Not one, but two of my clients are in trouble because they each have a super-abundance of charm. Accomplished, handsome raconteurs, they hold forth in meetings with panache, tossing off confetti clouds of words that flit, rise and fall on… Read More »Public Speaking: The curse of charm
I had a new client to meet in New York City, so to beat traffic, I left home early and arrived by 7AM, which left me three hours until the meeting. To kill time, I went to The Harvard Club… Read More »It’s a Trap: A public speaking mistake
Client facing skills (also known as sales skills and interpersonal skills) are essentially the skills of a very good conversationalist. Good conversations can lead to connection, mutual respect, and understanding (not necessarily agreement.) They can precipitate new, and strengthen existing,… Read More »The #1 Sales Skill
I am in and out of major American corporations as a consultant, a career which allows me to observe the good, the bad, and the ugly in presentation of self, and presentation of thinking. I hate to get real tactical-practical… Read More »Public speaking requires self-mastery
A few years ago, I was on a panel at the Princeton Club in New York. The subject was “best practices in raising assets.” At some point in the meeting, I said to a roomful of hedge fund managers that… Read More »The Tire They Want to Kick
It is my belief that presentation skills get greater as they become more meaningful for the audience. This means that a presentation skill that makes the speaker look good is not as great as a presentation skill that benefits the… Read More »The 3 Greatest Presentation Skills