Effective Leaders Reveal the Person Behind the Position
Great communication is central to effective leadership. This is even more true for leaders in challenging times. When I work with leaders as an executive speech coach, I encourage them to reveal the person behind the position in their presentations.
As I worked on an upcoming presentation with one company president, we talked about how he could show the person behind the position. He needed to convince his associates that they were working at the right company, at the right time. It was a complex challenge because 40% of his audience had recently been acquired. He needed them to come away from his talk thinking, “Wow, we’re in the right job at the right time!”
I asked him, “When did you first understand the importance of strategy?” He replied, “When I was a 14-year-old ball boy for the French Open. One morning, the spectators arrived to discover that the day’s events began with a match between ball boys. I was playing against my best friend and we were equally skilled. However, the ball boy for our match was a girl, his sister. And, she wanted her brother to win. She threw the balls in a way that ensured I was at a disadvantage.”
He said, “That, Patricia, is when I understood the importance of strategy when you are equally matched with the competition and facing a disadvantage.”
I challenge you to show your team members, your customers, your partners, the person behind the position. We respect a position. We will work for a real person.
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“Your presentations on storytelling and superstar sales presentations, and executive speech coaching have had a tremendous impact on our business.”
– Tom Esposito, Director Channel Marketing, Zebra Technologies
Companies that want to drive sales and gain a competitive edge hire Patricia Fripp to help them improve their important conversations and presentations. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance wrote, “One of the best ways to invest in success is to learn presentation skills from Patricia Fripp.” Fripp was named one of the “Top 25 Women in Sales” and is among the “Top 30 Coaching Gurus.”
