I am about to get started on The Power of Communication: Skills
to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty and Lead Effectively by Helio Fred Garcia. So
looking forward to hearing more about the ways in which I can present myself in
a way that is inspiring, firm and trustworthy. Something I feel every business
owner needs. If you have the time…you should probably pick the book up too!
In researching the book, yes odd to research a book that you want to read, but
with such little time I need to really figure out what is worth my spare time
and what isn’t, I came across this
Fast Company article. I wanted to share the
highlights with you, so if you don’t have time to read the book in its entirety,
you can at least get the gist.
The article starts off with: The default to emotion is part
of the human condition. Yes indeed it is. It is rare to find anyone in a room
who is listening to an inspiring speaker who doesn’t feel something emotionally
either toward the speaker or the topic. Even if you dislike the speaker or the
topic, you most likely do so in an emotional way. The primitive brain explained
below, is what is important for leaders, business owners and for anyone who is
looking for success.
The primitive brain and the limbic
brain collectively make up the limbic system, which governs emotion. Within the
limbic system, there is a structure called the amygdala, which leaders need to
understand.
When faced with a
stimulus, the amygdala turns our emotions on. It does so instantaneously,
without our having to think about it. We find ourselves responding to a threat
even before we’re consciously aware of it. Think of jumping back when we see a
sudden movement in front of us, or being startled by the sound of a loud bang.
We also respond instantaneously to positive stimulus without thinking about it:
Note how we tend to smile back when someone smiles at us; how we are
immediately distracted when something we consider beautiful enters our line of
sight
So, with this information, we need to understand that
attention is emotionally driven. If you want to grab attention and keep it, you
have to find a way to trigger the Amygdala in your audience. Whether it is in
person, during a meeting, a social media campaign, marketing campaigns or a
piece of advertising, it all comes back to something as simple as emotion.
Frills, bells and whistles won’t work unless you trigger the right emotion.
As mentioned in the audience, here are five strategies for
audience engagement:
- Establish
a Connection. You have to actually connect with your audience before
saying anything important. “Techniques to connect include asking for the
audience’s attention, if only with a powerful and warm greeting, followed
by silence and eye contact.”
- Say
Your Killer Piece First. So you have established your connection? Directly
after that, you need to say your most important piece of information. It should
be a main framing piece that will help guide all that follows, and stay in
your audience’s memory.
- Never
Finish Without a Recap. Always close with a re-brief of what your main
most powerful framing statement was about.
- Make
it Memorable. We all have to keep in mind how much we are bombarded with
information at every point of our day. Whether it’s TV, Social Media,
Phones, Emails, and Meetings etc. Make sure what you are trying to say is
simple, and easy to remember. Repeat your most important points.
- The
Rule of Three. The most important take away of the whole article for me
was the rule of three. Have three main points, topics or examples…but
never more than three. People just won’t be able to focus on more. Make it
short and sweet, but keep it to three.
I am so looking forward to the book. Look out for a review
on the book and it’s main principles…as soon as I get through it!
