Editor's Note: This is a guest post by BrillianceInc.

Change for Good

As an Executive Coach, my job is to help people change for good. Not everyone is ready for such a project.  Some people just want everyone around them to change instead. And others worry that if they change their behaviors, they’ll come off as inauthentic—a fake. Truth is, if you’re unable to adapt your approach to people and situations, your relationships will suffer and your career will hit a wall.

Authenticity Misunderstood

Authenticity is about being real…not rigid.  That is, it’s not about stubbornly holding on to valued personality traits—or even beliefs—that aren’t working. The most successful leaders adapt to people and situations gracefully and appropriately.

Authentically Adaptive

I once had the pleasure of working for an inspiring leader who made the difficult transition from mid-level manager to C-suite executive.  Three of his most prized personal qualities were:

• Passionate
• Gregarious
• Intelligent

Culled while growing up in the Middle-East, and honed for business in New York City, these traits were part of a mixture that propelled him to success. It wasn’t until he landed a job in Northern California, in a company culture known for being ‘nice’ and agreeable, that he rain into trouble.

With the help of a coach, he came to quickly see that people were misunderstanding his intent. People thought he was intimidating, closed-minded, and a poor listener. His communication style was masking qualities and values such as being open to influence and deep care for others. He could have claimed that these traits were “part of his DNA,” but he cared more about being effective than being rigidly right.

You Are Bigger than Your Personality

Contrary to what you might have heard, your MBTI, DiSC – or any other personality inventory score—is not etched in stone, and is certainly not an excuse for poor adaptability. You are responsible for your beliefs, values, and behaviors. And you can change them.

Assess Yourself

Authenticity requires a deep understanding of yourself. Adaptability requires a deep understanding of others: what they need and how you affect them.

Before you can make any changes, you must first get an objective assessment of what is and isn’t working. Here’s one way:

1. Make a list of valued traits that best describe you.

2. Find someone you respect, who can be objective and honest with you. If you don’t have such a person, consider using a neutral party like a coach.

3. Ask this neutral person: When does this quality work well? When does it undermine me?

For example, let’s assume you describe yourself as passionate. They might tell you that this trait:

• Works well when you devote passion to developing your team.
• Undermines you when you devote passion to winning an argument.

Authentic Advice From an Undercover FBI Agent

Still doubt whether you can be authentic and adaptive at once? This post was inspired by LaRay Quy, who wrote 5 Ways to become a more authentic leader. I suspect that if she can figure out how to call up her authentic self while serving as an undercover FBI agent, we normal folk can too.

“People can spot inauthenticity from fifty paces. Show up as yourself consistently. Unless of course, you are a jackass.”

- Susan Scott, Fierce Leadership

photo credit: michealcardus

More:  Presentation Style, Authenticity in Crisis, Just Be Yourself

I came across this post at Presentation Zen – Garr Reynold's awesome blog.  The post is from 2007 and the article was suggesting that the disappearance of PowerPoint might be upon us but here on the dawn of 2012, it's still going strong.

Last week an article appearing in The Sydney Morning Herald entitled Researcher points finger at PowerPoint generated quite a stir. The article highlighted findings by researchers from the University of New South Wales, including John Sweller who developed the Cognitive Load Theory back in the '80s. One of the findings mentioned in the article: it is more difficult to process information if it is coming at you both verbally and in written form at the same time. Since people can not read and listen well at the same time, the reporter suggested, then this may mean "the death of the PowerPoint presentation." The assumption being (apparently) that a presentation made with the aid of slideware such as PowerPoint or Keynote necessarily includes lines of text projected on a screen that mirror the spoken word of the presenter.

The article generated so much attention due in part to this quote by Professor Sweller:

"The use of the PowerPoint presentation has been a disaster. It should be ditched."

— John Sweller

Professor Sweller's comment makes a provocative headline and adds to the long list of professionals and researchers deriding the PowerPoint tool. I have added the professor's quote to my talks on the Presentation Zen approach. Two versions of the slide appear below.

Is PowerPoint a method?
I am assuming that what Professor Sweller means is that the way PowerPoint is used should be ditched, not the tool itself. Suggesting we abandon PowerPoint because it's often (usually?) misused and abused to produce awful presentation visuals is like saying we should dump the idea of 24-hour cable news because so much of it is vacuous rubbish. But whether we’re talking about bad TV or boring presentations, shouldn't we blame the content producers not the content medium? When people rail against PowerPoint they seem to be saying that PowerPoint is a method, and a flawed method at that. But is PowerPoint itself really a "method"? In a 2004 interview with Cliff Atkinson, Multimedia Learning author Richard Mayer said this:

"I do not think it makes sense to refer to PowerPoint as a method. Instead… PowerPoint is a medium that can be used effectively — that is, with effective design methods — or ineffectively, that is with ineffective design methods. We would not necessarily say that books are rarely a good method, because books can be designed using effective or ineffective methods."

— Richard Mayer

Continued at Presentation Zen

photo credit: mp_eds

Editor's Note: This is a guest post by our partners, BrillianceInc

Dr. Jekyll

Most of us like to think we’re good people and that, if put in an unethical or dangerous situation, we’d do the right, noble thing. We claim assuredly that if given power, we’d wield it fairly; or that we’d call the police if we saw someone getting abused.

Perhaps.

But study after troubling study shows that the majority of us, when put in certain difficult circumstances, would act in ways we’d later be ashamed of. The truth is, while on the fringes of society we can talk about saints and sociopaths, we are all capable of good and evil.

Mr. Hyde

I had the pleasure of listening to Philip Zimbardo at a recent Neuroleadership Conference. Since then, I’ve been thinking a lot about good and evil. While you may not recognize his name, you’re probably familiar with his infamous 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment where normal, healthy people cast as guards became sadistic authoritarians, while those cast as prisoners became hopeless and traumatized. The 2-week simulation experiment was cut short after just 6 days.

People aren’t born heroes. Our brains run on a 100,000-year-old operating that errs on the side of self-protection and suspicion. Scientists literally refer to it as negativity bias. Put in a threatening situation, our brain makes saving ourselves top priority.

While it may not be our default nature to act in others’ best interest, we can retrain ourselves. We can build a heroic brain and become the person we’d like to be — the person we claim to be. And when we act heroically, we improve our home environment, work environment, and communities. In essence, we improve the lives of everyone we touch, including our own.

Here are some essential hero-building steps:

Building Heroic Muscles

1. First: acknowledge your fallibility. Ignoring our dark self self doesn’t make it go away. It just hides until one day in a weak moment it inconveniently emerges (like Mel Gibson getting caught in a drunken, racist rant, or a sanctimonious AWOL politician found Tango-ing with his mistress in Argentina). It doesn’t do us any good to label deeds, thoughts, or people as evil. Rather, know that any person is capable of making bad choices that can create horrible irreversible ripples.

2. Second, notice your ripple. Done anything you’re not proud of? Maybe you raised your voice at your child, or rolled your eyes in a meeting. Or maybe you just forgot to thank someone for their efforts. Stop shaming yourself (or making excuses) and get to work by first apologizing, and then doing better.

3. Third: start practicing small acts of kindness. You become what you practice. Put a Tibetan monk in an MRI, and you’ll see a brain that’s trained to tilt heavily toward compassion and kindness. But you don’t have to meditate to re-train your brain. And you don’t have to be anyone special to be a hero. We often think of heroes as extraordinary people doing big things. But, as Zimbardo explains, heroes are ordinary people acting selflessly to protect or improve the lives of others. Heroes take positive action, where others stand by and justify their inaction.

Here are some small actions that can go a long way toward improving others’ lives:

- Listen to someone without judgment.

- Compliment someone you care about (without expecting anything in return).

- Compliment a stranger (without expecting anything in return).

- Ask the cashier how her day is going…then listen.

- Give your change to someone in need.

- Talk to the shy person at the holiday party.

- When talk about someone turns negative, instead of piling on, say something kind.

- Stop and give a confused tourist directions.

- Listen to your partner, your child, your mother –anyone you think you know well — with genuine curiosity and wonder.

- Instead of getting angry or blaming someone at work when something fails, assume good intent, pick up the phone or walk over to them, and seek to understand their point of view.

- If you like to talk, keep your views to yourself in your next meeting and ask others for their opinions. Then listen without interrupting.

- Thank someone.

- Apologize.

- Forgive someone you’ve held a grudge against.

- Forgive yourself.

- Admit your mistakes.

- Acknowledge your weaknesses.

- For every holiday gift you purchase, add a small (or big) donation to a trusted charity like Oxfam who will make the most of your gift so that it improves lives.

Ta-Da, Brilliance!

With practice, you’ll break free of your default inertia and find that acting positively comes naturally. You also run a serious risk of creating an engaging, trusting work environment where people are free to speak and act without fear.

— — — — —

Quotes

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.

But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.

And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

— — — — —

“With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.”

- Joe Paterno

— — — — —

Legend

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life.

“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied,

“The one you feed.”

Video:

Phil Zimbardo talks about his new mission: The Heroic Imagination Project

Check out our related post: How to Tell if You Work in a Fear Ridden Environment with to-do list for the courageous manager

We’d love to hear from you!

- What small gesture has made a positive difference in your life?

- Which small act will you begin taking today?

- What other small heroic acts do you recommend?

Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came to oppose House Joint Resolution 6 which would end civil unions in Iowa.

Once a quarter The Henderson Group holds "By Invitation Only" workshops in San Francisco, led by our VP of Services, Terry Gault.  Upcoming Dates:

Executive Communicator

Dec. 8 – 9, 2011 in San Francisco

Jan. 26 – 27, 2012 in San Mateo

Participants learn:

Executive Presence – How To:

• Make the right first impression
• Empathize with functional executives according to their diverse business drivers
• Establish rapport with superiors and their superiors

Executive Communication – How To:

• Assess group dynamics quickly and cultivate support
• Modify dialog style according to each executive
• Anticipate and navigate around “political landmines”
• ”Think on your feet”and handle probing questions and objections effectively

Executive Presentation – How To:

• Prepare effectively by holding the “meeting before the meeting”
• Open and close presentations with impact
• Deliver the right amount of detail without getting bogged down
• Maintain the engagement of a busy executive audience
• Use metaphor to make complex concepts easy to understand
• Avoid presentation pitfalls and “career limiting moves”
• Influence executive decisions to drive desired business outcomes

"This course exceeded my expectations, and I found several elements of extreme value.   The most beneficial aspect was the quadruple-barrel feedback circle — self-assessment, peer assessment, executive assessment and presentation expert assessment. I also compliment the feedback quality of the instructors. The powerful combination of the executives, and communicator expert cannot be overstated.  Further, the video provides an immensely rich and relevant tool for participants to tie it all together.  I thought this was fantastic."

Joe Hasselwander, Senior Digital Marketing Professional

Register for Executive Communicator

Art of Presentation

Feb. 2 – 3, 2012 in San Francisco

The results of this work:

• Competently present ideas and information to groups of people
• Energize and persuade audiences using stories and metaphors
• Effectively communicate with peers, superiors and customers
• Move business objectives forward by quickly engaging with customers and colleagues and creating influence.

Specific Skills Mastered:

• Using voice, gesture, movement, presentation structure, stories and metaphor for powerful presentations
• Helping audiences learn through use of examples, associations and images
• Turning fear into excitement through creative visualization
• Structuring presentations for maximum impact
• Engaging listeners and increasing audience attention span.

“After one session with The Henderson Group, I immediately rolled out their work throughout the EMC Sales Organization.”

National VP of Productivity, EMC Corporation

Register for Art of Presentation

by Terry Gault

It's the nightmare scenario for many people.  You are on the spot – speaking in front of an important audience: peers, executives or high-powered customers.  Your mind goes blank.  You hear deafening silence as audience members look away in embarrassment.  You stammer out a soul-crushing apology, "Sorry.  I lost my place" as you madly fumble through the gibberish notes you thought might save you in such an eventuality.

Rick Perry demonstrated it on a big stage – national television.  And, of course, every major news outlet jumped on the story.

This blog post offers a process you can use in moments like these when you go blank or something goes awry: your phone rings during your own presentation, the wrong slide pops up, the projector suddenly gives you the Blue Screen of Death, etc.  These have all happened to me, by the way.  In those moments, it's easy to descend into the hell of panic and paranoia.  But it's not the only choice and it's certainly the least effective.

To Perry's credit, once he realized that he was not going to be able to remember, his facial expression seemed pretty relaxed.  He smiled at himself and said, "Oops" with obvious good humor.

Another piece of advice that can prevent or mitigate these moments is to type up your notes in an outline fashion with major points, not a "word for word" script.  Keep your notes handy and use 14 pitch or larger font so that you can easily read them.

Situate the notes near a glass or bottle of water.  If you do go blank, simply:
1) Pick up the water, glancing at your notes as you do so.
2) Drink the water, as you gather your thoughts and refocus your energy.
3) Set down the water, glancing once more at your notes, if needed.
4) Carry on as if the entire act of drinking was carefully planned and choreographed from the get go.

In 99% of cases, the audience will be none the wiser and you will feel victorious for successfully and gracefully dealing with a real nightmare scenario.

Press Democrat Article

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. — Rick Perry says he "stepped in it" when he couldn't remember the third federal department he would abolish if elected, but insisted the debate blunder wouldn't force him out of the Republican presidential field.

"Oh, shoot, no," Perry told The Associated Press on Thursday morning, the day after making the error during a GOP debate. Asked whether his campaign, which is struggling to regain traction, could survive, Perry replied: "This ain't a day for quitting nothing."

Perry on Letterman – Top Ten Excuses

photo credit: eschipul

We now live in a world where information is potentially unlimited. Information is cheap, but meaning is expensive. Where is the meaning? Only human beings can tell you where it is. We're extracting meaning from our minds and our own lives.  -George Dyson

Great article on Information Graphics in Context and the visual vocabulary of storytelling from The Atlantic!

photo credit: vancouverfilmschool

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers …

I want to share this terrific video, and my "why".

When clients learn that I have a background in the theater and entertainment industry, they sometimes ask, "Do you miss it?"

Over 73% of SAG members had earnings of less than $5,000 a year.

One-quarter of the members earned between $1 and $1,000.

30% of the membership had no earnings at all.

Only 12% of SAG members earned more than $20,000.

If I set aside the question of remuneration, what I consider is what I value about the two different experiences.

That is why I do this work.  I suspect that is much the same for my partners in this business.

by Terry Gault

The title alone grabbed my attention.  When I saw the clip and learned it was directed by Martin Scorcese, I was determined to see this movie.

Enjoy the trailers!

Official Site

Netflix DVD

Amazon DVD Order