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Summary: The author asserts that presentations and speeches are least effective means of leadership communication. There is a much more effective way: Leadership Talk. In this three part series, he describes underlying principles of Leadership Talk and ways to help develop and deliver it.
Turbo Charge Your Career With The Most Powerful Leadership Tool Of All: The Leadership Talk. (Part Three) by Brent Filson
To develop and deliver a great Leadership Talk, you must understand that every Talk has three important parts. (1) Audience Needs. (2) Strong Belief. (3) Action.
(1) Audience needs: The first step in putting together a Leadership Talk is to understand needs of your audience. As I explained in Part Two, they cannot be ordered to be your cause leaders. Their commitment is one of free choice. They will not make that choice unless they believe that their being your cause leaders will in some way help solve problems of their (not your) needs.
All needs are problems. All problems are crying out for solutions. When you are helping them with those solutions, you are a long way down road of motivating them to make choice to be your cause leaders.
When you answer these questions, you have a good idea what their needs are. (1) What is changing for them? (2) Who would they rather have leading them besides you? (3) What action do they want to take? (4) What do they feel? (5) What do they fear? (6) What's their major problem? (7) What makes them angry? (8) What do they dream?
(2) Strong belief: Knowing your audience's needs is important, but it's only first step in developing a Leadership Talk. The next step involves strong belief, not just your belief but theirs. Clearly, you must believe in cause. But your belief is irrelevant. After all, if you didn't believe in cause, you shouldn't be leading it. The key question is can you transfer your belief to them so that they believe in it as strongly as you do and will commit to becoming your cause leaders?
As I explained in Part Two, you are asking people to take leadership for your cause. Taking leadership is a special undertaking, calling for a special commitment. People will not undertake leadership lightly. It is not your choice for them to take leadership. It is their choice. And to weigh pros and cons of that choice, they want to know two things: who you are and why you are there.
You must tell them or they will tell you. And if they tell you, you may not like what they say.
As to who you are: In their eyes, who you are involves your knowledge/skills as to meeting challenges of cause and your commitment to that cause. If they perceive that you have weak knowledge/skills and/or weak commitment, they'll peg you as unworthy and maybe worse, untrustworthy.
