Are You a Leader or a Slacker?

Do you claim to be a Leader in your business or your field of expertise?  

I have noticed that many people claim to be Leaders, but I consider them Slackers instead.  A Slacker is someone that basically likes to give instruction or direction, but takes no action on advancing themselves or their business.  Does this describe you, your up-line or someone else on your Mastermind Team?  Here are some clues that might help you out.

Leader:  Praises his/her team and offers encouragement

Slacker:  Quick to find fault and slow to give praise

Leader:  Holds himself/herself to a higher standard that his/her team

Slacker:  Has a high level of expectation for his/her team but doesn’t hold

                 himself/herself to that same standard

Leader:  Leads by example and is a role model for his/her team

Slacker:  Blends in with crowd and never steps up to take a leadership role

Leader:  Has deep rooted belief in his/her business and leads new teammates

                through the growth process (learning the business and facing obstacles)

Slacker:  Convinces a person to join his/her team then pawns them off on someone

                 else or simply pushes them to the side (Referred to as “sign and drop”)

Which of these characteristics, best describes you and your teammates?  Be honest with yourself.

Just remember, that a leader must lead and nourish others through the growth process.  If he/she loses integrity and fails to take action, then this same failure mindset will ripple down to his/her teammates.  A team will duplicate their leader and their leader’s actions.

Let me ask you one last time…Are you a Leader or a Slacker?

For information on becoming a more effective leader, visit: Charisma

If There Was No PowerPoint, Would You Have Enough Charisma to Perform?

Most of the presentations made nowadays are made with the help of PowerPoint. There are also class teachers and lecturers who use PowerPoint to make the teaching and learning process more interesting. However, it is the professional who makes presentations without the use of PowerPoint, while following some of their age-old beliefs for presentations. 

Presentations without PowerPoint prove to be quite boring. This is because the presentation will be monotonous, with no music background or visual aids to help in the presentation. PowerPoint presentations usually provide a change for the audience in the presentation, and also give the crowd some visual explanations to the points that are being told in the presentation. So without PowerPoint in the presentation, it is very important that the presenter use some creativity in the presentation. This is because it is only this creativity that will keep the audience interested and motivated in the presentation!

The most important thing that has to be remembered to give a successful presentation without PowerPoint is to exactly know what you are talking about.  If you are well versed with the matter you intend to present, you can very well present it without the help of PowerPoint.   However, make sure to make your presentation only after learning about the temperament and nature of your audience. Remember that it is of no use talking to the audience as a group of employees. Instead, make it a point to tailor your presentation to meet the intelligence of the audience you are facing. 

When beginning the presentation, you have to present it while keeping the end of the presentation in mind. You have to know what the purpose of your presentation is, as without PowerPoint you might lose the interest of the audience! Make sure you see, hear and feel what exactly it is that you want people to respond to in whatever it is that you say.  Make a strong start to your presentation. Without PowerPoint, it is very much important that the first words and your appearance set the right tone for the audience to listen to you throughout the presentation. One of the best ways of making a connection with the audience without the help of PowerPoint is to tell a story or an anecdote that has universal appeal. 

One of the main things that have to be done when giving a presentation is to practice on the speech as much as possible or at least memorize the outline. This is the only way of looking polished while speaking.  It is indeed a false notion that using PowerPoint slides in a presentation will make a person a dynamic speaker.  The process of becoming a dynamic speaker lies in the hands of the speaker. Only practice can make one a successful speaker, and this is one skill that cannot be delegated to anyone else. 

If PowerPoint is not used in a presentation, it is important that props be used instead. This is because a prop is basically worth a thousand words.  With props, people tend to anchor thoughts in their minds to these props.  It is no difference if the prop is large, small, funny or serious, as long as it relates to the point that you are trying to make and that the audience sees it! Another way of making sure that the audience loves you despite the fact that you don’t use PowerPoint in your presentation is to bring solutions to the problems they have. With your research of the audience, you would already have an idea to what their problems are; it is only up to you to bring new ideas to them to try.

Remember that when you are not using PowerPoint, you are the visual aid of the presentation. People will then gain more interest in whatever it is that you say, instead of visuals or fancy slides or overheads. So basically, without PowerPoint, it is important that the speaker be more self-confident and well versed in his speech. Without this, it may be quite impossible to imagine giving a presentation without PowerPoint!

To learn to speak more persuasively, visit: Charisma

9 Tips for Handling Public Speaking Questions to Become More Charismatic

How you handle questions from an audience can often be the deciding factor as to how your presentation is received.  If you're pitching for business, then it's absolutely vital to handle questions well.  Remember, your personal magnetism will determine if your presentation was effective or not.

1. Be prepared for questions - When you write your presentation, think about what you're likely to be asked and what your answer is going to be. Maybe you won't want to answer a particular question there and then, so think about what you'll say to satisfy the questioner.

2. Make it clear at the start - You may decide to take questions as you go or at the end of your presentation. Whatever you decide, make it clear at the start and don't change your mind. I would suggest questions at the end in a short presentation; if you take questions as you go, then your timing will get knocked out.  And always remember, an audience won't forgive you for taking half an hour when you were only scheduled to speak for fifteen minutes.

3. Never finish with questions - Far better to ask for questions five or ten minutes before the end, deal with the questions and then summarize for a strong finish. Too many presentations finish on questions and the whole thing goes a bit flat - particularly if you don't get any.

4. Listen - When asked a question, listen and look like you are listening.  It may be something you've heard a million times before. Treat the questioner with respect and don't trivialize their point.

5. Thank the questioner - It's only polite, it shows respect and it gives you a bit more time to consider your answer.

6. Repeat the essence of the question - Some people may not have heard the question so your answer may not make any sense to them.  It can also be irritating for them not to hear the question.  Again, it gives you more time to think of the answer and it makes you look so clever and in control.

7. Answer to everyone - Don't fall into the trap of only answering the questioner. If they happen to be near the front then you could end up having a conversation with them and exclude everyone else.

8. Keep it simple - Many speakers, when it comes to questions, have become more relaxed and the fact that someone is interested enough to ask them a question, leads them to go on too long with the answer - DON'T. 

9. Don't bluff or bluster - If you don't know the answer to a question, say so and find out. Suggest to the questioner that you'll 'phone them or come and see them with the answer.  It can even be a good way to make further contact after the presentation.

As we all know, it's possible that you may not be asked any questions and you then have that awkward silence. People may be thinking about what you've just said and may need more time to ask. They may also be a bit shy and may take a few minutes to speak out.  Why not have a question of your own prepared and say something like. "You may be asking yourself.........?" If you still fail to get any questions then go straight into your summary and closing statement. 

Handling a question and answer session well, demonstrates your professionalism and reflects on your message. Also, your audience came to see and hear you, so set the stage and never concede control of the forum to your audience. After all, you are the expert.

For more information on persuasive speaking, visit: Charisma

5 Ways to Liven Your Audience

Has a boring speaker ever put you to sleep? Your head begins to nod as you fight off the urge to slip mercifully into the Land of the Z’s. Or has your mind ever wandered during someone’s dull presentation? Although you appear to listen intently, what you are really thinking about are the million tasks waiting for you at home.

Sure, this has happened to all of us, more than we would like to admit. However, don’t let it happen to you when you are the speaker. The key to keeping your audience from taking a mental exit is to involve them in your talk. Yes! Studies show that the more you involve your audience, the more they retain. Why? Because they are listening!

You can involve your audience in several ways, and I have listed 5 of my favorites below. Select those that will work well with your presentation and that feel genuine to you. If it feels uncomfortable, it will look uncomfortable—so don’t use it. 

1. Ask questions.

Questions will cause your audience members to try to think of an answer. They can’t help it – it is simply how our brains are wired. If the energy in the room starts to drop, ask a question and select a member of your audience to respond. Then, thank him or her for participating and move on to the next person. Don’t worry about losing control of your audience. Sales guru Brian Tracy emphasizes, “He (she) who asks questions is in control.” I personally prefer questions like “How many of you . . .,” and then I ask for a show of hands. These closed-ended questions get your audience involved both mentally and physically.

2. Finish your sentence.

For example, if you said to your audience, “Lions and tigers and bears . . .” and did not finish the sentence, what do you think they would say? As long as they are familiar with the movie The Wizard of Oz, they would respond with “Oh my!” This is a fun way to get your audience to participate. If they know the answer, they will blurt it out. If they don’t, you answer it. Choose something that should be so obvious they will absolutely get it.

3. High-five.

This is one of my personal favorites, and if you have attended one of my talks you have experienced it firsthand. If you ever feel like the energy in the room is heavy, you can change it by using this technique. Simply ask a question (remember the power of asking questions). Ask, “Is this good stuff?” When your audience responds with “Yes,” say “Then, turn to the people on either side of you and give them a high-five and say ‘This is good stuff!’” Most people get a kick out of it. However, if you have an individual in your audience who does not want to participate, don’t worry about it. Some people simply just don’t want to have fun.

4. Do exercises.

I learned this trick from the famous millionaire T. Harv Ecker when I took his “Train the Trainer” course. He says, “Get your audience to do the work.” To accomplish this, ask them to break into groups of two or three (with people that they don’t know) and give them an exercise that is congruent with your presentation. Afterward, ask them to share openly with the rest of the group and thank them for doing so. 

5. Give them candy.

Reward your audience for participating, and they will participate even more. Simply ask a question and when someone answers it, gently throw a small piece of candy to that person. I find that chocolate works best. You will find that it becomes a game and people will compete for the chocolate. I don’t use this throughout my entire speech, only for a few minutes in the middle of my talk.

There are many other ways and techniques to get your audience involved. What is important as a speaker is for you to come up with as many different ways as you can think of that are appropriate for your audience and for you as a speaker. Believe me, your audience will thank you.

For more information on persuasive speaking, visit:  Charisma

5 Surefire Tips to Better Public Speaking

If you search in Google for the term “public speaking tips” you get roughly 2.6 million responses. That seems like a lot, but when you have to be the one standing in front of the group there isn’t enough information in the world that could get you over that fear.

Believe it or not, most of those fears are self imposed. What do I mean? The people listening to you don’t really care how the information is disseminated, they just want at the information. It’s the speaker that puts themselves through the ringer weeks before the event. Here are some tips that may seem obvious, but once completed, will really put your mind at ease, trust me.

Public Speaking Tip #1

KNOW YOUR TOPIC! I don’t mean know your topic, I mean inside and out, upside down, whatever question someone could throw at you, you know the answer. You really need to be prepared to reach this level. You need to know your speech almost by heart; you need to know the products you will be discussing. Do your homework, you will know you have reached public speaking Nirvana when you get that “feeling”, it will come with knowledge. Believe!

Public Speaking Tip #2

Greet as many of the attendees prior to your speech as possible. Familiarity promotes confidence. Besides, think of the benefit you provide the topic you are to speak on when you take the time to meet people before you go on.

This strategy also prevents you from pacing back and forth and worrying yourself to death until you go on. There is no point in cramming now, if you don’t know it, you won’t, and it will show.

Public Speaking Tip #3

DON’T think everyone in the audience is naked, this in fact will hurt your chances of a successful public speaking outing.

Public Speaking Tip # 4

When you find yourself with only a mouthful of uhs and ums, stop yourself, repeat the sentence as if to add importance, and replace the uhs and ums with silence to allow your points to hit home.

Public Speaking Tip # 5

Animate your speech. Most people think that good communication is mouth-centric. Nothing could be farther from the truth! To be a powerful communicator, you have to use your entire body. Gestures and body language add energy and enthusiasm to your speech.

These are tips can really help you take your next step in public speaking. Do you realize that people pass up promotions because they will be required to speak publicly?

Do you realize people fear speaking in public more than they fear dying? Maybe because dying is abstract and appears far away while the podium is right in front of them. Either way, you really can come to grips with your fear and maybe you won’t enjoy it, but you’ll be able to get through it easier. I can’t emphasize enough that half of your battle will be just knowing what you are going to say, and anticipating what others are going to ask. It can be easy!

For more information on speaking persuasively, visit: http://plr.coreedgeprivatelabelrights.com/public-speaking and http://persuasivespeech.coreedgecharisma.com

Charismatic Leaders Serving as Role Models to Entry & Mid-Level Managers

Burns-Saraiva (n.d.) noted the following:

I think mentoring is an understanding between two or more people. It is a way for people to learn from each other. Even though most think mentors are older, I think it's a bond and no matter age, race, or gender, it’s a way for people to communicate! (Para. 1)

The notion of acquiring a role model is often advised to anyone seeking to achieve personal or professional success.  This notion stems from the idea that if you are the smartest person in a group, you need to find another group. Generally, people grow when guided by others with greater knowledge and experience.

However, pundits who rally around role models and mentorship often focus on formalized mentorship as postulated by Burns-Saraive. Conversely, there are informal ways of acquiring role models. Informal mentorship may be applied out of necessity or convenience.  Celebrities, chief executive officers, and prestigious individuals receive numerous requests from budding entertainers, entry level managers, and aspiring scholars asking to be coached or mentored. The time and attention needed for mentorship often is impractical for potential mentors. As a result, entry and mid-level managers have to create their own system for professional development and advancement. The charismatic leadership model is the essential leadership model where personality, tenacity, and persistence are the standard traits for achievement. Managers lacking the connections and exposure to attract the help of esteemed mentors should study the benchmarks and templates demonstrated by charismatic leaders. There are a few ways of gaining information and strategies of charismatic leaders to serve as role models.

1.      Choose charismatic leaders in a chosen profession. Although similarities exist between charismatic leaders in general, following a charismatic leader within your chosen profession makes every act relevant and visceral. As an entry level manager, you can learn a great deal about charismatic leadership from basketball great Michael Jordan. Jordan’s personality, work ethic, and steel determination led the Chicago Bulls to winning six championships. However, more relevant charismatic biographies for corporate managers might be Oracles’ Larry Ellis or the late John Delorean.  History is replete with charismatic leaders in every field who transformed the conventional thinking of their day. Reportedly, Alexander the Great was influenced by the hero in Homer’s “Iliad.” Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte were believed to have been influenced by Alexander the Great.  Historical heroes can become role models for corporate managers.  William Duggan in his book “The Art of What Works: How Success Really Happens” suggested that if a concept or strategy worked in the past, with some tweaking, it will work again in the present. 

2.      Become a self-reliant, independent learner.  Although charismatic leaders are viewed as “People Persons,” they create and develop many of their ideas in isolation.  Thomas Edison spent an inordinate amount of time in his laboratory before inventing the incandescent light bulb.  In Dean Keith Simonton’s “Greatness: Who Makes History and Why,” he postulated that Albert Einstein professed that his work did not lend itself to social interaction.  Einstein Reportedly said, “I am a horse with a single harness, not cut for tandem or teamwork…for well I know that in order to attain any definite goal, it is imperative that one person should be thinking and commanding (p. 388).   The downside of paternalistic or maternalistic mentorship is that it deifies the fallibility of human beings.  Although mentors are valued resources, they still can err in judgment.  Any template or benchmark of experience should serve as mere suggestions and guidelines.  There still exists a great deal of testing, trial, and error no matter how acclaimed the mentor.  

3.       Use current technology to lead as well as influence. Traditionally, mentors were used not only to learn from, but to gain access to privileged social circles. Although nepotism and cronyism still exists, technology and the Internet have created opportunities to gain information as well influence industries like no other time in history. Charismatic leaders become an army of one before the rest of the population has caught on to an idea.  Twenty-two year old Molly Katchpole started an online petition against Bank of America (BOF) after discovering that BOF would begin charging a $5 monthly fee on debit card transactions.  After a month, 306,000 people signed Katchpole’s petition causing BOF to reverse its decision to levy the monthly fee. The Internet and social media have allowed individuals to lead crusades that would have required enormous human capital once upon a time. Use technology as a conduit for nurturing self-confidence.

The experience, education, and contacts of mentors are invaluable for entry and mid-level managers. In a social world, relationships will always be important. For the manager challenged with attaining resources from a mentor, the strategies of charismatic leaders will not only help attract the aid of a mentor, but create the mindset and independence to place all resources in its proper perspective.

Reference(s):

Burns-Saraiva. K. (n.d.). Role models and online mentoring. Women & Girls Techup. Retrieved from : http://www.techup.org/mentor/mn_rolemd.html

For more info., visit:  Charisma

Why Are Charismatic Leaders Often Alpha Males?

Edward Brown, M.S., of Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute provides questions and answers about how and why charismatic leaders are often viewed as Alpha males.

Q: This is almost a “no brainer,” but are charismatic leaders typically Alpha males?

Brown: First, it behooves me to define what an Alpha male is. Dictionary.com defines an Alpha male as “The dominant male animal or person in a group.” Consequently, since the charismatic leader will often be the dominant personality in a group or organization, he will typically be an Alpha male.

Q: Is this dominance mental or physical?

Brown: Often, it may be either or both. Essentially, the charismatic leader sets the course of a mission or crusade and people basically fall in line due to the force and passion of the charismatic leader’s personality.

Q: Since this seems to hinge on influence and persuasion in civil societies, the Alpha male will have to use more brain than brawn. Do you agree?

Brown: Absolutely. As a matter of fact, the charismatic leader as Alpha male would have less or at least short term success, if he relied on force as a legitimate means for establishing and maintaining power.

Q: Since people often demand consensus and an equal voice in decisions, how effective is the Alpha male trait in charismatic leaders for consensus building?

Brown: It depends on the situation and who is willing to assume responsibility for achieving a goal.  The operative word is “voice.” It does not mean that merely having a voice carries any real power. A child can have a tantrum, but at the end of the day, he’s going to do what his parents tell him to do. Voices and tantrums are great stress relievers, but they don’t convey any real power. Someone still has to rally the people to get things done.  Typically, accomplishing this feat will not be done by the masses.

Q: So, are you saying that the masses are children and the Alpha male (charismatic leader) is the parent?

Brown: In some respect, yes. Many people cannot even govern their own lives, how could they possibly govern others? The charismatic leader as Alpha male is willing to make decisions and assume the responsibilities for ensuring an idea moves from plan to practice. Just like children, the masses like leisure and play, but not the responsibilities in life that require accountability. Any challenges in society that have gone unresolved, often will be addressed by someone courageous and forceful enough to find solutions. This individual is often a charismatic leader.

Related: Charisma