Here is a definition of honesty that I think every leader should read.  This isn’t my definition; I found it on the web, but I think it captures the essential nature of truth in communicating with others.

Honesty is the human quality of communicating and acting truthfully related to truth  as a value. This includes listening, and any action in the human repertoire — as well as speaking.

Superficially, honesty means simply stating facts and views as best one truly believes them to be. It includes both honesty to others, and to oneself and about one’s own motives and inner reality. Honesty, at times, has the ability to cause misfortune to the person who displays it.

Source: Wikipedia www.wikipedia.com

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It’s official.  I’m on the Gelato diet — I may have invented it.  Every noon I am absolutely committed, no matter how difficult a sacrific it is, I give up salads and sandwiches to walk to the center of Wellesley and spend $4 at Rosie’s Bakery for a cup of the most delicious Gelato imported straight from Italy.  It’s as close as you can get to heaven on earth.  

My obsession is now so complete, I’m thinking not only about how to consume Gelato, but to BE gelato.

Seriously though, it made me wonder- what if you could be the Gelato of the business presentation world- a memorable, wonderful experience?  What can Gelato teach us about making great presentation?   

Gelato, or the plural Gelati, is Italian ice cream made from milk and sugar, combined with other flavorings. The gelato ingredients  are frozen while stirring to break up ice crystals as they form. Like high-end ice cream, gelato generally has less than 35% air, resulting in a denser and more flavourful product.

In a “Gelato presentation” - you would father together fresh, rich information and combine it carefully through a process that made it flavourful.  You would “present it” in a beautiful glass “vase” or package, and audiencees would never forget you; they would seek you out and pay any price to listen to you.

Just to carry this analogy to the extreme, I looked up how Gelato is made.  I went to the source of all sources — Wikipedia –(Smile) to learn that Gelato is typically made with FRESH fruit or other FRESH ingredients such as chocolate (pure chocolate, flakes, chips, etc.), nuts, small confections or cookies, or biscuits. 

The Gelato presentation has FRESH information - something NEW - something your audience hasn’t heard, doesn’t know.  That enlivens their brains, the way Gelato enlivens the taste buds.

Traditionally, milk based gelato originated in northern Italy,  while the fruit and water based sorbetto came from the warmer parts of southern Italy.  Either way, it comes from Italy, the food mecca of the world.

What we know about Italy and food - is they take it seriously.  Food is life.  That’s why real Italian food reigns.  When we take the creation of our presentation as seriously as Italians do their food, we put our heart and soul into every bite. 

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What you want to create with a presentation is rich visual imagery and a lasting impression.   When people walk away, they should have a picture, a taste, a feeling about you and your topic.

Put your heart and soul into the next presentation — and treat your audience to a rich, fresh, memorable experience.

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A friend sent me a copy of the Business Life section of the Financial Times last week.  Stefan Stern, stefan.stern@ft.com writing On Management, notes the last two presentations he actually enjoyed and remembered anything about contained very few slides.  “One speaker,” says Stern, “offered only pictures and no text.  This allowed her to create and sustain the illusion of spontaneity.”

He also notes that in I Hate Presentations, James Caplin says too many people are stuck in the “school-essay” mindset of imparting information.  Here’s a link to Amazon.com if you’d like to check out this new book: http://www.amazon.com/Hate-Presentations-Transform-powerful-approach/dp/1841128090/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217281470&sr=8-1 

The big message is we get all wrapped up, telling a long story about the past, present and future of our companies, sticking to this incredibly dull formula, that the whole thing is “lifeless.”

My thought?  If you hate presentations, your audience hates YOUR presentations.  If you go in with that attitude, you won’t fool them!  You can try to fake your interest, but they won’t buy it. The secret to having audiences love you is to LOVE YOUR AUDIENCE!  Embrace the art form of standing and speaking to people.  You’ll enjoy it.  They’ll enjoy it. 

To read the full article go to: www.ft.com/stern

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“I was at a meeting the other day and someone got up and said, ‘When you’re the boss, you’ve got to make sure that you have at least one person around who is a truth teller.’  And I got up later and I said, ‘One?  If there were seven around me and six weren’t, I’d fire them.  They should all be truth tellers.’”

–JP Morgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon on the Charlie Rose Show, Monday July 7th. 

Amidst the financial services meltdown, many say Dimon, more frankly than most, is shining a light on the harsh realities.

As a leader, ask yourself these three questions:

• Are you a truth teller?
• Do you surround yourself with truth tellers?
• Are you listening to what they have to say?

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Not that another word needs to be written about Tiger Woods latest superhuman feat…victory over the likeable, underdog, everyman Rocco Mediate’s on a sudden death hole at the U.S. open…

But I just can’t help but comment on Tiger’s secret weapon: focus.

As David Brooks writes in a New York Post Op Ed,  Tiger has cemented his legacy as the embodiment of immortal excellence.  But why?  As Brooks puts it, “In a period that has brought us instant messaging, multitasking, wireless distractions and attention deficit disorder, (Tiger) Woods has become the exemplar of mental discipline. After watching Woods walk stone-faced through a roaring crowd, the science writer Steven Johnson, in a typical comment, wrote: “I have never in my life seen a wider chasm between the look in someone’s eye and the surrounding environment.”

Out here in the real world, meanwhile, we mortals are more frustrated than ever as we succumb to the noise and distraction.  If we’re honest, even those among us who have rise to the top of an organization because of focus and hard work find it virtually impossible today to stay centered and keep our eye on what’s important.  As Brooks comments “…Today  I’ve been trying to write this column, I’ve toggled over to check my e-mail a few times. I’ve looked out the window. I’ve jotted down random thoughts for the paragraphs ahead. But Woods seems able to mute the chatter that normal people have in their heads and build a tunnel of focused attention.”

What is the secret to focus?  It’s more than discipline.  Discipline is an outward sign of focus but not the driver.  What allows us to focus is not discipline.  It is purpose.  A purpose that is big, exciting, and worth pursuing.  People who are clear about purpose are energized and find it easy, not hard, to focus.  Focus on your purpose is almost like play.  

The Novelist, brilliant debater, and England’s first and only Jewish prime minister Benjamin Disraeli said, “Nurture your mind with great thoughts.”  Disraeli was elected to Parliament in 1837 after failing to win election in four earlier tries.   He eventually became know as the leader of the Conservatives in the Commons.  He became prime minister for a second time at age 70.

Nurture your mind with great thoughts, discover the passion that energizes you and you will focus.  It’s a lot easier to let your Blackberry sit in its case for an hour or two when you are simply excited about … where you are going and why.

To read David Brooks’ column:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/opinion/17brooks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 

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The internet has changed how we research, but has it also altered the way we read?  The way we think? 

This Nicholas Carr’s argument in Atlantic Magazine (July/August 2008 www.theatlantic.com/magazine ).  We are becoming masters of the “power browse” and on the face of it, that SEEMS like a good thing: our brains are taking in more information, processing and downloading efficiently.  Think about it.  You can find on the web in minutes what used to take hours in the library. 

However, Carr quotes bloggers, writers and others who say they now have trouble staying focused on long pieces of writing, skim everything and quickly lose interest.  Bruce Friedman, a blogger on computers in medicine says “I have now almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print.”  Some say today they would not have the capacity to read War and Peace.

While long term neurological and psychological experiments on cognition will take years to be completed and published, Carr quotes a five-year research program where scholars examined computer logs documenting the behavior of visitors to a web site.  They found people were hopping from one web source to another and rarely returned to any source they’d already visited. 

What does this mean for leaders who are trying to communicate with a workforce?  If people are scanning the text of an email (and believe they have the ability to instantly “comprehend”) you can be sure that a large percentage will look for key words, and if they don’t find them, miss the point (or something important like the scheduled call, or project deadline).  They might scan the headlines of the the company newsletter, read the first paragraph of a few articles and decide whether to “skim on.”   This of course makes it harder than ever to keep people informed, or get them on the same page about ANYTHING.

Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University says we are not only what we read, but HOW we read.  If we put efficiency and immediacy above all else it may weaken our capacity to read for deep meaning.  In other words, we become  “mere decoders of information.”  Carr argues if we lose those quiet spaces of contemplation we will sacrifice something important not only in ourselves but in our culture.

Here’s what I’d like to know:

• Are YOU worried about this? 
• Have you already factored this behavior in when you communicate with employees, clients, customers and vendors?  
• What is the potential impact on your business if people don’t make it a practice to thoroughly read emails and other internal communications that you send? 

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Blogging is creating a media buzz.  At first, I didn’t get it.  Never an early adopter (I got my first Blackberry only two years ago) I was skeptical.  Would corporate executives read them?  I still have no idea whether they do.  But someone is reading them.  And, it turns out, corporate executives are writing them.  

So I thought for this very first posting it would be fascinating to just consider whether a blog is a GOOD way for a leader to communicate.  What is the return on the investment for the busy executive? I went looking for answers. 

I came across a Backbonemedia.com survey.  www.backbone.com They talked to bloggers at hundreds of companies and claim corporate blogs are living up to the hype, “giving established companies and obscure brands the ability to connect with their audiences on a more personal level”  The survey found blogs allow companies to build trust, collect valuable feedback and foster strengthened business relationships.” 

A blog is a “happening” way to build your personal brand as a leader, as well as the brand of the company.  After all, even if you’re not an “early adopter” writing a blog is still, at a cocktail party, considered pretty hip.  Someday the novelty will probably wear off.  But you can still impress your friends if you have a blog.

More important, it could be a great way to show you’re a leader and a thought leader.  When you write fresh stuff, people are interested.  If you’re the CEO or a C-level executive, people actually are interested in what you have to say.  So this is a great way to say it, on your own terms.  It’s immediate.  It feels less “edited” than any other media.  And, readers know when they go to your blog that you’ve just been there.  (Or not).  It’s almost like shaking your hand.  It’s a kind of access to your brain.

There are the tangible returns like increased sales, partnerships and business opportunities.  Many companies say it’s real.  I don’t know yet because we just started.  That’s for the marketing department.  For now, let’s focus on you, the leader.

Should you start a blog?  There are the downsides.  You have to keep it fresh.  But in my mind, that’s a good thing.  A blog allows you to speak in your authentic voice and style, about timely issues. 

Which brings up another point.  You really should write it yourself.  If you don’t write it then for heaven’s sake, make sure it is written by someone who has a Vulcan mind meld with yours.  Even then you should review it before it is posted.  Authenticity is so important to a leader… it’s your credibility … you want people to trust you.  Anyone who knows you will be able to tell in a ninnie-nano of a second whether you actually wrote the thing. 

Of course you have to size up starting a blog against your overall strategy.  But as a leader, you might find it is a fast, easy way to get a message out.  Not only could it improve your search engine rankings and generate PR, it could define your leadership—by presenting your thinking in a fresh, interesting way.   

So, that’s why I will blog.  And maybe that’s why you will blog.

~ Suzanne

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