Success: One Frippicism at a Time – Ask and You Will Receive

The Secret of Conversation is to Ask Questions

Your prospects and customers can give you important feedback, both directly and indirectly, but perhaps there is another great way to find out how you are doing.

This is a blast from my past.

After addressing a group of sales contest winners in Hawaii, I was on the shuttle bus headed for the airport. My best education and content for my speeches comes from asking questions. As I was the only passenger, I leaned forward and commented to the driver, “I bet your passengers tell you what they really think about their stays at these fancy resorts because they know you don’t work for any of them.”

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Success: One Frippicism at a Time – Why Did You Do It That Way?

Lessons from Everyday Heroes

My brother, the legendary guitarist Robert Fripp, played on David Bowie’s Heroes. In our presentations Robert says, “There are three kinds of heroes. The occasional hero, the everyday hero, and the superhero.

Honor everyday heroes.
Robert Fripp & Patricia Fripp delivering a keynote How to Be a Hero for More Than One Day

“The occasional hero may perform a heroic act; however, it is not repeatable.

“The superhero knows what happens in every office, in every location at all times. Not every company is fortunate enough to have a superhero.

“On a daily basis, ordinary everyday heroes perform what is expected of them, plus 10%, without complaint.”

Every company has employees or associates. By the Fripp definition, not every company is lucky enough to have an abundance of ordinary everyday heroes. Here is an example of one.

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Honor Your Everyday Heroes. Success: One Frippicism at a Time

The Secret to Discovering Innovation and Solutions

An advantage of having long-time clients is not only the friendships that develop but also the lessons you learn from them.

One of the American Payroll Association’s Women of the Year and past board members is Patty Lake. She accepted a new position heading up a large payroll department in a Fortune 500 company. As she told me this story, I realized why she had earned the reputation of being a “people builder.”

Patty told me about a woman on her new team who had worked in Payroll for over 25 years.

“In all that time,” says Patty, “she had never received a promotion. She had never been recognized for her contributions, led a team, or participated on a special project. She hadn’t had a raise in several years. No one ever asked for her opinion or input. No one offered her training or development opportunities. No one had even bothered to find out if she enjoyed her job. And she was the lowest paid person in her job grade in the entire company.

“For many years, she had been given the lowest performance rating short of termination. She didn’t rock the boat. She just did her job and did not complain.

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How You Can Create a Great Story with a Message Every Time

Captivate every audience with a great story with a message.

What makes a Hollywood movie great?

Exactly the same principles that will make a good keynote speech great. A great story with a message.

Screenwriter Robert McKee says, “Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience.” We all love stories because when told well,  have larger-than-life characters, sparkling dialogue, and an emotional reaction from the audience.

Imagine that you have unlimited resources to design a keynote that will make you the hottest commodity on the market.

Where would you go to get the best, highest-priced writers and directors in the world? Hollywood. In Hollywood, you’ll find hundreds of talented people, both in front of and behind the camera, all working together to create one money-making movie. The bad news is that you probably don’t have unlimited resources to hire all those people. The good news is you can still use seven basic Hollywood techniques to increase the impact of your presentation.

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Success: One Frippicism at a Time – Opportunity Does Not Knock Once

It Knocks All the Time, We Do Not Always Recognize the Sound.

I have had the good fortune to be successful in three careers: as a hairstylist, a professional speaker, and now as an executive speech coach. Although they may seem dissimilar, they have many aspects in common. For one, I have had the opportunity to develop relationships with fascinating and often brilliant individuals whom I would otherwise never have met in my everyday circle of acquaintances. The best and most memorable education comes from having absorbing conversations with interesting people.


In 1971, Werner Erhard, who founded EST training, was sitting in my hairstyling chair. I asked him what business he was in. “The motivation business,” he said. (At that point, he was motivating people to go out and sell encyclopedias.)

A few months later, again while I was cutting his hair, he told me, “I have just attended a course called Mind Dynamics. It was so exciting that I am learning how to teach it.”

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How You Can Maximize the Power of Collaboration: Enjoy the Anatomy of a Speech – Part Ten

In 2001, I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech at the Toastmasters International Convention. In this 10-segment series, you view the anatomy of a keynote presentation. 10 of 10.

“This is your homework assignment. (Now I would call it a Frippercize.) I want you to sit down with some of your other Toastmaster friends and tape-record all the stories you’ve never told in speeches. Take an incident in your life, start at the beginning, and go all the way through. I have two ‘hanging-around buddies’ in San Francisco: John Cantu, comedy legend, and David Garfinkel, genius copywriter. David would also love to write film scripts. I like to think of myself as a charismatic keynoter.

“We call ourselves the ‘Three Musketeers’ of speech writing. A couple of years ago, on December 26th, the three of us got together for our annual holiday morning coffee and lunch. This was the first social event that John Cantu had had since his recent operation to have a large cancerous tumor removed. And three minutes into his talking about the symptoms of the cancer and how it got started, I said, ‘John, hang on. This is going to be a speech one day. Let me get the tape recorder.’”

Yes, I know, we no longer use tape recorders.  

Lesson: Record conversations with interesting friends, especially when they are telling stories of life-changing experiences. You never know what may happen.

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Where Great Stories Come Alive: Enjoy the Anatomy of a Speech – Part Nine

I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech at the Toastmasters International Convention in 2001. In this 10-segment series, you view the anatomy of a keynote presentation.

“I’ve mentioned my brother, Robert Fripp, a couple of times. You may have heard of Robert Fripp. He has a group called King Crimson, and he travels all over the world teaching his guitar techniques.”

Lesson: Not all your stories are about you. Just have a connection.

“King Crimson was born in 1969. A couple of years ago, Robert had a one-man show series on the east coast. I went to spend some time with him, and after his performance on the first night, he got up and gave an impromptu speech. I think it was because I was there, and a lot of his fans knew me. He started with a very interesting approach that you might want to consider one day. For his first remarks he read a bad review from one of his performances, and he evaluated that review. Then he read a positive critique of one of his performances and evaluated that as well. Finally, he conducted Q&A with the audience.”

Lesson: This unique approach endears you to your audience.

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Honor Your Everyday Heroes: Enjoy the Anatomy of a Speech Part Eight

Look for everyday heroes.

I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech at the Toastmasters International Convention in 2001. In this 10-segment series, you view the anatomy of a keynote presentation. 8 of 10

“All right, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been talking to you for about, I don’t know, 44 minutes, give or take. For the first people in the front rows, what have you heard that can help you in preparing and presenting your powerful programs? Remember the rules: one sentence, learn to edit your words. Any hands, any takers? Good. I can see someone giving me the finger here. I’m sure it was several fingers, but in the dark, it’s difficult to see.”

‘Life is a series of sales situations.’

“Wonderful. You’ll notice on your speech structure sheet that it says repetitive reframes. If you want your audiences to say, ‘Every speaker on the conference quoted you afterwards,’ it’s because you reinforced your ideas in soundbites, and the key points of your speech are repetitive reframes. You repeat them. Good. What else have I said to you that might be useful?”

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Want to Write Great Speeches? Enjoy The Anatomy of a Speech Part Seven

Want to Write Great Speeches? 

I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech at the Toastmasters International Convention in 2001. In this 10-segment series, you view the anatomy of a keynote presentation. 7 of 10


“I was working with a company in Petaluma that had hired me to work with all its marketing managers, helping them design the talks for company meetings. The project went very well, and I was asked, ‘Can you work with our president? He’s an engineer, not a good speaker, and he hardly ever speaks. He’s been here for 10 years, but he’s only been president for eight months. They see him as a supportive guy, but they don’t see him as presidential. Also, although business was quite good last year, sales were flat. This is a sales meeting. Many of the salespeople are new. Can you help him write a speech and make him look presidential? And you’ve got three hours.’

“Well, I like a challenge as much as anyone else. I asked the president’s secretary a few questions about his background. Remember, a key to connection is conversation. The secret of conversation is to ask questions, and the quality of the information you receive depends on the quality of your questions.

Lesson One: Bring back a key idea introduced earlier in your presentation.

“When I met the gentleman, Barry, I said, ‘I know you don’t know me, but you have to trust me. You’re not very experienced, but I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’ve been going to conferences where I’ve seen presidents and CEOs give good speeches and inspire the troops, and I’ve seen them do pitifully and demotivate everyone. Now we don’t have very much time, so you need to do exactly what I tell you. I am your new best friend.’

“My brother says, ‘I’m not surprised my sister gets paid to tell people what to do. She was a very bossy little girl.’”

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Does Your Audience Like You? Enjoy the Anatomy of a Speech Part Six

This Episode Includes a Lesson from Great Comedians

“In 2001, I was invited to deliver the opening keynote speech at the Toastmasters International Convention. In this 10-segment series, you will view the anatomy of a keynote presentation. Enjoy segment 6.

“Now, think about that. That was a speech called ‘Opportunity Does Not Knock Once.’

“I also maintain that taking advantage of opportunities is what has gotten me everything I wanted in my life. One of the ways I took advantage of opportunities was by asking questions.

“You are an intelligent group. I saw it when I came down here. Let’s see if I can spot the distinguished Toastmaster in the front row. Just about everyone. Okay, sir, you have gray hair. You look like an intelligent person. Based on what I just did and based on my formula, what do you think the premise of my speech might be? Remember, the title was ‘Opportunity Does Not Knock Once.’ What would you think the premise might be? ‘You can create opportunities by asking good questions.’”

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