Are you making these mistakes on camera?

I received a tremendous number of emails in response to my last article, many people tremendously grateful for a way to rebuild relationships that are being destroyed by today’s politics.  Many asked for a link so they can post on their social media and I want to also provide that here for you

I’ll be writing more about this topic next week as we are on the cusp of Thanksgiving, our deeply cherished and joyous celebration of family, love, and way too much food.  How do we create the great emotional, spiritual and physical satisfaction we crave during this crazy time?

For this week, I want to address a lighter topic:  your camera presence.

Camera presence is how you show up for your conversations, meetings and presentations when you’re virtual. 

You want to make the people you’re talking to feel like you’re right there with them.  You want all the technology to melt away to create a feeling of closeness.  And you want them to react warmly toward you the moment they see you.

Camera presence is a subject where small things make a big difference.  Here are some of the key mistakes people make.  I’ll show you with photos of Janet, our wonderful Lead Trainer.  See if any of these photos look like you.

1. Camera angle is important.  This is the most frequent mistake I see.  Your camera lens needs to be on a straight horizontal line directly across from your eyes.  Most people are looking DOWN at their laptop.  This makes you look like you’re looking down at me. HOT TIP:  We should NEVER see your ceiling.  Looking up isn’t any better.  You need to be looking directly across into the lens.  This means putting your laptop on a laptop stand (or a bunch of books, or a box, etc) and making sure the lens is HIGH enough to be horizontally across from your eyes.

2. In Hollywood the stars know that lighting is everything.  Most people are in the dark.  They don’t know what ENOUGH light looks like.  The light needs to be in FRONT of you.  It needs to light up your face.  It needs to not reflect in your glasses.  See how COLD Janet looks when she’s in the dark.

3. Some people are so thoroughly in the dark, they look like they’re in the Witness Protection Program.  This is mainly because the source of light is behind them (usually a window) and they have no light in front of them.

4. This is better, but many people make the mistake of lighting only half their face (usually because there’s a window on one side), while the other side of their face is dark.  This does not bring out the best in you.

5. Here the lighting is good, but Janet is sitting too far away.  Look at all that dead, empty space over her head and around her.  Whatever she says to you will not be as impactful as it would be if she were filling the screen.  You don’t feel close to her.  You should fill the screen.

6. Fill the screen, but not at a weird angle – the top of her head is chopped off.

7. This is what you look like when you are looking at the other person’s video on the screen during the conversation.  If you’re talking while looking at my video, it looks like you’re talking to my knee.  Not impactful, not powerful, not effective.  I know, I know, I know – YOU feel comfortable looking at the video and you don’t feel comfortable looking into the camera lens.  I totally understand.  But this is how you LOOK when you feel comfortable.  Not good.  You need to get comfortable looking into the lens while you’re talking.  If you have any difficulty doing that, sign up for Mastering Virtual Presentations and I’ll teach you how to do it.  This makes a HUGE difference in how effective you’ll be.  I have a great knee, but it doesn’t deserve all that attention. :)

8. This is what you look like when you are looking at the camera LIGHT.  You need to look at the camera LENS – NOT the light.  Yes, this is better than looking like you’re talking to my knee – but now it looks like you’re talking to my left ear.  Eye contact is king when it comes to human relationships and the camera lens is their eyes.

9. Here Janet is off-center.  You need to be in the center of the frame for the most powerful and effective communication.

10. Here we go!  The camera angle and lighting are terrific.  Look how good she looks with her face fully lit up!  Compare to the darker photos above and you’ll see what I mean.  She’s centered and close enough to fill the screen.  Looking straight into the camera lens, she looks like she’s looking straight at you.  If she showed up for your meeting looking like this, what would be your first reaction?  If you’re like most people, you’d like her right away. Her camera presence is great.  And that sets the right foundation for excellent communication and a wonderful relationship.

Take a look through all these photos and see which person you most connect with.  You can see the difference all these points make and adjust your camera presence accordingly so YOU create the best impression and relationship.

NOTE ABOUT LIGHTING:  Lighting is SUPER important.  You can get an inexpensive (less than $20) “Ring Light” that clips onto your laptop and a wide variety of others on Amazon.  No, we don’t sell them, but you can easily find them with a search on Amazon.  I and my team had to experiment with different lights until each of us found the right ones for us.  Janet has a window on her left side (you can see it in the photo) and a ring light clipped to the laptop on her right side to light up the dark side.  You need to light up your WHOLE face and make sure it is WELL LIT.  This is important.  For sure you won’t make it in Hollywood without it. :)

Please feel free to send me a screen shot of yourself and I’ll give you coaching tips on what you need to do to look fabulous on camera.  I’ll do this with the first 25 screen shots I get.

Are you ready for your close-up?

Be the cause!

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The recipe for rebuilding relationships destroyed by politics

Sam’s daughter, Aisha, wasn’t talking to him.

His political views were so distasteful to her, she couldn’t even bear to look at him.

In their last conversation, Sam called Aisha naïve and immature.

That was the end. Aisha walked to her room and slammed the door.

Sam thought she’d get over it. She didn’t.

Day after day. Enemies.

The election and its aftermath made it worse.

I wish I could say that this is the only example I’ve heard where today’s politics created enemies. But, unfortunately, every day I’m learning about destroyed relationships.

Conversations ending either in anger or I can’t talk to you.

When Sam showed up for Causative Communication, he expected to learn how to handle comparatively easy situations, like leading a virtual multinational team of 1500 people through a crisis.

He had labeled the situation with Aisha as “impossible” and was simply hoping that 10 years from now, when Aisha was 27, she would have grown out of her fury.

Sam, with not a little sadness, told me, “Communication doesn’t always work.”

He’s right in one respect. Talking doesn’t always work. And if you confuse talking with communication, you’ll easily be deceived into believing that communication doesn’t always work. And you’ll lose in life.

But Sam’s problem wasn’t just that talking wasn’t working. Not talking wasn’t working either. As a matter of fact, it made things worse.

Seeing his daughter, whom he passionately loved from the moment her little body was born, now coldly and silently refusing to meet his eyes, ignoring him dinner after dinner, pierced Sam like nothing else could. If you want to rip a man’s heart out, this is how to do it.

Sam tried. And tried. Nothing worked.

So, he showed up in my life with no hope. I was happy he showed up. I hate human suffering in every form it takes.

I teach a very precise formula for communication. While the word formula sounds very cold, the result of using this formula is far from cold.

It’s actually VERY nice to have something that ALWAYS works. And results in the mending of broken relationships.

I’m going to talk about one element in the formula that Sam was omitting that kept hostility frozen in time.

That element was understanding.

Aisha’s point of view made Sam so angry, it barricaded him from any understanding. It actually made him a little crazy.

Sam disagreed with Aisha so thoroughly because his life experience had convinced him Aisha was WRONG. So wrong, that Sam believed that understanding her point of view was lowering himself into a reality that did not deserve understanding.

The only thing Sam “understood” was that Aisha was WRONG.

Fixating your attention on how wrong someone is, is as necessary an ingredient for conflict as chocolate is to chocolate cake.

Understanding simply means to perceive clearly. Sam wasn’t seeing clearly. He was seeing Aisha through a dark filter of disagreement, disappointment and anger.

In human relationships understanding simply means, seeing it from the other person’s point of view.

It doesn’t mean you agree with it. It doesn’t mean you like it. It simply means you can really see it from the other person’s point of view. That’s when you understand it.

Something happens naturally, organically, if you decide the other person is SO wrong you couldn’t possibly understand their point of view. Here’s what happens: They decide that you are so wrong, they couldn’t possibly understand you.

The more stubborn you become in your own conviction, the more stubborn they become in theirs.

It dead ends in conflict, anger and, “I can’t talk to you.”

You are actually in control of the outcome the whole time.

On the flip side, a funny thing happens naturally and organically when you understand the other person, when you GENUINELY see it from their point of view and then do a good job of letting them know you really understand.

The other person very naturally and GENUINELY reaches out to understand you.

You have a really good conversation and a beautiful feeling between you.

You are actually in control of the outcome the whole time.

Most people are too anxious, too frantic, to observe this.

Just look at the current political situation. It will supply you with more examples than you can even count.

A necessary adjunct to understanding is acknowledgment. That’s how you express your understanding.

Most people think an acknowledgment is the same thing as validating or agreeing with the person. It’s neither of these. And neither of these will work for a multitude of reasons.

How do you communicate an acknowledgement that is powerful and effective? Very few people know how. And that’s why people who don’t know how experience conflict.

This is why we spend a good number of workshop hours just on this, practicing and mastering the art of delivering a perfect acknowledgement.

It’s worth it because a perfect acknowledgment completely transforms the person, completely transforms the situation and makes conflict evaporate into thin air.

Sam wrote Aisha a long hand-written letter. The letter contained only one thing: understanding.

Sam wrote about everything Aisha had said to him, each point she had made, each belief she had, each value she held dear.

Sam took them one at a time. He reflected on each one. He made sure he understood each one from her point of view. And then Sam wrote, letting Aisha know he really understood her. It was very heart felt.

Although it was just as strong as ever, it wasn’t time to talk about it and Sam never once wrote about his own point of view. He never judged or evaluated hers. He didn’t offer any opinions. He simply really understood Aisha and let her know it, point by point.

No apology. No justification. Pure understanding. All by itself.

It took Sam several days to get the letter just right. He ended with “I love you”.

Sam sealed the letter in an envelope with Aisha’s name and slid it under her door.

Hours passed.

Right before dinner, Aisha’s door opened.

Her eyes met Sam’s. In them, Sam saw something he hadn’t seen for months: love. And the tears of a young woman. Sam opened his arms.

They’ve been talking ever since. Rich, rewarding conversations. Filled with understanding. And love.

The love was always there. But it won’t show its face when understanding is missing.

Sam wrote me: “It’s amazing. Aisha and I are having good conversations now.”

Seeing things from the other person’s point of view isn’t the same as agreeing. It also doesn’t mean that you give up your own point of view.

It does mean that you expand to include others’ points of view. In a world with 8 billion people, that’s very likely a good idea.

As someone who’s helped thousands of people, it’s not as difficult as it seems. It gets easier the more you do it. It’s magic. And nothing else works.

Wishing you only good relationships.

Be the cause!

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The First Law of Executive Logic

Harry was gritting his teeth.  The SVP of Sales was (yet again) derailing Harry’s presentation to the Execs on the Senior Leadership Team, smoothly undermining Harry’s credibility.

Even worse … the execs were listening to the Sales guy.

How does Harry gain control?

Harry, the new VP Technology, prides himself on being logical.  Logic is a system of thinking that enables you to reach conclusions and then take action.

Logic runs on assumptions and data.

Harry’s mistake was thinking there was only ONE system of logic:  his. 

To Harry, things were either logical, or they weren’t. Simple.

Harry’s assumption was that everyone runs on the system of logic that’s so obvious to him.  And he was frustrated when they didn’t.

Harry’s second assumption was that others (legitimately) require robust quantity of data in order to buy into his conclusions.  It was offensive to him to hear a conclusion without having ALL the data first.

So Harry had NO CLUE why senior execs multitasked while he presented every bit of his (to him vital) data.

Harry ESPECIALLY didn’t understand why the panel of Execs perked up and paid attention when the Sales SVP simply said, “I think this is a good idea.  Customers will like it and it will increase revenue.”

Only after hearing the Sales SVP chime in did the Senior Leadership Team look at Harry in unison and say, “Good idea, Harry.  Go ahead.”

Harry should have been happy they supported his recommendation, but he was miffed that they had to hear it from the Sales SVP.  He was especially fuming because the Sales SVP didn’t present ANY data to support his statement.

Here’s what Harry’s was missing:  Executive Logic™. 

The logic Execs use to make decisions was foreign to him.  I’ll give you one component of it.

One of the assumptions executives operate with is this:  They hired you to worry about the details. 

Yes, Execs ABSOLUTELY want hard data.  But Harry was confusing hard data with details.  Big mistake.

They TRUST you with all the details.  And they don’t want to hear the them all.

If they want to hear the details, they’ll ask you questions about them.  But it’s a SAFER assumption to assume that the less detail, the better.

Here is a law of Executive Logic:  The further down the organization you go, the more concerned about details you should be.

The higher you go, what Executives are increasingly interested in is your EVALUATION of the data.

The details aren’t valuable.  Your evaluation of the data and the details is.

That, very simply, is WHY they listened to the Sales SVP. They easily got the main point of Harry’s hard data.  The Sales SVP saved them from all of Harry’s details.  He evaluated Harry’s data for them and offered an easy to understand conclusion:  Customers will like it.  It will increase revenue.

The trust Execs had placed in Harry to evaluate the data and manage the details, very simply, was not part of Harry’s logic.  Trust was not logical in Harry’s universe. 

He couldn’t fathom how the Execs could give him so much trust without seeing all the data themselves. As a matter of fact, it was illogical.

Harry also had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that the Execs were not the least bit interested in the details.  How could that be?  Personally he found the details fascinating, so this was doubly hard for Harry to grasp.

So much for Harry’s logic. 

Harry got that his logic was PERFECT … at his level and below.  But NOT when he needs to communicate UP.  I taught him how to think like an Executive.  He caught on quickly.

Harry’s presentations to the Senior Leadership Team became tight, brief, concise.  

He said much in few words.  Although he was ready with details if they asked, Harry presented only critical hard data.  His conclusions were precise.  His recommendations were easy to understand.  It was enough.

Even the Sales SVP was nodding in support.

For the first time they said that Harry was, “Clear” and, ”Compelling”.

Harry was blown away.  He made a brilliant observation:

“I use my logic to get to the table.  I use Executive Logic to win the poker game.”

Wishing you a winning hand for your next presentation!

Be the cause!

Ingrid

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The real secret to presenting to senior execs [Part 1]

“Too many words.” – a Senior VP’s answer when I asked why he sent Frank, his new VP, to me for coaching, hoping for more effective presentation skills.

Right off the bat Frank complained the Senior Leadership Team only gave him 12 minutes to present his team’s complex research.  He’s a technology genius.  But it’s difficult for him to “compress everything important”.

I asked him to give me a typical presentation so I could see what he was doing.  He managed to keep it to 8 ½ minutes.

Frank started out with the most commonly used –the most overused - sentence in corporate presentations: “I want to talk to you a little bit about….”

Yawn.

It took Frank 5 ½ minutes to get to, “The biggest issue we have is…”

At the 7 ½-minute mark he said, “The most important thing is…”

He ended without a recommendation, closing with the words, “So, I would like your input …”

It would have been a GREAT presentation …. IF Frank had a lower-level technical audience.  But he didn’t.  He had the CEO of a major multibillion, multinational corporation with his direct reports.

And here’s the effect this kind of presentation has on senior execs:  Most tuned out, openly multitasking, until the 5 ½-minute point.  And the rest didn’t engage until the 7 ½-minute moment, a minute from Frank’s closing.

From their point of view, Frank hadn’t said anything meaningful until then.

Why is there such a disconnect?

Frank is a brilliant technical guy.  What has he been taught? 

The current overpowering, but misguided, system for educating brilliant technical guys almost always guarantees that their communications will be misdirected when presenting to execs.

It’s both HOW Frank organizes his thoughts AND how he communicates them.

Brilliant technical professionals use brilliant technical logic. This logic requires that great quantities of minute detail be discussed.  It mandates that not only should ALL this detail be laboriously presented and defended, it should ALSO be comprehensively duplicated on every accompanying slide. 

This logic blindly follows the mandate, “Prove it!” 

In a technical world where absolutes are unobtainable, this logic builds slowly, painfully, systematically, to a plausible conclusion like, “Most probably this is what we should do ... unless you think that we shouldn’t.”

Executives find it excruciatingly frustrating.  This isn’t how they think.  This isn’t how they decide.  This isn’t how they act.  Yet they have to rely on the person giving the presentation to help them make good decisions and act intelligently from an executive level.

Both sides feel defeated when it’s over.

How do you cross the divide keeping technical genius from reaching the executive mind?  Next week I will talk about the presentation structure that follows Executive Logic™ and creates the language of success.

In the meantime, notice if this goes on around you.  I’d also love to hear your war stories of the battle for minds in presentations.

Be the cause!

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What virtual audiences are hungry for

Their VP sent them for coaching on virtual presentation skills.  It was obvious they didn’t want to be here. They’re Senior Directors, Senior Managers.  Busy, don’t have time for this. Forced to endure.  Probably secretly planning to multitask.

It was a group of 20 and, after the main intro lecture, the ETS Trainers and I divided them up for personal coaching.  I took 5 into my breakout session.

I soon had them laughing. I hate seeing the misery of being forced to be somewhere you don’t want.  I don’t try to make people learn something they’re not interested in. I personally had too much of that in school, where often I was more prisoner than student.

I established a fast friendship with the group and let them know I would teach them only what they wanted to know.

I asked each one how good they wanted to be.  I let them know I could take them to rock star level if they wanted, but they were responsible for furnishing their own personal goals.  I expected their goals to be as individual as they are.

I also warned them:  the higher your goal, the tougher a coach I’m going to be.  I have much to accomplish in six hours. So I don’t spend time messing around with anything not important.

I asked what level of coaching they wanted:  light, medium or really tough. They all perked up by this point and unanimously requested tough coaching.  They were now fully engaged.  So we dove in.

As each one gave a short presentation, I got a sense of how they were currently doing it.

I can say this about all of them.

Their camera presence was uninspiring.  In dark shadows, bad lighting, terrible camera angle, weak positioning.  No executive presence.  None.

These are leaders!

When it came to speaking, they were corporate and wooden.  Stiff.

Not engaging.  No chance of it.  Audiences would be multitasking in less than three minutes.

Brilliant minds.  Fabulous content.  No impact.  Yawn.

And with the birth of sudden hope that I could get them there, they all now wanted to be rock stars.

No problem.

You know why I say that?  Because every ability they want is within them, just as every ability you want is within you.

Education comes from the Latin word educare, which came from the Latin ex (out) + ducare (to lead), to lead out.

And that’s what I do.  I show my students how to find that ability within themselves and I lead it out of them.  I lead initially, and they follow until they get the hang of it.  And then they can finish the job and lead it all the way out.  Then they are the leaders. Of themselves.

I often spend a good bit of time undoing all the damage that’s been done to their natural ability.

The informal and formal training they’ve gotten on “how to give presentations” often ruins it.

All these people who think they “have no natural ability” find out:  not true.  You do have great ability.  And once you tap into it, it’s unstoppable.

I’ll give you an example that affected these five. It ties back to the reason why they were corporate and wooden. 

They explained to me that they’re in a “technical field” and this is “how people in this field are.”

They had the firm belief that they needed to be “serious and professional”. And that “serious and professional” means using big words, formal language, erasing the pleasure in their hearts, killing the twinkle in their eyes, and wiping the smiles off their faces.

This is faulty education.

Professional should come from the quality of your work and serious should come from the intensity of your commitment.   Both of these are demonstrated in your results, not how cold your face and your eyes are.

We got the lighting right for each of them so they showed up handsome and with executive presence. It’s politically incorrect these days for me to tell my clients that they’re handsome, but I can tell you.  

When you get your camera presence right, you are handsome. Or beautiful, as the case may be. I see it every time.

Trying to be “serious and professional” (you can now read that as “corporate robot”), had diminished and almost extinguished each of their intensity. 

These are VERY intense men.  (I love intense people.) I gradually, gradually, gradually brought out all their intensity.  I showed them how to experience and communicate that intensity while still being fully connected and in rapport with their audience.  It’s glorious to see them speak now.

Learning to form a connection with their virtual audience, to speak naturally and powerfully, to really get their message to land, transformed these five.

Each of them now has charisma.  Unique, very individual, powerful charisma.

As I coached each one, I had the others give feedback also.  I thought I was a tough coach! They were brutal with each other once they got the hang of what I was doing. Relentless critics.  But it was all done in the spirit of helping and we were laughing a whole lot.  It was fabulous.

By the end, they were giving each other enthusiastic thumbs up, blown away not only by what they were capable of themselves, but what they now saw in their colleagues.

I fell in love with all five. There’s many kinds of falling in love.  I’m talking about the swept away by competence kind. Of course it’s politically incorrect for me to tell them, but I’m telling you. They were amazing. Each one of them had the rest of us on the edge of our seats feeling like we could listen to them forever.

I can’t even describe the feeling it gives me to know that each one of them is now going to create that feeling with all of their virtual meetings and audiences.  To know that every future audience is in for the most delightful of surprises.

Audiences are hungry for great presenters, especially virtual audiences.  And these five, actually the whole group of 20 who worked with the other incredible ETS coaches, have the power now to create that charisma, anywhere, anytime, with any who.

And so do you, my friend. And so do you.

Get your camera presence right. Connect with your audience. Forget all the BS you’ve been taught about being stiff and wooden to convince the world that you’re really professional.  Tap in to that charisma within you.  And sweep them away.

Be the cause!

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The secret to 100% engagement when you’re virtual

I get a sense of how desperate audiences are for someone who can give them REAL communication whenever I speak at conferences. It starts during pre-conference meetings with the conference organizers as they prepare me for what to expect.

I was recently asked to speak at a week-long virtual conference. I was speaking on the third day and the organizer wanted to touch base right before. So we talked on Tuesday. He said I would have to” really worry” about this group. “They’re only 2 days into the conference and they’re multitasking through everything. We can monitor engagement and it’s only around 20% at any given time.”

And then he started suggesting all kinds of techniques and gimmicks for me to use to increase engagement. Like calling participants out by name and other dreadful things my third grade teacher used to do.

I sincerely appreciated the heads-up going into my talk, but I’m antipathetic to any techniques or gimmicks. I believe in the power of new truths, in my own powers and in the intelligence of the audience.

I also believe that if the speaker isn’t good enough, the audience should multi-task – just to preserve their own sanity, especially during a week-long conference!

So, I started my presentation. The audience was engaged from the get-go. I was anticipating a challenge and there wasn’t any.

The conference organizer called me the next day, beside himself with enthusiasm, to tell me engagement for the 3 hours of my seminar had been 100%. They’d never seen anything like this. I let him know that I really appreciated his heads-up going in.

Right on the heels of that, I spoke at another week-long conference with a large international audience. This time I was on the fifth day, Friday. By this time, virtual audiences are usually as close to dead as you can get without actually burying them.

This conference organizer sternly let me know that the conference was precision-timed and no speaker was allowed to go even 60 seconds over their allotted time. I had precisely one hour. The clock would start ticking the second he was finished introducing me.

He made this clear in an email, in our 2 pre-conference planning meetings, and then just in case I hadn’t gotten the message, he told me again right before we started.

I had carefully precision-timed my talk to end precisely at the 60-minute mark, not one second longer.

It was going well and then unexpectedly halfway through my talk, the conference organizer was frantically texting my assistant, “The senior exec is loving this! Please tell her to take an extra 15 minutes! No one wants it to end!”

When I got this message, it was so unexpected, I was doing my best to not burst out laughing while wildly scrambling in my mind for, “What the heck am I going to talk about for another 15 minutes?”

And, less than 24 hours later, I was flooded with new requests to speak from that conference.

I can hear people asking, Well, how did you do that?

You should know that I am anti-technique, anti-gimmick.

Here’s what I do.

I have something worthwhile to say. Very.

I care about them. A lot.

I communicate. And I do it very well.

And I maintain a meaningful dialogue throughout. Many people think it’s challenging to do it virtually with a large audience, but I don’t find it so. That two-way interaction throughout is good for me and it’s good for them.

This is what I teach others to do too because I want to live in a world where we ALL are able to communicate with each other. As one of my clients said, “I am signing so many people up for your workshops because I don’t want to sit through any more boring presentations!”

And I don’t want anyone to ever be that boring presenter when I know the great things each one of us is capable of.

My real message to you in all this is this:

The world is being bombarded with people talking. Talking, talking, talking.

The world is starved for someone who can create a REAL connection, REAL communication. They eagerly tune in to you when you give them that. They enthusiastically engage with you. They want more of it. They are starved for it.

That is what they want from you.

You want 100% engagement? Go ahead and give them an abundance of the truly satisfying communication they are longing for. With the power of your ideas. With your powers to communicate them.

Be the cause!

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Freeing yourself from your limit myth

The group was holding their breath.  I could feel it.  I was coaching Victoria, a young high-level executive, on her virtual presentation skills. 

You could feel the fierce battle going on inside her. Victoria desperately wanted to become a fabulous public speaker.  She had written me before the workshop:

“I dream of being so masterful in front of an audience that I can instantly make a persuasive impression. Unfortunately, I wasn't born with this talent.”

As badly as Victoria wanted this, she had just hit her limit. She had improved greatly, was doing much, much better, but had hit the ceiling of what she felt she could do.

I was helping her lose the self-consciousness that kept her tied up in knots. I was coaching her on creating an intensity of connection with the audience and speaking straight from the purity and strength of intention within her.

I could see a great ability was in reach and I was asking her for more.  

Victoria’s eyes were pleading with me, please don’t make me do this again.

She had just done the BEST she had ever done in her life.  It had taken all her strength. Now she just wanted to retreat. 

I gently told her I would like her to do it again.  And this time, to free that intention within her from all restraint and give it a full 100%. 

Even though we were virtual, I could feel the group’s sympathy for Victoria and their disbelief that I was suggesting she push past her limit.

As she considered my request, a change came over Victoria. A determination followed by boldness appeared in her eyes.  They filled with intensity and power.  With calm, unshakable strength and presence, she faced directly into the camera.  She suddenly looked big.  The corporate world had never seen this Victoria.

She looked at me and with a grin said, “Let’s do it.”

And then Victoria smoothly hit it out of the park.  It was so profound and so beautiful, I almost cried.

The audience was breathless. Victoria was radiant. And best of all, she had complete certainty this ability was now hers forever.

Mission accomplished.

“I can’t” was turned into “I did.  And I can do it again.”

In our workshops we ask you to accomplish magic with your communication and your presentations. 

We gently help you push past your limits. One after the other.

Why do I push you past your limits?

Because you don’t have any.

That’s the simple truth.

Did anyone tell you that you do?  They were wrong.

You have no limits. None.

If they were real, I couldn’t get you past them.

Only your own thoughts are capable of stopping you.  And you can command those.

My purpose is to encourage and help you be unstoppable as you create understandings and inspiration in the world around you.

Next time you think you’ve hit a limit to what you can do, get the idea, “I don’t see any limits.  None.  There’s nothing I can’t do.”  Spend one moment looking out at life with this idea.

See what that does for you.  Your own eyes might fill with power and determination.

And know that I’m with you in spirit whenever you do it, grinning and silently cheering you on, because I know how true it actually is.

Be the cause!

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Unraveling the authenticity surprise

Last week I wrote our Mastering Virtual Presentations graduates are frequently told they’re authentic.  And how this happens naturally, completely without effort, when they’re comfortable, filled with well-being and a strong feeling of affinity for their audience.

This beautiful combination of emotions breathes life into a compelling authenticity that enraptures their audience.

I also wrote about how surprised audiences are when they see it.  Their delight is sudden and quite surprised.

Usually in these Causative Communication articles I give you answers. This week I’m going to give you questions.  I’m sure you have answers for them within you.

First question:

Why is it that in large corporations people are so SURPRISED when they see someone being this kind of authentic during a presentation?  Not just executives, but at every level of the organization?

Second question:

Would anyone in your organization be surprised if you were this kind of authentic?  Why would that be?

Third question:

Is this important?

I’m interested in hearing how you see it.  Just email me and let me know …

Be the cause!

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Why I never coach on being “authentic”

Danny was completely taken aback. He had just made a breakthrough in his ability to give virtual presentations. The others in the workshop showered him with kudos.  One particular aspect of his presentation received overwhelming praise.  Many voices said, “That was so authentic!” The audience LOVED it.

Danny turned to me in complete confusion.  I had not coached him at all on being authentic.  Even more puzzling, Danny had not felt inauthentic in any way before. And yet everyone was telling him he was now suddenly authentic.

I’ve seen this a lot.  Our graduates frequently hear, “That was so authentic”. Their audiences always love it.  And them.

It’s peculiar because I never coach for being more authentic. Only for communicating more effectively.

So, what’s happening here?

Previously, when Danny was giving presentations, his attention was distracted by many things: his material, feeling like he was performing, apprehensive that he was being judged, concerned about how he was coming across, a little worried about the outcome, wishing he could see their faces so he could gauge their reactions, thinking about what he was going to say next, and keeping an eye on the clock.

So you can understand why Danny was tense. Tense comes from the Latin word tendo, meaning stretched.  Danny was stretched.

I’ve worked with large corporations for over 30 years. Professionals and executives at every level are used to feeling tense.  It’s normal. Feeling completely comfortable is not.

Watching your back is normal.  Being relaxed is not.

After a while, being slightly tense, or even very tense, is habitual.

You tell someone to relax, they look at you puzzled and say, “I AM relaxed!”  They never notice they’re not.

And they don’t notice how cold they’ve become. They are completely shocked when they see their own videos.  They don’t realize that this constant worry depletes their natural affinity for others.

My coaching helped Danny become completely COMFORTABLE.  At ease.  Unworried.

This set the foundation for his next step, allowing himself to LIKE the people in his audience.  And to really feel it as he presented to them.

You don’t tell your audience that you have affinity for them. That’s not the point. You just have to FEEL it.

A funny thing happens when you’re completely comfortable. A happiness inside you grows.

Another funny thing happens when you feel real affinity for others. The happiness inside you grows bigger, spills over into your relationships and sparks that affinity in the people you’re talking to.

Then it snowballs.

Suddenly, everyone is relaxed, comfortable, happy and filled with a strong liking for you and for each other, filled with a really good feeling.

It’s a feeling.  It’s not what you’re thinking. It’s not your words. It’s not what you say. It’s a feeling.

It supersedes logic. It actually commands logic.

You have a tremendous potential and capacity for affinity.  When you tap into it, magic happens.

And, if you’re in one of my workshops, suddenly everyone is telling you, “You are so authentic.”

This triggers a series of profound questions.

Authentic means genuine.  It comes from a Greek word meaning straight from the author. In other words, direct from you.

The opposite of authentic is contrived, which means invented, the idea being that when you’re not authentic, you’re inventing yourself in a way to please others, and that makes you not genuine.

When you start thinking you have to please others or come across a certain way, you start performing, not communicating. That will make you tense.

It’s possible you receive a tremendous amount of personal “feedback” on what you need to do to please others.

If you listen and follow all this “advice”, what happens to the real you?

And why is it that, when I coach people and they achieve a state of being completely comfortable and they’re filled with genuine affinity for the people they’re talking to, that the world tells them, they are being truly authentic?

Most importantly, after hearing so many of my students be told they’re authentic, I have this question for you:  Is being comfortable and being filled with affinity for others possibly the REAL you?

If it is, what would happen if you revitalized this (or any) aspect of the real you fully in all your relationships?  In your virtual meetings and presentations?  What would happen if this was how you lived your life?

Be the cause!

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The leader in the mirror

Julian is 28 years old and earns about as much in one month as most people make in a year.

He’s a highly talented negotiator working for a powerful investment firm, regularly closing multi-million dollar deals.

Julian swaggers when he walks.  He glances, but doesn’t really look, AT you.

He’s a guy you admire from a distance but don’t warm up to.  In many ways, Julian looks like he just stepped out of a movie. Handsome and intimidating.

But there is no warmth, and no soul.

His boss told him to get some coaching to develop leadership skills, which sent Julian into some serious self-scrutiny. He picked me as a coach because he could tell I understood him and because I work with people his age.  He chose one-on-one coaching because he wanted to really let his hair down in our sessions.

All of the leaders Julian had encountered in his brief but successful career are intimidating.  They create reverence with their success, their incredible wealth, the names on their client list, their mansions and fast cars, their air of superiority.

These were Julian’s leadership role models.

It didn’t take him long to slip into designer shoes and imitate their arrogance.  His rapid financial success confirmed the wisdom of this approach to life.

The problem was, Julian was not only NOT connecting with others, the problem was, he was no longer connected with himself.  And he was terrified of doing so.

Terrified that if he dropped this persona, he would no longer be successful. He would be considered weak, average, ordinary, nothing special.  Quite simply, a loser.

He had come to believe that the way to achieve respect is to overawe people. That more than anything, you have to be impressive, to impress.  In his words, “You have to be cool.”

In our first session, as Julian grew to trust me, he leaned forward and with a very penetrating look said, “My soul feels empty.”

No surprise.

Many future leaders come to me wanting to learn how to impress others. There’s a very false idea out there that being an effective leader means you need to be impressive.

We spent a number of sessions stripping away everything that was NOT Julian.  And then we spent the rest of our time working on how to communicate effectively.

Afterward he wrote me:

“Society had taught me that to be cool and to swagger was very important. I learned from you that being earnest works even better.

“I tried using the skills I learned from you during a major negotiation and was tremendously successful.  I am now negotiating 150% revenue of what I was before.  I learned that being earnest is actually way more cool.

“It’s like I was wearing sunglasses, even inside, when I was talking to people.  Now I’ve taken the sunglasses off and I am really looking at others and connecting with them.

“My experience of people is so much better.   I thoroughly enjoy it.  I feel more fulfilled. I am much more effective when I want to get something done.  I’m able to slow down, stop and truly connect. It’s now snowballed into more and more parts of my life.  I truly see how powerful this is.  It’s how I want to live my life.”

So, what is it that Julian learned?  He learned that the leader anyone should follow is within.

Yes, that leader should learn how to communicate effectively. 

But finding that true leader, following that true leader, the one within, that’s the right and best leader for you.  That’s where your best leadership lessons will come from.

Be the cause!

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How future leaders get ruined

He said it with a little laugh, but that didn’t make it any less true:

“I’m an engineer.  We don’t have feelings.”

People from all over the world were attending my online training Mastering Virtual Presentations.  Michael was in the UK.

I was coaching him as part of a demonstration on how to create rapport with your audience.

I wish I could say it was the first time I ever heard those words.  I do a lot of work with technical leaders from many industries, and this phrase shows up frequently.

Where does it come from? People are not born with a special engineering/technical gene that’s also missing feelings.

If there’s one thing that human beings are born with, it’s feelings.  And we are born with a lot of them!

And when we start life, we know what they are!  A two-year-old has no uncertainty, doubts, confusion, or ambiguity.  Whatever they’re feeling, it’s as clear as a sunny day.  To them.  And to you.

When we go to school we expect to be taught reading, writing and arithmetic.  We don’t expect to be taught what to feel.

Yet there is an extremely powerful covert operation going on to teach us exactly that.

There’s a huge problem with this. We already know what we’re feeling, thank you very much!  And that IS what we’re feeling!

Yet others determinedly decide to have a say in the matter.  So we are incessantly rewarded and punished as a way of getting us to replace our actual emotions with synthetic substitutes.  “You shouldn’t feel that way. You should feel this way.”  “Don’t be so enthusiastic. Can’t you be calm about this?”  “You’re not bored, you’re unmotivated.”  (Forget that the teacher is as boring as watching the grass grow.  That’s not her fault!  It’s yours!) “You’re not in love.  You’re infatuated.”  “You need to learn to control your emotions.”  “You should love math!”  “How can you like him?  He’s no good!”  “But you’ve GOT to like Aunt Agatha!  She’s your aunt!”  “Stop having fun!  You need to be serious, corporate and professional now!”

In other words, “Stop being so alive!  Stop acting on your feelings!  Stop feeling what you’re feeling, feel what I tell you to feel and, for heaven’s sake, sit still!”

We sit still, our feelings are suppressed and gradually “socially acceptable” ones take over.

We become afraid to publicly feel what we’re really feeling.  So when we do get a strong feeling, we keep it private and only tell the very few people we trust.

I don’t imagine that Michael took a class when he was studying engineering called Appropriate Feelings for Engineers 101.  But I’ve worked with many engineers, and by the time they graduate, a lot of them have a Ph.D. in how engineers are “supposed” to feel.

The problem is they’re not supposed to feel anything.

They’re only supposed to think and reason.

And now years later, in addition to being a technology genius, Michael wants to be a leader of people.  He’s giving a presentation to a virtual audience and he wants to create rapport with them.  

You see the problem?

Who wants a leader who doesn’t feel anything?

Amongst the many feelings that people learn to suppress, there’s one in particular that, when lost, robs them of their humanity, their soul.

That one is called affinity. You can think of it as love or liking.  And I specifically mean, your affinity for other people, how much you like or love them.

When your natural affinity is restrained or extinguished, you are to that degree a ghost of your former self.

Michael’s presentations were technically brilliant.  He is super smart, eloquent, articulate and expresses his ideas well.

But his affinity for others was silenced, making his heart and facial expression detached and impersonal.  And I can assure you that, regardless of how many people he has in the audience, whether 3 or 300, their facial expressions will be also be deadpan and unmoved.

They may be interested in the topic, but their hearts and faces will be passionless. And very soon a number of them will disengage and start multitasking.

I asked Michael if he liked the people he’s talking to in his audience.  With an indifferent, matter-of-fact tone and a little shoulder shrug he said, “Yeah, sure.”

That’s not genuine affinity.  

The problem Michael was having is that he’s been forbidden to feel or express affinity for so many years, it’s trapped inside him.  He couldn’t even reach it.

As I coached him, it’s very important that you know I was NOT trying to make him feel a certain way.  That would have been compounding the crime that had already been committed on him.

What I was doing was rehabilitating a natural feeling that had been beaten into hiding. I was bringing it back to life.  It doesn’t take long.

As the affinity inside him grew, something amazing happened.  Everything about Michael’s face changed.

I don’t know how many muscles a human face has.  I read it was some ridiculously high number like 40.  Every single one of Michael’s 40 facial muscles moved into a different position and totally changed how he looked. 

Michael’s eyes also changed completely.  That in itself totally transformed how he looks at you through the camera.  His eyes now have incredible aliveness, great warmth and a definite twinkle. (Yes, he is now an engineer with a twinkle in his eye!) 

Michael suddenly looked younger.

And then, as a natural result of all that, the smile that appeared is that of an angel.

Feeling affinity did that.  How powerful is that?

The warmth radiating from Michael transcended all the technology we were using to communicate. He no longer felt like he was behind a computer screen, miles across a wide ocean, on the other side of the world.  

It feels like Michael’s sitting right here in front of you. And the warmth that his eyes are emanating fills your own heart and your soul with huge warmth and happiness.

All of us in the session, spanning many continents, were suddenly smiling.  And smiling and smiling and smiling and smiling.

We were in total rapport with him.

Michael created that.

If you start paying attention, you’ll notice the overt, and frequently covert, operation in play, telling you to subdue your happiness with, and love, for others. You don’t need this tampering with your affection.  

You have a natural affinity, even a beautiful, natural love for others, inside you. The only side effect of letting it grow is that others begin feeling a beautiful, natural love for you.

Let yourself feel it. Then talk.  See what happens.

Genius plus rapport, that’s what makes a true leader of people.

Be the cause!

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The day Sarah made me cry

We all had tears in our eyes. Sarah is an exec in the C-suite of a successful organization.  This senior leadership team completed the intensive Causative Communication Coaching Summit

and now, a month later in our follow up session, they were talking about the wins they experienced in the preceding month.

This was personal.

Sarah‘s 12-year-old son, Jason, had hit a stage where he wouldn’t look at her.  Never.  He defiantly turned his head away from every conversation.

Can you imagine the pain wrenching her heart? The overwhelming sadness that you’ve lost your boy. Physically he’s still in the house, but she’s lost his eyes.  She’s lost his heart. She’s lost his trust. She’s lost that feeling of being connected to her son.

The most painful realization is knowing that saying, “I’d like you to look at me when we talk to each other” does no better than produce a look of resentment you never want to see in your son’s eyes.

What I love about Causative Communication is that you learn simple truths that require light energy and produce powerful outcomes.

We spend a lot of time on the concept of affinity. This is one of the most misunderstood, undervalued, underutilized and INDISPENSABLE elements of emotionally satisfying human relationships.

I’m going to dedicate several issues of these articles exploring what affinity accomplishes.

Affinity ISN’T what you’re thinking. Affinity is what you’re FEELING.

It’s how much you like or love them in that moment.  And how much you’re feeling it.

A mother would naturally say, “Of course I love my son!” And, of course, we know it’s true.

But, IN THIS MOMENT RIGHT NOW – are you FEELING it?

You’ll hear: “Well, no!  He won’t look at me!”

The ability to create that affinity within yourself is one of the HIGHEST capabilities we humans possess.

It’s an ability.  And, just like any other ability, it needs to be activated.

After Sarah’s coaching session, she knew her #1 priority for applying what she’d learned:  Jason.

Soon after, Jason happened to oh-so-briefly glance at Sarah while she was talking to him.  He did a double take.  He saw something in her eyes that hadn’t been there.

Sarah was filled with great affinity for him and it was reflected in her eyes. That’s where it lives to the outside world.

He looked back at her, exploring her eyes, trying to identify what he was seeing, because it was so new.  

As he looked at her, Sarah’s affinity for him grew and there was even more in her eyes.

Wide-eyed, Jason looked at her. And looked, and looked, and looked.  Then, magically, his eyes filled with affinity.

Their relationship, their conversations, completely transformed at that point. She had her son back.

A mother often looks at her newborn baby with love pouring from her eyes. The baby looks back, matching her affinity. This affinity, these looks, diminish over time.  Parents give their growing children, especially teenagers, very critical looks as they watch them.  Totally different.  And they get totally different results in their relationships.

And don’t even get me started at how we look at each other when we work in large corporations!

Do we need this affinity when we’re babies, but discard that need as adults?

Hardly.

It’s the easiest thing in the world to bring these beautiful looks, these beautiful eyes, back.  All you have to do is really feel great affinity, and it will show in your eyes and create magic.

Affinity always creates magic.  Gently over time, even the most drastic of relationships can be restored.  And good relationships can flourish like never before.

You can’t wait for the other person to go first.  But if you do want them to go first, get them reading my articles and attending my coaching sessions.  Otherwise, you’re the leader. 

At one of our coaching sessions this week, one of our students asked, “Should I have affinity even when I’m talking to senior executives?”

Answer:  It doesn’t matter if it’s your 12-year-old son, your CEO, or a colleague you haven’t been getting along with.  Affinity always produces the most magical effect.  Want to see it for yourself?  It’s easy enough.  Feel it.  Then go talk to them.

Causative Communication is about having real answers. This is one of them.

Be the cause!

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My vision of the future

I teach something that’s totally different.  Something you never learn in school.  I teach people how to be causative.

Being causative means that’s how you operate. You make something happen.

From the outside, it looks like magic, even though it’s not.

Being causative means you continuously direct the course of your conversations to make life turn out the way you want.

The people who say that’s not possible are the ones who don’t know how. There are many of them.  Don’t listen to them.  What they say won’t help you.

The truth is that there are very natural formulas for being causative that always work.

The reason people like what I teach, why they like these formulas, is they like things that are natural and always work.

What’s amazing is that even one component of these formulas is enough to create miracles.

I got an email this week from a graduate of Building a Foundation for Causative Communications that said:

“I want to tell you that participating in the class has really helped me.  Confession: I've been slacking off in the way I communicate, especially with my wife.  I have started putting my FULL 100% attention on her when we are talking. Wow!  What a HUGE difference!  You have saved me from going down that dark road of unhappy marriages.  I'm real excited about keeping this part of the formula in play ALL the time!”

I teach many people every week.  My inbox is flooded with their success stories.

I use money to put gas in my car and buy fresh vegetables at the farmers’ market.  But my real pay comes in the form of these success stories, talking to my students long after the class is over and hearing the happiness in their voices.

My message to the world is that there is something called REAL communication. It does NOT include all talking.

How you know it’s REAL communication is that real communication, whether you’re asking for a promotion, negotiating a deal, navigating a difficult conversation or talking to your 17-year-old, always produces these results:

• Understanding

• A great feeling of affinity between you (warmth, liking, even love)

• Positive outcome you’re really happy with (and they are too)

It takes SKILL to be causative in all conversations, to always create these outcomes. 

It doesn't take any skill to create unpleasant conversations, disagreement, a fear of speaking up, conflict, or unsatisfying relationships. 

Being causative takes real skill.  Real skill takes work.  No one won the Olympic gold on talent alone.  Or just with a positive attitude.

I have a vision of a much, much happier world, filled with people who can make things happen simply by communicating extremely well.  In their personal lives, at work, and in society. A world filled with happy people creating REAL communication in every area of their lives.

My graduates demonstrate it can be done.  Every day we are closer.  Don’t settle for less.

Be the cause!

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How to “recharge your batteries” with a full day of meetings!

Melissa’s days are one virtual meeting after another.  They make her tired.  By the end of many hours spent in front of her computer screen, she’s depleted.  Giving presentations is the most draining.

She’s not alone.  I’ve heard this from a good number of people. 

Melissa, like many, made the mistake of thinking that being virtual caused her energy drain.  Her exact words were, “Being virtual all day long is exhausting.”

If this is happening to you, I can assure you, it’s not because you’re virtual.

It’s not that you shouldn’t get outside, because you should.

But what makes a person tired or energized, whether virtual or in-person, has everything to do with the quality of communication that you experience throughout your day.

See if this isn’t true:

Even a one-hour unsatisfying or frustrating meeting will leave you de-energized.  Trying to pay attention to 30 minutes of uninspired boredom will sap the life out of you.  A lousy conversation will leave you feeling wasted.  A meaningless conversation will leave you feeling empty.  Giving a presentation with no response from the audience can leave you feeling dead. 

Just a couple of these in one day can make you need to lie down at 5 pm.

You’re putting energy out, but no energy is coming back and you get depleted.  It affects you physically.

Real human connections and great conversations don’t do that. 

Real human connections and great conversations are energizing.

They breathe life into you.

Think about it.

Melissa’s problem, like for many people, was not knowing how to create real human connections, how to make really great interactions and presentations happen when she’s virtual.

The most common thing I hear is, “But I can’t see them!  I can’t see their reactions! I can’t create a human connection if I can’t see them!”

When someone says this, it tells me they don’t understand what real human connection is all about.

If it were true that you have to see people to connect with them, blind people would never be able to make deep human connections.  And this is far from the truth.

Take three amazing blind men:  Stevie Wonder, Andrea Bocelli and Ray Charles.  

They never saw anyone.  Yet they each created, and continue to create, timeless and deep human connections with tens of millions of people around the world.

The human connections these three blind men create are pure magic.  Everyone who’s talked to them in person speaks of it too.

You might say, “Sure I could do that, if I could sing like they can.”

But you actually CAN do it with words, with the ability to create REAL communication, REAL interchange with another person, REAL rapport with many people at one time when you’re giving a presentation.

Creating a deep human connection goes WAY beyond in-person visual perception. 

Whether you’re speaking, writing, emailing, singing, painting or using sign language … and whether you have sight or are blind … the following IS true.

Real human connections are created by the ability to SEE and FEEL people with OTHER senses besides your eyes, by the QUALITY of how you express yourself, by your ability to REACH others with powerful understanding, real meaning, unrestrained, overwhelming affinity and a commanding intention.

These are all ABILITIES you can master and use to create a powerful, and even emotional, impact, REGARDLESS of whether or not your eyes ever see the other person.

I know you can do it because I teach people how to do it every day.

Melissa dedicated herself to learning how and now her days are powered with the skills she developed during both Causative Communications and Mastering Virtual Presentations. 

She now leaves meetings satisfied, leaves her presentations energized, flying high.

But, in her own mind, what’s best of all, is that she’s energizing everyone she talks to.  After a challenging presentation she emailed me:

“I could not see the people, but I felt their energy, and there was no stopping me.  Lots of positive feedback including from my boss.  Afterward some told me they even got goose bumps.”

And everyone wants her in their meetings.  Of course they do!  She wipes out their tiredness and makes them feel refreshed, new again.

Being able to make this happen is energizing.  It gives you the BEST kind of energy.

You’re capable of creating that kind of magic in your own life.

If you’re tired at the end of the day, RAISE the QUALITY of your communication and your relationships.

I’m not trying to get you to do my training as much as I’m trying to tell you that you are fully capable of it, that this is all inside you, waiting to come out.   

Of course, if you’d like a guide to get you there fast, that’s what I love to do and I’m here for you.

Be the cause!

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What I’m hearing now more than ever

I have coached almost 1,000 people since this all began. from individual contributors to CEOs.

The phrase I’m hearing more than any other, and more than I’ve ever heard in the past, is the expression, making a deep human connection.

People are longing for this connection. Eager to know how to create it, despite the big chunks of metal sitting in front of them, and the many miles separating the other person.

They’re wishing for this connection from you. In this article I’ll tell you how.

I was coaching a group of executives last week on this very building block of Causative Communications. They had an important message to communicate.

But they came across as disconnected, distant and, quite frankly, like uncaring corporate robots.

This isn’t who they really are.

They’re people just like you and me. They’re intimidated by being alone in a room, feeling like they have to perform, feeling like they’re being judged and talking to a camera that is dead, dead, dead.

And that’s how they came across. Dead, dead, dead.

What makes me a really good coach is that I clearly perceive and discern the difference between how a person is being and who they really are.

For a variety of reasons, reasons that I won’t get into in this article, people are not being who they really are. Too many times they don’t even know who they really are.

Who they’re being is who they think they’re supposed to be, except that they’re often very confused about even about who that is.

When you work in a large corporation, you think you’re supposed to be corporate and professional. And most people don’t fully understand what that is either.

When you’re dealing with communication, who you’re supposed to be is someone who makes a REAL human connection and communicates effectively.

It has nothing to do with your hand gestures. It comes from deep within you.

My job is to help people (like you) find this part of themselves (it’s actually easy because I know where to look).

And then help them express themselves and handle whatever comes back to them so as to build outstanding relationships, incredible understandings and positive outcomes. The three outcomes that always accompany REAL communication.

This results in joy.

I know you’re stuck at home and everyone you’re talking to is on the other side of your computer screen.

If you want to experience deep human connections, you have to create them. You’ll want to do what the group of execs I was coaching are doing.

Make the technology between you and the other person disappear. Create the feeling that you are right there with them and that they are right there with you inches from your face.

Create that deeply personal eye contact that happens in the best relationships.

Talk with them like you’re having an intimate conversation and no one‘s listening.

That’s what brings out the best in you. That’s what brings out the best in them. That’s what creates a deep human connection.

These executives, when they did this, were absolutely amazing.

In reality, we were all over the world. I was sitting at my dining room table.

But I felt like each of them was sitting around the table with me. And we were having a very real, very warm, very intimate, very caring, personal conversation.

I was swept away. The technology had melted away. I fell in love with each of them.

A couple of hours before, they had been strangers. They had been “corporate and professional”. Formal. Lips were smiling, surface was pleasant. But they were emotionally chilly. And kind of scary.

By the end of the coaching, we all just wanted to hang out. I felt so connected, I knew I was going to miss each one of them dreadfully as soon as the call was over.

They left me with a lingering good feeling. I got off the live meeting and was still smiling for hours after. I have no doubt each one of them was too.

It’s not so important that they created this impact on me. Or on each other. What’s important is that they now are able to create this impact on EVERYONE they talk with. Virtually and in person.

This is true power.

The world is longing for a deep human connection from you. The best thing you can do right now is to reach out to them, make the technology and distance disappear, and create it.

That is the work I do. Let me know when this journey (and its great, great rewards) calls to you.

Be the cause!

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Demanding better and making it happen

Last week, Mark came out of his virtual meetings feeling drained. This week he’s leaving each meeting exhilarated.

For the past several months, a new management team struggled with (in their words) lack of trust and suspicion. This week, they’re filled with great affinity for each other and are finding great pleasure in working together.

Last week, Andy and his wife were getting on each other’s nerves after being confined to their house for so long. This week, they’re enjoying being together and having the best conversations ever, so happy they found each other again.

Last week, Lisa, a millennial, felt disrespected and dismissed by the people she worked with, and resented them deeply for it. This week, they’re coming to her for her opinions and she loves them all.

What happened to these people?

A transformation happened. A transformation facilitated by an increase in their abilities.

It all happened with only TWO steps.   Here’s how to take them:

• Step 1 (the only step that starts you down this road):   Your decision that existing reality is not as good as you demand it to be in order for you to be happy.

• Step 2:  Learning.  The only way of gaining the ability to transform existing reality into that dream within you that will make you happy.

It’s easy to move furniture around to change a scene. But we live in a world of people. And transforming our lives ultimately means transforming these relationships.  People aren’t furniture.  They don’t like being moved around.  They talk back.  And they refuse to move.

That’s why the most important ability is communication. The ability to be fully understood and to respond to what comes back to you in a way that creates a shift in reality.

Create enough shifts, and you’ve changed your life.

How long does it take?  One conversation, if you’re good at it.

I’ve seen too many people learn to live with dissatisfaction and explain it away as a necessary part of life. I don’t know how many times people have said to me, “You can’t always be happy.”

Yes you can.

The one psychologist I ever went to see in my life during my first (and last) visit said, “The problem with you, Ingrid, is that you expect to be happy ALL the time.”

I thought to myself, “Absolutely! Isn’t that what this is all about?”

And I decided if he thought that was a problem, I could help him a whole lot more than he could help me. He wasn’t asking me for help, so I chit-chatted with him a bit and left with a warm and friendly (but final) goodbye.

I am pretty much happy all the time.  Do you know why? Because I spent my life learning how to communicate and I can do it.  Because gaining this key ability makes you causative.  Because being happy is what being causative does.

I very much want others (you) to be happy all the time too.  All the time.   And what makes me happiest is teaching and seeing people (you) increase their communication abilities, feel better about themselves and about the world.

Nothing helped me become causative more than the skills I now teach to others.  These abilities enable me to navigate the trickiest, the most complex and challenging conversations (and people) to create outstanding relationships and outcomes worth celebration.  Every day.

Just like the students I wrote about at the start of this article.  They’re happy.  And they’ll be happy tomorrow.

Keep increasing your abilities. There is no ceiling to stop their growth. The more you have, the happier you will be. Take those two steps.  Decide.  Learn.  Be nice to the people who tell you that you can’t be happy all the time, do the work and go ahead and be really happy anyway.

If you want someone to get you to that goal fast, then acquire the abilities I help you develop in Building a Foundation for Causative Communications and let’s get going.

Be the cause!

Ingrid

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“Passionate” speaking and other signs you’re a communication novice

The Executive VP of a large Silicon Valley organization has asked me to coach his VPs on their virtual presentation skills.

Their global “All Hands” presentations are now critical.

The current situation has gone on too long with no end in sight.  Employees are getting restless, morale is starting to sag.

The words of inspiration that worked in the beginning are falling flat. There’s nothing to look forward to.  Their weeks have turned into drudgery, tinged with suppressed despair.

The VPs can’t keep promising the same old things.  No one believes it. No matter how you paint it, tomorrow doesn’t look any different than today.

Everyone’s working longer hours, relentlessly tied to their computer screens, coping with the home scene, surrounded by mountains of work.  The future just looks like more of the same.

No breakthrough in sight.

With that as a background, yesterday I coached Martin, a VP who, in addition to everything happening above, is one of the world’s most monotonous presenters.

His “All Hands” presentations are 45 minutes of unendingly dry monotone followed by 15 minutes of uninspired Q&A…all delivered virtually to a global audience.

Martin hates being virtual.  His exact words were, “I hate talking to a camera.”

And that’s how he comes across. Like he is talking to a piece of furniture.

Even as I was listening to the first video Martin sent me so I could make an assessment of his skills, by the time I got to the end, I couldn’t remember what he’d said.

Martin was so tuned out to his presentation, there was no way I could tune in.

That was two months ago. Since then, I’ve been coaching him two hours a week.

Martin’s had many coaches before me. They all told him to be more dynamic. They all told him he needs to smile. He kept trying to tell them, “That’s not me.” They wouldn’t listen, they kept pushing him. Martin decided he really didn’t like coaches. He was prepared to dislike me.

My first order of business was to tiptoe around the mine field called, “It’s not me.”   I agree with Martin that being yourself is sacred.  No matter what, it’s VERY important always that you are YOU.  

I wanted Martin to become even MORE himself because, for all of us, that’s where our real power lies.

I’m very good at drawing a map “from here to there”. I can accurately assess where a person is and help them navigate the route to the charisma buried inside them. I help them cross that bridge to find their gold.

Once I have that map (and for each person it’s different), I’m extremely systematic in my coaching. I don’t make the mistake that many coaches make:   coaching too many things at one time.

I start with fundamentals and build a very solid foundation.  I work on one thing at a time until the person really gets it and owns it.  And only then do we work on the next thing.  In the beginning it looks like we’re going slow, but this is truly the way to make rapid progress.

It’s how I snuck up on Martin. In the beginning we spent several sessions working only on developing his eye contact and creating a powerful connection with a virtual audience.

He did it a little at a time.  I had him do a little bit more, then a little bit more, until it was full blast.

Now, when he looks into the camera, you feel a STRONG executive presence.  You also feel like he is sitting right in front of you in person. Martin captivates you. His eyes are alive.

When you think you’re talking to a camera, your eyes are dead. Your eyes only come to life when you’re talking to a person. It’s a skill to talk to a camera and bring your eyes to life.

Yesterday we worked on being compelling.  Then on being inspiring.  I gave Martin real time coaching as he practiced, helping him tease out that vital carrier wave called intention. People mistake passion for intention, and try to be passionate. Passion is hollow and ineffective compared to intention.  

Intention is what you want.  Passion is what YOU’RE feeling.  Intention determines how you’ll make THEM feel.

The message Martin has to deliver in his next “All Hands” is a difficult one. He has to tell them that, for the foreseeable future, it’s going to be a lot of work and little immediate reward.  That’s what we practiced.The change in Martin in the course of two hours was startling.  By the end of our coaching session, he was one of the most amazing speakers I’ve ever seen in my life.  

Martin didn’t sugar coat the situation.  He explained the mountain of work facing the workforce needed to reach a worthwhile future, but did it in a way that evokes an intensity of genuine purpose that will organically and naturally (no hype) inspire everyone to rise to the challenge, join forces and do it with an intensity of energy.

You see, it’s not about how passionate the speaker is.  It’s about how passionate the audience is when the speaker is finished.

Martin will ignite passion.

I have no doubt that his “All Hands” next week will be met with inspired enthusiasm.  If Martin were live and in-person, I have no doubt they would rise and give him a standing ovation.

In our current world, where virtual communication is more important than ever, your ability to develop and use these skills like Martin is doing will create your future success.

You literally get to choose how far you go.

High skills will lead to high levels of success.

Mediocre skills will lead to invisibility.

If you want these skills, you can get them. Check out Mastering Virtual Presentation Skills and Building a Foundation for Causative Communications.

Be the cause!

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When Interns present better than SVPs

I’m always so happy to see my students winning.  I’m delighted that my inbox is always full of their successes and wins.  And I’m always thrilled when I hear that their ability to communicate deeply touches and moves others.

Recently I received a request to train 16 highly successful mid-level engineering professionals as part of their challenging leadership development program.

I laughed with joy when I heard the reason for the request. 

Last year, the same corporation asked me to train 40 very bright college students who intern at this huge Silicon Valley company in the summertime. Many of them get hired full-time after they graduate.

The interns work in teams on ambitious projects designed to produce financial ROI. At the end of the summer, each team presents their project results to a panel of senior executives. It is fiercely competitive, with senior execs selecting the top 3 teams, and special prizes going to each.

I was hired to give these 40 interns presentation skills training the day before their big presentation so they would come across exceedingly well to the executives.

You can imagine being in college and having to present to the senior executives of a major Silicon Valley corporation. They were nervous!  So this training was a very good idea and very generous on the corporation’s part.

These young college students did extremely well in the training and the feedback they received from the execs after their presentations was fabulous.

The panel of executives, however, were faced with a dilemma.  They couldn’t decide which team to choose as #1 because they all presented their results so well. They were heard asking each other, “What is WITH these interns?! They’re better at presenting than many of the executives around here!”

What really blew the execs away, was that there weren’t just one or two good presenters in the group of 40. They were ALL strong.

These summer college interns blew the senior execs away so thoroughly, the organization asked me to train their high potential leaders so they too would develop the same skills.  This time their presentations were virtual, even more challenging.

This training also went well, with one of them emailing me the next day:

“It felt so great to know I was connecting and engaging the panel of execs, even though I couldn’t see them.  I could FEEL it!  At the end of my presentation, the top exec said, ‘Wow!  I have no words!  That was AMAZING!’.”

I am so proud of them, as I am all my students.

I’m especially proud of the college students.  They are walking tall.  And so thrilled that they gained these impressive and powerful abilities early in their career.  

The ability to communicate is THE most important ability to have, because with this ability comes the ability to open every door in your life.  That’s my goal and my purpose.  For you to experience that freedom.

Don’t let being virtual stop you from being powerful.  If you want these skills, you can get them. Check out Mastering Virtual Presentation Skills and Building a Foundation for Causative Communications.

Be the cause!

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Perfect Understanding

The essence of humanity is our individuality. Because of this, we each have unique viewpoints. Often we have emotions attached to them.

“Viewpoint” literally means, “the point from which you view”. If you’re at the bottom of the mountain looking up, the top looks very different than it does after you’ve climbed it.  You’ve changed your viewpoint.  You now see it from a different viewpoint.  You now possess two viewpoints of the mountain top.

You can say what is true for you at the bottom.  The truth will be different when you’re at the top.

The challenge becomes when we try to communicate our different viewpoints. Often it goes smoothly. But not always.

When it doesn’t, it’s generally because disagreement is overwhelming the conversation, and has overpowered understanding. 

When there’s no understanding, there’s no real acknowledgment of what is said. And that’s when communication goes south.

Understanding and agreement are very different. “Understanding” means, “I can see it from your viewpoint, I see what you’re seeing from your point of view, I perceive it clearly.” 

“Agreement” means, “I think the same way as you do, I consent, let’s do that, I have the same opinion, I even think you’re right.”

To simply see something from another’s point of view is often the greatest challenge people have.

They’re so busy disagreeing, they stop seeing.

The problem people have is this:  when they don’t agree, they withhold their understanding. They say things like, “I don’t understand how you could feel that way.”  Or they mistake this for understanding: “I totally understand you.  You’re selfish, stupid, stubborn and you’re wrong.”

The moment you withhold your understanding, even a little, you suppress the one thing that makes communication, and relationships, work. 

Understanding is a skill.  A high level skill.  A powerful ability. 

The more you perfect it, the more magical your life becomes.

I received this email from a student who completed Causative Communication online training a week ago:

“I'm amazed at how quickly it allows a conversation to move on by acknowledging, and how finding the words is easy when you have affinity. It's exactly what we learned, but it has not stopped happening outside of class or at work.  I've also shared the approach I learned with my kids, and I've seen them be successful with it as well. 

“My son struggles with anxiety, and in particular he worries about making people angry by not agreeing with them.  I told him about affinity, acknowledging, and the difference between understanding and agreeing, and with a little practice at home, it has completely changed his perspective on interacting with people, and eliminated that fear!”

I love that there is a young boy who is learning how to be causative, how to freely communicate and exchange viewpoints with anyone, while still a child. This is going to serve him well throughout his entire life.  

It gives me great joy that his fear, his anxiety, has vanished.

This opens up the whole world to him, and endless possibilities.

With affinity, understanding and acknowledgments, you possess the tools to create magic in any conversation, to bring about affinity, understanding and acknowledgment in others.

When you have this certainty, you can achieve harmonious collaboration with anyone, and the ability to create the future you dream of.

Every service we offer, whether it’s online/offline, in a group or even one-on-one, will move you forward towards that goal.

Be the cause!

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Crossing the bridge into the land of your dreams

Learning does something nothing else can.  It engages and exercises your mind, fills you with well-being and makes you feel powerful.

Today I’ll tell you about Virginia and the transformation that learning created in her life…

Virginia is a really good person, but she never stood out.  She interviewed for a number of exciting new roles within her company … and kept not getting them.

She works for a company that offers our classes to their employees, which is how I met her.   Virginia showed up for Causative Communication eager and motivated to find out how to create a winning streak.

The following week she was in Mastering Virtual Presentations and, as I started the class, she interrupted, bubbling over with enthusiasm, and said, “There’s something I need to tell you: 

“Right after the last class I had to do an extremely difficult series of interviews for a competitive position.  I was interviewed by a panel of executives, followed by a series of one-on-ones with key stakeholders.  The next day their HR partner called me and said, ‘I normally never tell anyone this so quickly, but we’ve all talked and you are for sure the person we want in this role. Everyone who interviewed you said that, compared with everyone else they interviewed, you really stood out. You created such a bond and trust with each one of us, we all felt you’re part of our team already!  One of the execs even said that a wonderful positive energy comes from your eyes. We can’t wait to have you start!”

She was the same person, but the result was completely different.  Keep in mind:  she created “a bond and trust” with people and execs she didn’t know and these interviews were all virtual!

REAL communication dissolves all barriers. It creates true understanding, trust and a closeness you wouldn’t think could be possible when you’re virtual.

Virginia had a clear and beautiful vision of success. And a firm decision to make it.

Learning enabled her to cross that bridge.  And now she’s flying high with wings that will keep her airborne.

Learning enables you to cross any bridge into the land of your dreams. That’s why a great teacher is such a gift in your life and to the world. 

Never let your current level of ability limit your dreams. There’s no ability you can’t develop. All the abilities you could ever want are inside of you, like many seeds waiting for sun and water.

Your dreams are there for a reason. They are waiting for you to live them.

And learning can make it all possible.

What are you going to learn next?

Be the cause!

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