Monthly Archive for

Speech Analysis by The One Minute Presenter on Susan Cain, the power of introverts

Published on in Speech Analysis. Closed Tags: , , , .

Susan makes a case that while much of Western society favours the extrovert, introverted people contribute a lot to the world. This well supported talk explains that contribution and makes a call to action.

You can watch a video of this speech here.

Here is my breakdown of the speech. The things that are great about the speech are:

  • Steady confident delivery with clear voice and pacing

  • Mixture of evidence to support ideas (anecdotes, examples)

  • Good soundbites dropped in

  • Clear call to action

  • A metaphor that unfolds throughout the talk

The areas that could be improved include:

  • A tendency to qualify statements

  • Repetitive gestures

The things that are great about the speech are:

Steady confident delivery

Susan is well prepared and delivers a very confident talk with a clear voice and pacing that is comfortable to follow along with.

Illustrated the problem of introverts with anecdote

Opening anecdote about going to camp.

1:00-1:30 Camp cheer example got a good laugh. Message behind anecdote: Being quiet and introverted needs to be changed

Personal anecdotes

14:00 Grandfather anecdote

15:30 Published book. 7 years.

05:00 Examples of how our environment does not support introversion

Schools designed for extroverts. Classroom has pods of desks. Lots of group work – even in maths, creative writing. At work. Open plan offices. Leaders more likely to be extroverts.

Good soundbites dropped in

3:30 when it comes to creativity and leadership we need introverts doing what they do best

07:00 Examples of introverted leaders. Everyone is a mix of introvert / extroverts.

10:30 There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.

11:20 US favours man of action over man of contemplation

13:10 Let introverts be themselves

Humour points

1:00-1:30 Camp cheer example got a good laugh

15:55 Talking about introversion

Clear call to action

Susan concludes the speech with a clear call to action

16:45 Three calls to action

  1. Stop the constant group work
  2. Go to the wilderness
  3. Take a look at what’s inside your suitcase

A metaphor that unfolds throughout the talk

It was only at the conclusion that I really got the metaphor of the suitcase and it’s a good one. The idea of showing other people what’s inside your suitcase can be interpreted as sharing with others your passions and deep seated motivations which may not be obvious from the outside.

Prior to this I wondered whether the suitcase prop was impactful:

First minute of talk, Susan was holding the bag packed for camp. My impression at this stage was that it didn’t add much impact or value.

13:30 Call back to suitcase. Takes out three books. Which transitions to story of her grandfather. I felt that this was low impact again.

It was only in the conclusion did I see the idea that Susan was driving with the suitcase prop. Be conscious when using props, always ask yourself “Is this the best way to illustrate this idea?” “Is this the most memorable way to express the idea?”

Areas that could have been improved:

A tendency to qualify statements

When you have a point of view, you need to support it in a way that sways the audience to your view. I found the repeated qualification of statements to lessen the impact.

07:30 I actually love extroverts. Some of my best friends are extroverts.

I find the “some of my best friends” phrase to be a particularly poor choice of words. The history of this phrase is often found in divisive discrimination cases around race, religion and sexuality. You can find an interesting background to this phrase here.

While I don’t think Susan made this connection consciously, the frequent usage of the phrase as a defence to discrimination takes away from her impact at this point in the speech. As a former corporate lawyer, I would expect her to be aware of its connotations. I believe that there is no need for Susan to say that she loves extroverts because I don’t believe anyone was thinking she was out to attack extroverts. She is simply making a case for introversion to be given its space and this does not need to be qualified.

Warwick’s coaching tip: When you are presenting your ideas to influence people, focus most of your energy on making your case and supplementing your message and point of view. If you deliver in a sincere and confidence manner, there is no need to argue the other side too. However, in your preparation and research stage, it is prudent to learn as much as you can about different opinions and perspectives so you can consider them while formulating your own message.

Repetitive gestures

04:45 Susan tends to use the same gesture over and over even when it’s not linked to the message. Gestures are best used when they add impact to a message or idea you are expressing. Most of the time speakers have a favorite gesture they tend to overuse, it starts to become an issue when the gestures distracts the audience from the message being delivered. Interestingly, this type of over-gesture is something I often see with extroverted speakers!

Conclusion

This is a well built presentation that makes a case and supports it with a range of evidence. While a couple of areas disrupted its flow, the overall metaphor of the suitcase was good. I would rate this a 7 out of 10.

About the Author

Warwick J Fahy

“Warwick helps C-level executives, working in multinational companies based in Greater China, who struggle to get their point across and influence their key stakeholders. Warwick helps the executive project their message with confidence allowing them to express their opinions powerfully and gain respect from senior managers even when under pressure.”Learn more about who I help here.

Warwick is the author of “The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world”.

Now available on Amazon.com.

Sign up to “52 Tips to more confident public speaking” newsletter at www.warwickjohnfahy.com

Are you an influential executive?

Published on in executive presence and Influence. Closed Tags: , , , .

Key point summary:

A. Influence is the number one skill a high performing executive demonstrates

B. Leadership teams need to set and cascade the “story” behind strategy and change initiatives

C. Individual executives must be able to express the message in different formats and lengths

In John C Maxwell’s book “Becoming a person of influence”, he says that “if your desire is to be successful or to make a positive impact on your world, you need to become a person of influence. Without influence, there is no success.”

For today’s executives who project influence and confidence, this means getting more done through their teams. As companies move towards global and matrix organisations, being effective means less command-and-control and more encouraging, advocating and inspiring. The best executives are able to attract people and resources by defining and expressing a purpose. Much like Steve Job’s famed “reality distortion field”, the most influential executives can create an environment where people contribute more, are willing to see things through and ultimately care more about the outcomes.

Challenges are plentiful. The business world is fast moving and complex. Change is hard to predict. While it’s relatively easy to set strategy and announce a new vision, making this a reality takes much more work. The leadership team needs to play an active role in cascading the benefits of change and selling it to the company. Obstacles like resistance to change, confusion over the reason why change is necessary, reluctance to adopt new working styles all play a role in slowing down the implementation of important change projects across global organisations.

Executives need to play a more active role in communication. Today people are looking for a combination of management and leadership from their managers. To fully engage the talents, energy and commitment, a good executive not only delegates a clear package to her team but also articulates the “why” – the importance of the project to the organisation as a whole. Setting the context and connecting it to the individual project gives the team a stronger reason to buy into the project. It also acts as a guiding star for the team as they move forward and handle project challenges.

Degrees of separation reduce your influence. While many leaders like to think that the fact they said something once will engage the whole company to act, often the reality is very different. From my experience, working with leadership team very often there is no clear shared understanding of the direction of the company in terms of how the individual executives talk about it with their peers, subordinates and partners. If there is no shared clarity at the top, how can we expect middle management to be confident in expressing a consistent theme to their reports?

Even a charismatic CEO is not enough. People are most influenced by their line managers and while the CEO may engage his leadership team and inspire them. Unless these executives are also rolling down the same message, it’s impact is lost. What is needed are executives and middle managers who are equally proficient at influence. In large global organisations where a change initiative is planned worldwide this is essential otherwise all the effort into creating a strategy is lost once it drops below the leadership team.

Use this checklist to test how influential your leadership team’s messaging is:

1. Does the leadership have a clear vision and strategy for the next three years?

2. Has this message been refined and talked about so everyone is on the same page?

3. Is there consensus among the leadership team?

4. Has everyone agreed to share this message regardless of their personal resistance or objections?

5. Has the leadership team gone through a simulated media-style interview where they are put on the spot and asked to deliver the key message?

6. Can the leadership team deliver the key point of the message without slides?

7. Have the top executives committed to cascading the message to their line managers?

8. Acid test: If you asked five people in your organisation about the strategy or change initiative, how consistent would their answers be?

This polishing and refinement is often overlooked by leadership teams and executives are left to their own devices. This leaves too much up to their own personal opinions. Once the CEO and top executives have committed to the strategy, everyone needs to get on-board. By ensuring that their story is aligned, the change has a higher rate of success. How well are your executives influencing?

All the best,

Feel free to contact us at any time.

Warwick John Fahy and The One Minute Presenter Team