How to Deliver a TED Talk

Watching the phenomenal performance of the world champion of public speaking was amazing. Getting to know him on a personal level inspired me to give a TED Talk.

As a TED fanatic and speaker, I often find myself analyzing the different presentation styles, techniques, and idiosyncrasies each speaker brings to his/her speech.

In June’s edition of Harvard Business Review, Chris Anderson, TED’s curator, shares five key to great presentation.

1.       Frame Your Story

According to Anderson, conceptualizing and framing is the most vital part of the preparation. Great TED talkers frame their talk as a story as if taking people on a journey. They follow a narrative structure that loosely follows a detective story where the speaker ignites the interest by presenting a vexing problem and describing the search for a solution. There’s an “a-ha” moment that comes around the conclusion.

TED talkers also restrain their desire and urge to cover all the ground – you simply cannot summarize your entire book or product within 18 minutes. Rather, you need to limit your scope of your talk and share vivid stories and examples. So, instead of sweeping broadly, dig deeper. Be specific and detailed. … Continue Reading

Adopting the Mindset of a CEO

Harvard Business Review recently featured an article entitled “How Managers Become Leaders.” The article’s main premise follows: Few leadership transitions are as challenging as the move from running a function to running an entire enterprise for the first time. The focus of leadership passages changes and require them to develop new skills and conceptual frameworks.

Michael Watkins, author of the best-selling “The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels,” remarks the transition into an enterprise leader requires shifts in the mindset of the leader. He proposes Seven Seismic Shifts. Here there are: … Continue Reading

Discovering the Leadership Algorithm of You

What sort of leader do you aspire to be? Perhaps someone like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Warren Buffet, or Mark Zuckerberg? A plethora of research and literature in leadership development are deluging bookstores claiming they have found the secret recipe of success by outlining key competencies that made leaders like Jobs, Branson, Buffer and Zuckerberg. We, often, blithely absorb these key findings and emulate their characteristics. However, does imitating these leadership characteristics reallyguarantee it will work for you?

MarcusBuckingham, renowned strength strategist and author of his latest book StandOut, discusses an unprecedented and fascinating approach to leadership development in the June 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review. This new approach is based on strategies content creators use on the web: personalization.

Let’s consider Facebook for example. Log on to your Facebook page right now. Look at the column on the right, and you will discover there are ads that are somehow uniquely relevant to you. One of these ads may include certain restaurants that are near your residence, high school or college related ads related with your graduation year, or companies that you are vying to get work for. How does Facebook know all this? Because you unwittingly told Facebook on your profile page. Much like Facebook asks the question “Who are you” first and then tailoring the advertisements based on your profile, leadership development needs to follow a personalized model that focuses on “who you are” – namely your singular attributes and strengths that make you stand out – instead of following a formulaic model in which you are being boxed into a one-size-fits-all model of becoming a leader. A majority of organizations have subscribed to this ‘best-practice leadership.’ … Continue Reading

Innovative Mentoring Strategies to Engage Gen Y

Throughout my university career, I have thoroughly enjoyed the privilege of serving as a human resources consultant for my undergraduate society and various student-runned clubs. In retrospect, not only have these invaluable experiences enabled me to widen my perspective, cultivate a client-focused mindset, but also it allowed me to further hone the core competencies indispensable for an effective HR professional.

I’d like to share my thoughts on a fascinating article I read in the May issue of Harvard Business Review on strategies for engaging top performers and Millennials.Check out: Mentoring Strategies (HBR Article)

Speaking of Millennials, I, too, happen to be one. The interesting part is that since I’ll be working as a HR professional, I have to think primarily in terms of the interests of the organization. At the same time, I happen to a Gen Y, so I find this ability of putting on multiple hats and switching them anytime and anywhere a key competency of a HR professional. Namely, HR desperately needs to understand the various perspective of the diverse needs of stakeholders in an organization to lend credence in whichever productivity-related initiative they propose. Unfortunately, this lack of credibility has partially contributed to the tainted image of HR in most industries. HR is currently experiencing ‘growing pains’  where HR is now becoming a strategic imperative where meaningful impact is displayed through people solutions.  … Continue Reading

HBR Article Highlights: Are You a High Potential?

Abstract:
Nearly all companies identify their high-potential managers. Processes for developing lists of high potentials vary, but the rising stars who make the grade are remarkably similar in their core characteristics and behaviors. In a sense, they share a basic anatomy.

The constitution of a high potential includes four intangible factors: a drive to excel, a catalytic learning capability, an enterprising spirit, and dynamic sensors that detect opportunities and obstacles. The best exemplars of the high-potential profile exhibit all four in spades.

Getting onto a high-potential list is extremely desirable, but it can demand great sacrifice. And the consequences of falling off the rolls after having been given the honor can be substantial and permanent. … Continue Reading