Clearly, you’re brilliant
Clearly, you’re brilliant. You’re doing work that matters. You‘re making things better for your clients, not in a small but in a big way. You
Clearly, you’re brilliant. You’re doing work that matters. You‘re making things better for your clients, not in a small but in a big way. You
During the shooting of his film “The Flying Doctors of East Africa” Werner Herzog made an interesting discovery about how humans perceive images (emphasis mine):
When something doesn’t work, it’s tempting to start over and try a different solution for our problem. Let’s try something new! And it might work.
“I don’t have time for doing a workout today.” You probably don’t. Or do you but you’ve got more important things to do? Or maybe
Shoppers in a supermarket were asked to participate in a market research study. Two flavours of jam were presented to them and they had to
Most marketing is geared towards changing what people do. Essentially, it’s about making them buy something they wouldn’t have bought without our marketing. I feel
„You think I’m still good enough for the team?“ Kevin’s question struck Taylor by surprise. „What?“ she replies. „I mean everyone’s doing such a phenomenal
“Have you seen that hilarious ad?”“Yeah, so great. Which brand was it for again?”“Uhm … well … no idea.” I’m sure you know that ad.
This is part 3 of the series on leaders who light the path – a group of extraordinary people doing work that matters. All of
When you’re an artist, it makes little sense to try to please your audience. At least not if you take your art seriously. If an
Sometimes, we’re so busy becoming someone that we forget to be someone. How about you take this day as an opportunity for just being you.
Building credibility is actually easy: Mean what you say. Make promises you can keep; don’t make promises you can’t keep. While it’s obvious how the
Good marketers tell stories.Great marketers tell true stories.True stories about the things they deeply care about.True stories that make it obvious for our audience what
As if there hadn’t been enough challenges for businesses already, such as digitisation, climate change and many more, the last year brought an even bigger
I’ve seen so many ideas being buried because the communication was confusing. Lack of clarity stole the impact and influence that many of these ideas
When people don’t get our message, we’re used to adding more detail. Give more examples. Explain it a little longer. (And louder.) And in doing
There’s no shortage of great products. Take almost any industry and we have enough of what it sells. We have no shortage of great yoghurt
This is part 2 of the series on leaders who light the path – a group of extraordinary people doing work that matters. All of
Prof. Donald Saari, a mathematics professor at the University of California, Irvine, has established the who-gives-a-damn principle in his lectures. In the first lecture of
Today’s a bad day. Like really bad. And yet, an important presentation is scheduled in 2 hours. What do you do? There are two extremes
Someone goes to a restaurant. He really enjoys the food. The next day he takes the trouble to call the manager to tell him about
But this company has a much larger marketing department. But this CEO is much more extroverted. But our competition is backed by venture captial. But
The top spots in most company hierarchies are taken by “officers”. The Chief Executive Officer. The Chief Operations Officer. The C-Suite are all officers. Most
A few years back, I stumbled upon the above image of a car. I’m pretty sure that no other sales copy would have sold that
When my daughter had to learn the traffic rules for her biking exam, she felt quite overwhelmed by the sheer number of rules. I asked
Who doesn’t like a sexy slogan for their product, one that matches the big player’s most creative ads. And so, a lot of marketing agencies
This is the first in a series on leaders who light the path, a group of extraordinary people doing work that matters. All of them
Most websites feel like proposing on the first date, something like this: “Look, I’m really awesome. I have a Ph.D. and I’m super successful. I’m
When you’ve got an important story to tell, it can be super-hard to focus on a clear and concise message. It really hurts to leave
“Oh, that’s me! I’m struggling with the exact same thing.” When a marketer sparks that feeling, it opens the door to my attention. The default
“If you understood everything I said, you’d be me.” – Miles Davis I can’t look inside your head. I can’t know what you think of
It is this: Which question have you been afraid of asking yourself? When we decide where to go next, we’re looking for the right answers.
“Almost dying changes nothing. Dying changes everything.” This is a quote by Dr. House from the TV series. He says it to one of his
I’ve worked really hard so I deserve this vacation. I’ve saved my whole life so I deserve this new home. I’m helping everyone anytime so
These are the two obvious questions that are too often overlooked in communication. I get that you are excited about your product. But why should
… because I’ve got three meetings, a proposal that needs to be sent out, my email inbox has 127 unanswered emails and there are a bunch
Even Star Wars is not for everyone. It’s highly unlikely that your message is. And it shouldn’t be for anyone, too. Because “for anyone” almost
Surprisingly often, this question is a lot harder to answer than it should be. The website made a great job of hooking me up. The
The human brain is basically a prediction machine. At any given time, it tries to figure out what happens next. Tension comes from the uncertainty
It’s the least liked part of any project pitch: the risks of the project. What if these risks will lead the decision makers to shy
Did you cry when Elliott had to say goodbye to E.T.? Millions of viewers did. Steven Spielberg told E.T. so brilliantly that they were completely
The habit of meaning what you say is one of the safest ways to build long term trusted relationships. It requires honesty, empathy, and clarity.
There’s a better way to write an “about us” page than the usual way. The “us” in the “about us” is usually taken to refer
When we tell our story, the ultimate result is when people pass our message along. But let’s face it: Passing anything along is kind of
When you feel like you haven’t really nailed your message, one of the most powerful things that you can do is to write it down
If there was one thing you could do today to delight one of your customers and put a smile on their face, what would it
For many communicators, the default way of communicating is to try and make people want what they have to offer. Thus, they work hard to
Most of your competition leads with vague statements such as “improving efficiency”, “providing flexible solutions”, “using high quality materials”. One of the easiest ways to
What are your customers reading?How do they speak with each other?What are they saying about your product?Or about other products?What words do they use to
In 1995, Bill Gates really struggled to make a case for the Internet: Funny isn’t it? The CEO of the dominant software company can’t clearly
A great team is a group of people who trust each other with working towards a common goal. Trust is created when people say what
Our customers couldn’t – and shouldn’t – care less for how long it took us to make something. It’s our decision to spend the time
When you have clarity about your current position and about where you’re headed, you are much better equipped to travel fast – you can do
One of the most frustrating experiences about writing a computer program is when the computer just doesn’t do what you want it to do. This
… and this is an opportunity for marketing your own offerings. Because simply by showing up as the person who thinks their customers are smart
“Others have tried this before and it hasn’t worked”, she said. And that’s why she was quite hesitant to start her journey. I’m glad that
A common approach to sales processes is to try to squeeze out the maximum price for an offer. That’s because price is often an afterthought.
First, we had push marketing, then came pull marketing. We need to go beyond both … Back in the old days, marketing was basically push
When I say these words, you can literally see them break free and unleash their imagination. Free at last! Free to speak in a way
… according to classical guitar training. You don’t bend your right hand’s fingers. You hold them straight.The thumb is supposed to go in a straight
In our regular Clubhouse session on leadership communication we had an interesting discussion about price. One of the participants reported that they managed to get
Companies speak to target groups. Humans do not. And this makes all the difference between communication that builds a connection and one that doesn’t. In
Many businesses underestimate the value of a well crafted email. More than 90% of all deals that I’ve pitched were basically decided at the time
… is a real problem and leaders should be extra careful when they observe their team members doing it. Communicating for the boss means saying
The easiest way to get people talking about your product is to start with a product that’s worth talking about. That’s why, for example, the
Almost anyone can juggle two balls. Many can do three. Four is rather difficult. More is impossible for most. Juggling thoughts by keeping several things
It’s easy when you’re in a great mood but a bit harder when you’re not. It’s easy when you’re relaxed but a lot harder when
A common approach to communication is to throw a bunch of things at the audience and hope that something sticks: We have this and that.
Authenticity is always in the eye of the beholder. When our audience experiences what we say to be in sync with how we say it,
Rule #1 in communication: The audience is always right!If they didn’t get it they didn’t get it. End of Story. No, actually it’s not the
This is not in line with what I know so it must be wrong. And yes, it probably is. Or not? Because it might just
In my keynote speeches I often ask people what’s so different about movies that we find them entertaining for 2+ hours while most presentations are
“This is so hard but the eloquence with which you’re using words tells me that you must be a natural born talent.” Only that she
Mary says: “I think it’s important that we focus on stability.”Taylor adds: “It’s also important that we focus on efficiency.”Mary says: “There seems to be
When you’re used to being first, it hurts to end up on the 7th place. It hurts more when it’s not your fault but the
6am. I stand up. And then I have literally a million choices of what to do on that day. I could read the news. Or
Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells
Can you plant a thought in someone else’s head? In the film Inception, Leonardo diCaprio attempts to do so by entering the dreams of his
Werner Herzog on bad films: The bad films have taught me most about filmmaking. Seek out the negative definition. Sit in front of a film
Here’s a great car ad: Did you see it coming? Probably not. Because no one ever does. Here’s a different take on the same topic:
Quick-witted people are quick-witted because they often respond quickly. Quite simply they have a lot of practice at being quick-witted. If they do it often
The first thing I changed when I got in charge of my first project was to shift the deadlines from Mondays to Fridays. In our
It’s tempting to want to change the world and do it all at once. But almost all revolutions start small. Martin Luther King didn’t give
Back in school, I had a classmate who put an unbelievable amount of work in preparing for exams, reading mountains of books. I remember one
I can’t find a parking lot so I have to park in the middle of the street. Not my fault! I gotta park somewhere, right?
Sometimes, we need to make a tough decision: Who do we leave behind? As a customer. In our messaging. It might sound like a cliché,
Having more than one priority is one of the reasons why decision making in some companies feels so difficult. Imagine we are SuperSafe Corp and
Today, we’ve got a million ways to tell our story. We can tell it on video, audio, or write it down. We can publish it
How do you scale a magazine from 0 readers to being Europe’s best selling magazine? You need three things: Great writing. That resonates. And gets passed along.
Many companies are quite good at explaining what their product is not but not at all good at explaining what it is instead. When you
When we care deeply, we’ve got a problem. Because often, we find ourselves competing with others who don’t care as much. Or, to be more
Just a minute more can make all the difference when we reply to a mail or posting. It can make the difference between a harsh
In the corporate world, outlines are still pretty much mandatory at the start of a presentation. Also, they are pretty much wasted time. Outlines have
is not that we meet but how we meet. And that starts with why we meet. Many meetings feel like a waste of time because
They are happy to rise your status by helping you see things for yourself that now you are proud of having uncovered. They are happy
Getting attention is easy. Make it bigger, faster, louder, or crazier. And if in doubt, throw money at the problem of making it even more
But better than what? What does better even mean? Is it faster? Or is it more reliable? Cheaper? More pleasant to look at? “It’s better”
TED has popularised the art of presenting big ideas. What gets easily overlooked is how another art is even more essential to a great TED
Conductor Benjamin Zander has a simple rule to find out: “When their eyes are shining you know you’re doing it.” – Benjamin Zander I have
“Great stories happen to people who tell them.” – Ira Glass Ok, you might not have climbed the Mount Everest. And you might not have travelled
That’s what more than 12% of executives who were surveyed by Distinction Communication answered when they were asked how much time they spent practicing for
What an inspiring story Kathy Letendre shared with me in the newest episode of the “Leaders Light the Path” podcast. In 2020, she decided to