Have you ever participated in a long corporate meeting? This could be an internal meeting, a meeting with a prospect, or a current client. The meeting is long and intense. You are talking about important things in this meeting. It is a vital meeting. Powerful things are being discussed. Afterwards, you emerge from the meeting and instead of having a clear path for success, or clear problems to ponder upon, you don’t really have any action items. You don’t really know the meeting was about. What did you get out of the meeting? You don’t know because you likely spent the entire meeting talking in generalities about large problems, some possible solutions and few decisions. There were precious few specifics, even fewer instances when someone communicated in a direct matter and yet fewer concrete solutions to concrete problems. This meeting just fell into the wide chasm that is corporate speak. We see this in political speeches. A Presidential candidate talks in broad, lofty terms about change and American greatness and taking Washington back. They speak in vague generalities about everything. They are trained by their handlers to answer specific questions in vague generalities. They do this because they don’t want to tick anyone off. Their fear is that if they answer a question too directly, it will be offensive and will cost them votes. Well, I’ve got news for you: you aren’t a politician! You don’t have to worry about those same issues. Your job is to cut through the crap and find the salient point. You need to slice through the vagueness of corporate speak like a hot knife slicing through soft butter on a warm summer day. You need to slice through the generalities of corporate speak like a laser beam of truth cutting a rope of vagueness. (You get the idea). It is my opinion that most meetings at most organizations could be 60% shorter than they are. We could say what we need to say in far fewer words than we usually say it. Corporate speak is fluff. It makes our meetings longer, our results less sure, our lives less powerful and our businesses less profitable. Stop corporate speak! Get to the point in meetings, in discussions and in sales situations. Get to the point!
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The best sports story of the last 20 years is arguably going on right now in New York City. This story illustrates valuable insights from which every business and every individual can learn. The story is about a young man named Jeremy Lin. Lin is Asian American. He played basketball at Harvard and graduated with a degree in economics. Lin was an All-Ivy League player in college, but Harvard is not exactly a basketball factory, and Lin was not drafted by an NBA team. On July 21, 2010 he signed a contract with the Golden State Warriors, but rarely played. After 17 months of frustration and obscurity, Lin was finally waived by the Warriors on December 9, 2011. He was briefly picked up by the Houston Rockets, but was, again, promptly cut. Then, two days after Christmas 2011 he was picked up by the New York Knicks. Their plan for Lin was simple: he was never going to play. He was simply a warm body they needed to sit on the bench and compete hard in practice. But on February 4, 2012 that changed. The Knicks were struggling to score on the woefully bad New Jersey Nets during a less than spectacular game at Madison Square Garden. Their offense was sputtering. Injuries to key starters had left the Knicks decimated. So, trailing midway through the game, the Knicks, desperate for any spark, turned to Lin. This was his chance. He was ready. He reeled off 25 points and 7 assists in a stunning comeback victory. His performance electrified Madison Square Garden’s celebrity-laden crowd. By the end of the game spectators at the world’s most famous arena were chanting ‘Jeremy, Jeremy!’ A star was born. Jeremy Lin was immediately inserted into the starting lineup. Start after start, game after game, the Knicks keep winning and the Jeremy Lin story grows more unbelievable. So far he’s started 6 games. The Knicks are 6 – 0 in those games and Lin has scored more points in his first 6 starts than any other player in the last 40 years. He scored 38 points on Kobe Bryant in a victory over the Lakers, then 3 days later hit a game winning buzzer beater against Toronto. The undersized guard from Harvard is quickly becoming one of the best players in the NBA. Fans are packing arenas just to watch him play. Asian-American women are proposing marriage to him from the stands. Media from China, Taiwan and Japan are filling th e press row at NBA arenas. Jeremy Lin is a phenomenon. “I was skeptical,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “But, our team is better with him on the floor.” Jeremy Lin came out of nowhere to be the best NBA story of the last few decades. And it started when he was ready for his chance to perform on February 4. Get Ready Every person has a handful of ‘turning point’ moments in their life that truly define their future. This moment could be a job interview, a conversation with a stranger, a big account that will change the face of a small company or a meeting with a big investor. These are moments that can change the trajectory of an entire professional life. We may not know when these moments will come, we don’t know how many we get, but we do know one thing about these moments: we had better be ready for them when they arrive. Jeremy Lin’s moment was February 4, 2012. And Lin was ready. He had been preparing for this moment his entire life. It was a primetime game at Madison Square Garden, injuries had riddled his teammates forcing his coach to insert him into the game—this was Lin’s moment. And he was ready. If Lin hadn’t been focused, hadn’t been preparing and practicing hard, if he had resigned himself to the end of the bench or been frustrated by his lack of playing time, he would have squandered his moment. But, he was ready. Here’s my question to you: are you ready for your moment? It may come today, tomorrow or in 4 years. You may have no warning (or you may). Either way, you better be ready. We only get a few of these moments in life. These are chances to change trajectory, change outcomes and dramatically alter your future. When these moments come, follow Jeremy's lead: be ready.
Get Ready for Your Big Moment - Power Training
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