Leadership and Common Sense

Lee Iacocca writes about the 9 “C’s” of leadership in his book, Where Have all the Leaders Gone?  The ninth “C” is Common Sense.  It struck me as funny because I would like to know his definition of “common sense.”  It’s a term that any of us would struggle to define; however, we all know it when we see it, right? 

In fact, like Iacocca, other business/management/leadership authors use the same type of words to describe leadership:  character, credibility, competence, communication, charisma, conviction, courage, curiosity, etc.  These words all have the same problem as the word beauty—I can’t describe it, but I know when I see it.

The problem is that we all view the world differently and there is no single working definition of any of these words.  Even the word leadership fits into this category of words—I can’t describe it, but I know it when I see it.

If Common sense is so common, why do most of us have a different idea of its definition?  Men and women differ on common sense because we have different experiences, the different generations differ because of different contexts, people who live in different States differ because of different environments, people from different countries differ because of different cultures, people of different religions differ because of different beliefs, people of different social/economic levels differ because of different lifestyles, people of different education levels differ because of different amounts of information, etc.  Actually I have really over simplified the problem as all these differences affect the common sense of everyone. Additionally , many more factors are involved in our personal common sense such as race, ethnicity, attitudes, values, abilities, past experiences, etc.

We are all different, even children growing up in the same families have different definitions of common sense because they all had different friends, interests, role models, teachers, jobs, hobbies, and experiences. 

Clearly, good common sense says the there is no such thing as common sense and I hope that is what Iacocca meant.  Like art, meanings of leadership and common sense are in the eye of the beholder.  Once we realize each person interprets words, situations, and relationships differently, we will then begin to communicate, lead, and follow better.  For leaders to be effective, the leader’s job is to clearly communicate to people her/his meanings of words including common sense.

Use Your Fear of Public Speaking to Your Advantage

Even if Our Biggest Fears of Public Speaking Happen, It Still Won’t Cause a Negative Difference in the Effectiveness of Our Message

All Politics aside, Senator Marco Rubio’s response to the President’s State of the Union address should ease the fears of most public speakers. 

 

The biggest obstacle that most people refuse to hurdle in order to share their valuable viewpoints, ideas, and information is the fear of public speaking. 

 

Those fears are specifically some of the following:

•  Not being perfect        

• Dry mouth

•  Sweating

• Red face

• Being laughed at

•  Being judged

• Not being liked

• Not being approved

Other fears include:

• White face

• Hands or knees shaking

• Feeling sick to your stomach

• Being stared at

• etc.

Senator Rubio had the first group of fears happen to him and he is still fine.  He survived, went to work the next day without losing his job, and got invited to be on many TV and radio talk shows.  He raised his profile by getting a lot of attention from the comedians, and questions from the press.  This resulted in more platforms to share his message. 

 

However, he did not get seriously judged for being nervous.  Nervousness is something all professional speakers can understand.  Even though most in the press brought it up, they (pundits of all political stripes) brushed off his nervousness as not important and not part of the message.

Ironically, Florida Democratic strategist, Steve Schale, said Rubio's water grab didn't hurt him and his initial good-humored response to it could end up being a plus for him.  Schale said Democrats should take Rubio seriously as a potential 2016 presidential candidate.

The audience and the message, tailored to such audience, is where our focus should be, only partially on our performance.  To Senator Rubio’s credit, he did not focus on his performance, it was on his message.  Not once in his presentation did he apologize or bring attention to his sweating and dry mouth.

 

He will still be asked to speak many, many times in the future as his nerves were not and will not be a determining factor in his speaking ability.  He will be remembered for the water drink and could have handled that with better grace though; but, still it isn’t important in the larger picture.  We still need people like Senator Rubio and all other people such as you in all walks of life to have their voices heard in an effective, clear, and civilized way.

Do you want to fight for a cause?

Do you want to speak up; but, nobody listens?

 

Do you want to make an important point, but it gets lost in words?

Do you have a burning passion for a societal issue or political cause, but don’t know how to be heard?

That’s my job.  My purpose in this life is to teach people to stand up for their beliefs and be heard.  I teach you to say what you mean in the least amount of words with the highest possible impact.   

This is my cause, my way of speaking up, my important point, my societal issue.

You can call me and I will help you move people to action and/or change the way people think because of your passion.

www.MattsonCommunication.com

Don't Underestimate the Power of First Impressions

We all heard the phrase, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.”  However, it is more powerful than most of us might think. Always “place your best foot forward” when making a first impression; otherwise, you will unfairly miss out on some great opportunities. At the very least, you are sure to “go down swinging.” 

Often, we make decisions based on biased perceptions because we do not always take in enough information to make sound decisions.  There are two main reasons for this: one, there is too much information in our environment causing “information overload.” Two, we “filter” out unwanted information selecting only information that confirms what we already know. This “selective listening” causes flawed or biased perceptions.

We like to think of ourselves as good people and consistent in that our behavior matches our values, beliefs, and attitudes.  As long as we have that “match,” we feel our decisions for the most part are good, and generally, we will stand by our decisions even if we had the chance to do them over again. 

When our behavior doesn’t match our beliefs—we slip into “cognitive dissonance.”  This dissonance causes us distress and disharmony triggering action to get the two back into harmony quickly.  We have at least two choices: we can change our thinking that is being threatened, or we can change our behavior. Reconciling dissonance affects first impressions in a big way.

In a job interview, the interviewer likely has perception biases too.  Given this assumption, she may instantly notice something unfavorable: your appearance, your dress, your handshake, or even the way you might answer the first question or two. More questions come and your responses may contradict her first impression; however, she won’t select that information because she already decided you will not be chosen; selecting contradictory information would cause her to have cognitive dissonance.

Amazingly, your answer on the 10^th question is the only answer that confirms her earlier unfavorable impression and she immediately thinks, “Aha!  I knew I was right about you” thus, she is confident in her decision, and you unfairly missed out on an opportunity.

4 Strategies to Managing the “Jitters”

Would you like to earn higher grades?  Would you like to land your dream job? Would you like to earn a job promotion?  Would you like to earn more money?  Most folks would answer yes to these questions; however, only a few will do what it takes to realize these things. 

One way to successfully earning higher grades, getting the dream job or job promotion, and earning more money is learning to give effective presentations! 

Being afraid of presentations shouldn’t stop us from doing them. Don’t be afraid; don’t avoid them at all costs.  Here are a few strategies for harnessing the fear, and getting the fear to work for you: 

One, Stay positive.  Understand that the biological feelings we are having like the nervous stomach are natural and we all feel it.  We are outside our comfort zone and it makes us uneasy.  Use those biological feelings to your advantage; they will make you sharp and animated. 

Two, Be rational.  Think of the worse things that could happen. Then, be realistic, and see how they will not happen.  No one is going to laugh at you, no one is going to throw tomatoes at you, you will not forget everything (if you do forget something, so what?  The audience won’t know it). 

Three, Focus on the listeners.  Concentrate on the listener getting the information she/he came to hear.  Don’t look at a presentation as a performance.  Presentations are not about the presenter; they are about the audience.  I hate to tell you this; but, the audience really doesn’t care about you, your hairstyle, your dress, your nose, you weight, or anything else about you.  They care about the message you are giving. 

Four, Prepare early and practice.  An audience will get downright hostile if you come unprepared.  You owe it to them to be prepared.  Many students tell me they aren’t good at presentations after only preparing for one day.  I tell them that is not the case, you can be good at presentations, you simply are not good at preparation.

Follow these four tips and learn to practice as often as you can; you will also learn that the “jitters” or nervousness is normal and natural.  Take advantage of this adrenaline rush and use it to keep you sharp, look confident, and enthusiastic.  You will become good at presentations thus earning promotions, notoriety, prestige, better grades, more money, and better jobs.

Made to Stick

When giving instructions as a manager, or when speaking to groups, it is important to follow six principles.  All the statistics, charts, and graphs in the world won’t “stick” in people’s minds even close to the effectiveness of these principles.  And, that is our goal right—to say things in such a way that the listeners remember?

Chip Heath from the Business Graduate School of Stanford University and his brother and Dan Heath a former researcher at the Harvard Business School have documented these principles in their in depth studies on ”the stickiness factor” of getting audiences to remember what you say.

Principle 1:  Simplicity. Get your idea down to a one sentence statement

Principle 2.  Unexpectedness. Violate peoples expectations, do something they don’t expect.

Principle 3.  Concreteness. Make your idea clear.

Principle 4. Credibility. Get People to believe your idea.

Principle 5.  Emotions.  Get people emotionally involved in your idea.

Principle 6.  Stories.  Relate your ideas into stories people can connect to in their minds.  Use a narrative. 

These principles can be remembered using the following mnemonic:  SUCCES.

I have found that fitting all these principles into my presentations and giving instructions has vastly improved my effectiveness.  It will for you too.

Source: Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath Random House New York 2007.