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Better communication skills will advance your career and business. Are you ready to enhance your understanding and results from better communication? Listen to learn how to deliver Your Intended Message. Are you willing to cross-examine communication from various perspectives? Would you like to deliver your intended message more effectively? Listen to Your Intended Message to gain a powerful advantage in your ability to convey your message to your audience, team, clients or marketplace. Learn from the mistakes and success of communication experts from around the world from different scenarios. Imagine what that means to you when you improve the success of your next conversation, presentation or message.
Episodes
Thursday Nov 02, 2023
Thursday Nov 02, 2023
How to read the body language of the room
Master your body language to be more persuasive
Episode 179 (Melinda is based in Dallas, Texas)
In this conversation with Melinda Marcus we explore:
- Why it's important to show and move your hands when you speak
- The perceptions of freeze, fight or flight response
- What are the myths about body language
- How to detect the hidden message by combining verbal and nonverbal
- How to notice and decode hot spots or stress signals
- What do self self pacifying movements suggest?
- How to clarify a suspect stress signal from a meaningless fidget
- How to ready body language of people in a Zoom meeting
- How to use your body language to program your self conscious
About our guest Melinda Marcus:
As a consultant, Melinda has helped executives open doors and close multi-million-dollar deals by showing them how to leverage body language and persuasive psychology strategies.
She is one of 5 people to earn her Master certification in Body Language from Joe Navarro, (the former special agent who trained the FBI).
You can order her book, Read the Zoom here
Find and follow Melinda on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/melinda-marcus-m-a-csp-6816484/
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Excerpts from this conversation with Melinda Marcus:
When we are confident we tend to be big. When we are being more aggressive. We tend to be big. So again, privately, I like to do very big things, because nonverbals are a two way street, they are communicating to others, and they're communicating to your own brain.
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Hotspots is referring to when I see stress signals every time, I asked you a question that is a hotspot for you. Okay, so I may just say something like, Where'd you go to lunch today? And if for some reason, you didn't want me to know about that?
You may answer, but you may not tell me the truth, or you may dodge it, but you will probably show some stress signal with it. So once you know, I'll give you an example of a stress signal.
One thing may be if you were asked me the same question, where did you go to lunch today, and who were you with or something, and I went, Oh, you know, I just went to a place locally around town, it was nothing. I mean, just like a hamburger, the hand coming up to the neck, that tends to be a very clear sign of stress.
Now, it doesn't mean a lie, it means I have stress around that topic. And the reason we do that is the neck is very vulnerable part of the body. And our hand being there protects it.
But also did you notice I started rubbing it, okay, we have something called the vagus nerve that goes down here. And if you massage that, it actually lowers your blood pressure and your pulse rate. So it will come you know, when I see people, when I ask them a question go in here, I know there's a little stress around that.
Ah, so that's a self soothing move.
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So a test of a stressful topic is to talk about it go away and come back later and look for a stress signal.
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Your brain, your unconscious, is always trying to go to comfort. So it does little things to make you feel more comfortable.
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Thursday Oct 26, 2023
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
Keep the communication open within your company
People need to know and want to know
Episode 178 (Alicia is based in Chicago)
In this conversation with Alicia Webb, we explore:
- How do discover gaps in internal communication
- Lessons from the pandemic to stay in touch
- The danger of out-of-sight on out-of-mind
- Why people leave when they don't feel connected
- The need to stay informed
- How might you keep your people engaged
- What options and tools might you consider?
- How to communicate major change to everyone effectively
- How to build trust, align goals and reinforce direction
- Why more meetings might not be the answer
- The importance of telling a story
About our guest Alicia Webb:
Alicia is founder and principal of Bright Spot Public Relations. She began her career as a general assignment reporter at an ABC affiliate. You can learn about her services at
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Excerpts from this conversation with Alicia Webb:
they were leaving, because they felt like they weren't part of the team. So internal communications is a good place to start. It's a good foundation, to get people keep people engaged, get them to stay
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And I can see that failing to keep your employees informed demonstrates that one you don't trust them. You don't respect.
That's a great way to put it. Now, what about the use of a video message from the CEO on a monthly basis?
That's awesome. Great. I think I mean, that we've got great tools. That's the other thing. We're where we've come in our technology, those there's great tools out there that you can use, just make sure using them appropriately.
A video message from the CEO announcing a brand new initiative, that type of thing, a very positive message, I think is great. I would not use a video message to announce significant layoffs or some type of organizational overhaul, I wouldn't do that.
But if you've got some big exciting news and your your stock price has done well or something like that, absolutely, video was a great tool. And honestly, video was a good tool. And I think you know, the short, people don't read as much anymore. People have very, very short attention spans.
So if you can put together a minute a minute 30 video, absolutely, it's a great way to still get your message out in a good way if your leader is is comfortable with it. I know some leaders don't particularly like video.
So be mindful of that get to know your leader and how they feel about being on video because it's not everybody's favourite thing. But I think that this Brian, there's so many great tools out there monthly newsletters, there's so many great ways you can engage your your audience.
And I suppose that you need to engage your audience in more than one way more than one channel. It's too easy to say well, didn't you read the newsletter?
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Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Leadership and innovation lessons from Amazon
The communication tool that Amazon used to think clearly
Episode 177 (John is based in Washington state)
In this conversation with John Rossman, we explore:
- The Amazon principles of leadership
- How to drive innovation successfully
- The launch of Amazon's marketplace business
- How to build a trusted-customer experience
- How did Amazon push past the online ecommerce leader (EBay)
- Clarifying the mission and purpose of innovation
- How communicating and debating by memos leads to better thinking
- How Amazon made their meetings more productive
- Apply meeting hygiene
- Jeff Bezos' communication style
About our guest John Rossman:
A leadership and digital transformation expert, John Rossman is the author of four books on leadership and business innovation including the best seller "The Amazon Way". He is an early Amazon executive who played a key role in launching the Amazon marketplace business in 2002.
His next book, Big Bet Leadership, will launch in Feb 2024. You can get a free copy of the ebook by registering here
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Excerpts from this conversation with John Rossman:
Communication, I believe is one of the oftentimes forgotten, or underplayed elements of what makes successful innovation or transformation.
Amazon has this culture of memo writing. And what we would do is we would write out any new proposal, any problematic situation, any new idea we wanted to do, we would write out and debate in memos. It takes both the writing and the debating to make these things work.
And so Amazon, they call that approach working backwards. So starting with the customer, starting with the outcome that you want, and working backwards.
And a lot of the work that I've done some since Amazon has been taking that philosophy and molding it and mixing it and adapting it into the client's situation. So I have a new book coming out in February of 2024, called Big Bet Leadership.
Part of the underpinnings of Big Bet Leadership is about thinking about outcomes and using memos to help articulate what we believe the problem is that we are solving - what we believe the future state is that we are going to create - what the couple of critical assumptions or operating capabilities are there doing that and then debating those that is essential communication within a core team that has to decide is this the right Innovation?
Is this the right idea? Is this the right big bet for us to do. And so that Amazon philosophy so back to 2002, the market the launch of the marketplace, I wrote the future press release for the marketplace business, there was one line in it that made all the difference to that line was...
A third party should be able to register, sell an item fulfil an order and delight a customer as though Amazon the retailer had done it without talking to anybody in the middle of the night.
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Thursday Oct 12, 2023
Thursday Oct 12, 2023
Get a better return from your trade show booth
How can you people to work the booth for maximum results
Episode 176 (Anders is based in Winnipeg)
In this conversation with Anders Boulanger, we explore:
- The importance of sticking your message to a visual metaphor
- How to find your visual metaphor
- How to grab attention and attract the right people to stop at your exhibit
- How to harness the power of engagement drivers
- How to leverage the power of inductive learning to stick your message
- Mistakes that booth staff make and how to avoid them
- How to attract prospect to stop instead of repelling them with your behavior
- To sit or not to sit in your trade show booth?
About our guest Anders Boulanger:
He has performed at over 200 trade shows. His exhibit clients average a 54% increase is trade show leads.
As well as performing at trade shows, he offers Trade Show Infotaining to prepare your staff for a more productive trade show experience.
Visit engagify.ai
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Excerpts from this conversation with Anders Boulanger:
We bring in our unique form of entertainment, that is often magic, mentalism mathematics, martial arts demonstrations, different visual metaphors that we can hang messaging on, to make it memorable and making it exciting and build crowds of people are.
So that's kind of how we help our clients is by attracting attention, keeping them there qualifying the people that are qualified leads and then sending them on through the booth so that they can have that deeper, richer experience.
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if you could sit down with a team leader that's about to head off to a trade show with their team, and they haven't been wise enough to hire you to help them out. But if you could still give them one, two or three pieces of advice that they can share with their team. What might be that one, two or three pieces of advice?
Yeah, I would definitely say that, you know, to do a little talk before the show to talk about expectations and goals and unite the team around what is that?
You know, what is the the objective that they have in front of them, if they want to kind of mention a few do's or don'ts to do at least a basic training, that would be a good idea.
And then the last piece I think I would say Georgia is to really go for it. It's like swinging for the fences, the entire show, because so many people on that last day, they phone it in, they phone it in and nobody tries.
And I find the last days my favourite day, because we still go for it. And we can build sometimes bigger crowds than we did on the other days because everyone else stopped trying.
So you know really wring every dollar of value out of your tradeshow investments by working the entire three or four days however long the show is powerful advice.
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Thursday Oct 05, 2023
Thursday Oct 05, 2023
A leader needs to communicate on many levels
What must leaders learn about communication?
Episode 175 (Andy is based in the UK)
In this conversation with Andy Bounds we explore:
- Critical communications lesson from his blind mother
- The preparation technique of "guess and ask"
- What's more important than your intended message
- Why the message is simply part of the process
- How to cater your road show presentation to different audiences
- The power of changing the subtitle on your opening slide
- Why your message starts with the desired outcomes
- Why follow-up is crucial to achieving the end goal
- The four steps to achieve the goal
About our guest, Andy Bounds:
Award winning sales consultant – Andy was voted the UK’s Sales Trainer of the Year, as a result of all the sales that I helped my clients win (over $35billion so far)
Best-selling author – his three books on leadership communication and sales are all international best sellers. In fact, the first of them was only kept off the Amazon #1 slot by the final Harry Potter book!
Blind mother – his mum is blind. This has given Andy a lifetime’s experience of communicating from the other person’s point of view. A critical skill for leaders to master – especially since others who are blind to what they are trying to achieve!
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Excerpts from this conversation with Andy Bounds:
There is a wonderful quote by the Irish author, George George Bernard Shaw. And he said, the single biggest illusion with communication is the fact that it has taken place.
In other words, let's use simpler language, the biggest mistake people make is they think they've done the communication so it's finished. Okay, or they do a 20 minute events and think that will change everybody for the next year.
The world doesn't work that way.
Yeah, bluntly, habits are long term things. And communication is a short term thing. So we need rigorous reinforcement.
And that's another thing when I'm talking with leaders and how we're going to reinforce things, I say, what are the questions you're going to relentlessly ask?
So make sure people have adopted the new strategy? So let's say we have a new strategy, and it's going to be I don't know, we're going to speak to our customers more?
Well, the leader needs to ask their team almost every single time they see them. How many customers have you contacted this week? Every time so as you walk towards me, I want you thinking Andy's going to ask me how many customers I've contact because he always does.
There has to be this relentless, consistent follow up. Because as a leader, if you ignore that behaviour, you empower it, right? If you ignore that behaviour, you empower it. So if someone doesn't do what you want, if you ignore that, you're empowering them not to do what you want.
So you have to continually reinforce it, use charm, be persuasive, but you can't just ignore it. Otherwise, you're saying you just carry on.
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Thursday Sep 28, 2023
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
You can become a more confident public speaker
How to beat speech anxiety and nervousness
Episode 174 (This is a repeat of the popular episode #103 with Natasha)
In this conversation with Natasha Bazilevych we explore:
- How to channel your anxiety as positive energy
- How to apply exposure therapy to your fears or anxieties
- What can you learn from running marathons to help your speaking skills
- How to develop your public speaking skills to boost your career
- How to tap your unique energy
- How to be a better speaker and still be you
About Natasha Bazilevych:
Natasha is a public speaking coach and trainer. As president of ChangeView Academy she helps entrepreneurs develop[ their business skills do they can create a successful business and life.
Learn more about ChangeView here.
She has run 7 marathons and 11 half-marathons. She hosts the podcast, Speak with Power Podcast.
To learn more about Natasha and her services visit the website
When you are there you can sign up for the free Public Speaking 101 video course.
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Excerpts from this conversation with Natasha Bazilevych:
Natasha, were you a natural, natural, natural at public speaking?
No, I wouldn't say that I was natural. I developed it as a skill. When I was young, I was really shy. I was very shy.
People didn't notice me teachers wouldn't pick me for performances. I actually was kind of like, I was shy, but at the same time, I was an action taker. So I was initiating.
There were several times that I remember I came to my teachers. And I said, can I go, we had this performance on the stage and one girl dropped out, they needed a replacement. So I remember I said, can I go and this teacher, she looks at me up and down like this.
And he's like, No, you go, and then she picks another girl. And this goes into my brain so much. It's like, okay, and then there was one more moment was second grade, actually, when I came to teachers and said, I can sing this song. Then I started singing a song to them. And they, they smiled to each other and said, No, that's okay. You don't, you don't have to.
It's like I tried. But I was not a person that was natural that people would just pick and teachers would think that I'm so great. No. And then eventually, I worked on this my best friend, and that was my teenage years.
She said, When will you stop being so shy? After a couple of times when I just wouldn't do what we wanted to do together? And I thought, well, yeah, when enough is enough, I should develop my confidence.
And I still have that entry. In my diary, when I wrote, I want to be confident because I wanted to be a journalist and an interpreter and travel the world. And Phil, I wrote, I want to develop confidence, I will do 123. And I was writing points.
Because I've read so many different books, I was always this bookworm I loved different magazines and different educational pieces where I would learn how to develop my own personality, even being a teenager was into personal development.
So I found ways of how to grow confidence. And my first public speaking experience was my valedictorian speech, when I shared on the stage. So from there, I went on, and I started teaching, training and speaking, but before that, no, I was not natural.
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Thursday Sep 21, 2023
Thursday Sep 21, 2023
Power Words to influence people
What can you say to get more of what you want
Episode 173 (Shelle is based in Hamilton, Canada)
This is a repeat of the popular episode #10 from Oct 2020
In this conversation with Shelle Rose Charvet we explore:
- Recognizing that others don't think like you do
- The danger of trying to dig your way out of a hole
- Understanding the difference between suggestion and command language
- How to find the people who are most likely to say yes to your offer
- Why you might want to people around you who think differently
- What's the difference between "away from " vs "towards" language
- The difference between value and interesting
- How to decode their language before you respond
- When do you choose between options, process, details
- Internal vs external modes of influence
- Why you might use the phrase "but it's up to you"
About our guest Shelle Rose Charvet:
She is an expert in Influencing and Persuasion and author of Words that Change Minds.
Shelle works with organizations around the world and now remotely to help them understand what really motivates their clients.
When we recorded this interview she lived in Hamilton, Canada and spent time in Berlin. She speaks English, French, Spanish and is learning German.
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Excerpts from this conversation with Shelle Rose Charvet:
Well, the very first mistake that people make is that they unconsciously believe, like sometimes they are not aware of having this belief, they unconsciously believe that other people think the same way they do.
So, the mistake they make is they use the same strategy to convince other people that they used to convince themselves of something and then they are shocked and dismayed when other people do not just leap onto their bus and go wherever they want, what is wrong with those people, do not they get it.
Well, the issue is they need to get it in a way that is different than how I get it or how you get it and that is one of the very big mistakes.
So, other people do not necessarily think like me. I cannot find it hard to believe.
I know, is not it? Are they weird, is there something wrong with them?
Did not they go to school, did not they learn anything? Clearly they must understand me.
And I am a logical person, why are not they?
So, how do we overcome that challenge? I suppose, the first thing we need to recognize is that they are not necessarily trying to be difficult. They just think differently and not necessarily wrong, just differently. So, how do we overcome that challenge?
So, this is what the book words that change minds is all about. We need to understand that people have different values and criteria for making decisions so what is important to me may not be important to them, like one of the ways I like to convince people is I tell them things are interesting.
Well, interesting is my word for valuable and worth looking at, would not it be great if you asked somebody, well how do something is worthwhile taking a look at?
So, George, let me ask you just for a minute, how do you know that something is worthwhile to take a look at.
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Thursday Sep 14, 2023
Thursday Sep 14, 2023
Don't try to impress me with big words
Speak so I understand you
Episode 172 (Gary is based in North Carolina)
In this conversation with Gary Simonds we explore:
- Recognizing the language of your profession and expertise
- The challenge that language creates for your patients, clients, colleagues
- Speaking to be clearly understood is not brain surgery
- How clear understanding builds trust
- How an analogy can help convey the message
- The damage when we assume that we speak the same language
- How ego of an expert can interfere with clear communication
- Are you aware of how many different technical languages you speak?
- Why you need to check with your audience on their understanding
- The power of analogy, simile and clichés
- Why you need to be prepared for how you present the message
About our guest Gary Simonds:
Gary is a neurosurgeon who created and developed a university-level neurosurgery department and residency training program at Virginia Tech and the Carilion Clinic in Virginia.
He has written three non-fiction books and a a recently released novel, Death's Pale Flag, focusing on professional burnout and building personal resilience.
Learn more about his books at
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Excerpts from this conversation with Gary Simonds:
And quite often, you know, people would be there nodding as if everybody understood you would leave the room and they go, what the heck did they just tell us?
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I think it also helps, after delivering your intended message to ask them specifically, what do you understand about what I've been telling you?
What do you understand about the problem right now or the issue right now. And you can be really shocked sometimes, because you may think I've just made it as clear as can be.
And they come back with something that is in no way close to what your message was. So then you're going to have to refine it and readdress it and repeat it.
And Gary, I can see that same a similar scenario playing out in a meeting room.
Perhaps the the president of the company, or maybe the VP of engineering has come in and explained a project or a problem. And simply believe that because they explained it for themselves that everyone in the room understands.
And perhaps that's a good time to go to the room and saying,
Who here would like to tell me what your understanding is of what I just said?
And if anyone's brave enough to go and say that, then that leader might find that they didn't get across their message? I absolutely thinks that you have to have been in those scenarios, haven't you, George?
Very much. So yes. And and there are times and I admit there were times when I was reluctant to speak up? Because I didn't want to be the only person that I thought who didn't understand.
And so you're not going to say I didn't understand, please explain it to me, because you're you're the junior guy. Right? And you don't want to be the one person with and yet you look around the room and you notice that nobody else is getting it.
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Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
How can you inspire your buyers with the right narrative?
Why is it important for the leaders to get the stories straight
Episode 171 (Bruce is based in Seattle, Washington)
In this conversation with Bruce Scheer we explore:
- The dangers of radon acts and hence random results
- Is everyone on your team telling the same story?
- Why you need to identify the problem domain
- Clarifying the real target buyer - the bully with the juice
- Painting the picture of the big hairy problem
- Talking about the solution versus features and benefits
- How to remind the buyer that they might feel trapped
- Three traps that leaders need to avoid
About our guest Bruce Scheer:
His company has been on Delloite's fastest growing private companies 3 years in a row. He has won multiple b2b campaign of the year awards. His book achieved Amazon #1 Best Sell status across 5 categories.
Get your copy of his books here https://inspireyourbuyers.com/books/
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Excerpts from this conversation with Bruce Scheer:
Just to recap on this whole thing, my brother, he sold me a boat that I didn't know I needed or wanted.
And I detested boats prior to that, thinking, you know, hey, they're polluting the world. And they're horrible. But you know, the first thing my brother did, he's not dumb. He targeted the right buyer, somebody that had money to buy that thing, but had a place to store it could maintain it.
You know, he knew more than I did. But he tired the he targeted the right buyer. And then from there, he helped spotlight that problem, that big hairy problem I had being stuck on an island, especially when an earthquake came and I'm in the pandemic, I'm already afraid and scared, I don't want to die and I want to protect my family. I need that boat.
That's enough of a reason that's a big problem that I needed to solve for. And he nailed that problem, name that problem and one word trapped. And then from there, once we had agreement there, then he moved forward then in remember, this is the next day where he started helping me paint a picture about, you know, this desired outcome that I was looking for.
He helped me envision that you know, talking about the fun, I'd have some adventure cruising around on a boat and then a happy wife. Very important, George, you know, we've been married 32 years and I don't want to break that track record. So her happiness is a key feature in my my happy life.
Then he took me to the solution. And he didn't sell me on a bunch of features, functions and benefits. And I normally see that mistake all the time. I didn't care. I all I cared about was not being trapped and having some fun and adventure with my wife and a happy wife.
So he sold me on the concept of boating effectively. And then all he did is let me know that hey, what he had to offer my dad's boat fit within there and what's going to help me and then he just laid out these clear next steps.
Of course I'm on my second boat now and I've been very close to getting the third but he got me on way, he all he exposed that unconsidered need that I had, in a way that...
he really planted that big problem and just took me all the way through and helped me with that buyer journey that set up next steps.
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Thursday Aug 31, 2023
Thursday Aug 31, 2023
What does a filmmaker and master storyteller say about AI?
How might you use AI to help you tell your stories?
Episode 170 (Richard is based in Los Angeles)
In this conversation with Richard Rosser we explore:
- Communicating through story telling
- How can AI be use to enhance your stories?
- How AI is similar to the Gutenberg Press
- AI doesn't replace you because you need to separate the gems from the crap
- Effective use of AI means we need to ask better questions (prompts)
- AI is simply another tool
- How to use AI with your marketing plan
- The importance of personalizing the AI responses
- How to use AI to speak the language of your audience
- What is Narrative Transport and how can you use it?
About our guest Richard Rosser:
Richard is a filmmaker and master storyteller. He worked on the hit TV shows: Gray's Anatomy, Chicago Med, This is Us and 24.
He is the author of "ChatGTP Simplified".
To learn more and get you copy of this book visit https://aiexplained.ai/
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Excerpts from this conversation with Richard Rosser:
The exciting part is the ability to create things that again, that we never conceptualize that we never thought of.
If we go back in past, George, let's go back way into the past to the 1450s. And imagine that we are storytellers in the oral tradition. Right so I may be a bard, you're a you're a minstrel we have a friend of ours is a is a court jester. And we tell stories or we sing stories, or we regale stories to the masses.
And all of a sudden, there's this new technology, the Gutenberg Press has just been invented. And there's this new technology, the printing press, and this new technology called books, that people won't need to hear stories anymore. They can just simply read them.
Well imagine the anxiety that all of those performers in those in those oral storytellers went through at that point in time about this new technology books that was going to put them out of business and replace them.
We'll think about now, how many ever years later, 600 years later, and now, how many people make their living as actors stand up comedians, singer, songwriters, performers, artists, there are so many ways of expressing ourselves other than just the written word, and a lot of those folks perform and perform in the oral tradition.
And so, to me, this is sort of a sea change moment again, just like the printing press, AI It is going to usher in a new, a new time that we as creators can use a new technology just similar to the internet and, and create amazing things.
And so so the folks who really embrace this technology and work to understand it, and how they can implement it can really benefit from it
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