager entrepreneur as the basis for the creation of an amazing enterprise. As time passed, this visionary’s dream began to generate amazing products and services that not only changed the world, but the way the people who used these great products and services began to see themselves. One user of this company’s fantastic, revolutionary, and cutting-edge technology transformed itself overnight into a dynamic, global leader in people to people commercial exchange and a paragon of social action and responsibility.

There are no names to put to this story. There is really no need to. Because, whether the facts are real or imagined, the elements of this story are essential to the culture, growth and sustainability of every business. The stories within this larger epic are the three basic stories that every executive must learn and be able to tell with unbridled enthusiasm, humility and sincerity.

Do you know the three stories that every executive must be able to tell?

Allow me, please, to share some insights with you regarding the three stories and how you can use them to promote yourself and your business.

First, what are the three stories?

The three stories every executive must be able to tell are:

1. The Origin Story

2. The Product Story

3. The Customer Story

Let’s look into each one and see how it might best serve your needs.

THE ORIGIN STORY

Origin stories are tales of passion. They ignite the imagination of the listener and ask them to surrender their attention to the details of a rise from nothingness to established existence. Some origin stories are about unlikely partnerships uniquely forged upon a spark of genius. Others portray courageous visionaries steadfastly pursuing a dream from a garage or a dorm room.

Whatever story relates the foundational moments of your enterprise, as an executive, you must learn how to embrace it, retell it and infuse it with a passion equal to that of the originators in your story.

You must be ever mindful of the many audiences a good origin story serves. Origin stories can inspire investors, recruit top talent, establish a solid ground for a longer relationship, and provide the fundamental core behind a business’s culture and its proud traditions.

Without exception, the telling of the origin story is a primary duty of every executive from the middle to the top and back again.

THE PRODUCT STORY

Once the purview of marketing and public relations, the proliferation of social media into business marketing channels has enabled all executive players within an enterprise to relate the value, features and benefits of every product in the line.

Behind every service or product is the story of why it exists, how it came to be and what unique qualities justify the loyalty of consumers or end users. The product space is crowded in this arena, (social media) where the best, boldest and cleverest grab the lion’s share of the bandwidth shared by readers and raters for shoppers and buyers.

Today, people exhaust all avenues to uncover the good, the bad and the ugly of a product before making their “buy” decision. An artfully crafted and well told product story can have enormous effect on cementing a product’s ranking in search engines, blogs and other aggregators of opinions and reviews.

As an executive, you must know these stories down to the deepest detail. You must be able to recall them with enthusiasm and purpose. The product story is an incredible opportunity to relate value, innovation and excellence in a single experience.

THE CUSTOMER STORY

Whether you read or hear a review from a customer, it has real bearing on your perception of a company and its products. The customer story is a powerful way to relate to prospective customers the deep levels of satisfaction your company and its products have achieved.

Many executives ignore this fertile ground of storytelling, failing to understand its powerful role in breeding new customers and retaining current ones as well.

A well told customer story is a powerful testimonial bearing witness to the passion, promise, and reliability of doing business with your organization. It extends beyond the performance of a single product or products to reach the much more significant value of a relationship built on trust and fidelity. Every executive should have a briefcase (or backpack) full of customer stories suitable for sharing with a vast array of audiences.

THE STORY YOU HEARD BEFORE

As Groucho Marx quipped, “If you've heard this story before, don't stop me, because I'd like to hear it again." As an executive storyteller, you will. Likewise, you will become used to telling these stories and yearn for the chance to do so at every opportunity. The telling must never be done rotely or robotically. Instead the telling of these stories should be fulfilled by those within any organization with a high degree of passion and the honor it bears.

An executive telling any of the three stories, The Origin, The Product and The Customer, should never tire of the unique opportunities they afford to build, buoy and bond a relationship for the betterment of the served and the server.

I deeply appreciate your support as a reader of my blog and I eagerly welcome any comments on this post or suggestions you might have for a future blog on a topic near and dear to you in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer