This week in the world’s #1 newsletter on leadership communication:

• Your 10 Most Pressing Questions, Answered
• On the Show: Steal the Guide I've Given 300+ CEOs​

Your 10 Most Pressing Questions, Answered

Hi Reader,

Thanks so much for sending me your most pressing questions following last week’s email. Please keep them coming!

Let me answer ten that I know many of you have:

1/ What do you think about the 10,000 hour rule when it comes to speaking? How can I create moments or environments to hit 10,000 hours faster? (Nick)

You don’t need 10,000 hours to become a top 1% communicator. Extreme transformations are real. I see them every month.

If you want to become an elite communicator, record yourself (hard on the ego at first but super effective), learn story structures to organize your thinking, ramp up the energy and be truly present with your audience. Here’s the complete blueprint.

2/ How can I build, transmit and maintain emotions? (Alexandru)

Ask yourself what emotion you want in your audience, then pick a matching structure. For instance, if you want your audience to be excited, choose “Excite – Disturb – Assure” to package your idea.

The right words are important, but people also need to feel your energy and excitement. Since you may not know how you come across, practice your delivery with a camera, coach or friend.

This puts you ahead of almost anyone, as most people in business simply ask “what do I want my audience to know” instead of “what do I want my audience to know, feel and do“.

3/ How do I find the story, make it compelling and then use the correct tone? (Vasuben)

Start with the objective. If you want to motivate your team to find more customers, tell a compelling customer story. If you want to inspire them, share your vision of how you can create a better future together. Ad hoc storytelling is hard, so write them down, test and refine them.

Check out my storytelling guide for the exact frameworks and how to use them.

4/ How do I best present in a panel discussion? (Barb D)

​You find my playbook for panel success here. (I am currently revisiting it as I prepare for a panel in London later this month.)

5/ I come out of networking events with many contacts but absolutely exhausted. Any tips on how to network but not become exhausted? (Chelsea)

In my experience, the mental exhaustion comes from us talking to people for too long. We think it's polite to hang in the conversation a little longer, or don't know how to extract ourselves.

I find that simple works best: “It was nice meeting you. I will send you the document tomorrow as discussed.”

6/ How can I engage my audience in the first minutes of a presentation? (Moses)

Avoid boring openings like “hello, it is nice to be here” – it signals to the audience that your presentation is safe to ignore. Instead, use a killer opening. I share my favorites in this short video.

7/ How can I deal with difficult people and difficult conversations? (Lucy)

This is so important for our success and well-being! I share 20 Power Phrases for difficult conversations here, and give a plan for how you can deal with difficult people here.​

It’s also worth checking out my conversations with Thomas Erikson (“Surrounded by Idiots”) and with Jon Levy where we cover how to deal with toxic people and dark personality types at work.

8/ How do we help people become better communicators without teaching them to perform the appearance of good communication? (Barb T)

The job of a modern leader is not to be raw and unfiltered – nor is it to put on a performance. It is to be real and intentional to bring clarity, not distraction.

Authenticity is a middle point between two failure modes: Overcontrolled fakeness and unfiltered communication that lacks control. I break it down for you here.​

9/ Do you have any recommendations on how to shift the dialogue within a company to change the way we communicate? This would greatly reduce organizational stress and challenges. (Patrick)

Many companies are stuck in the past when it comes to communication. Let’s change that. First, make an emotional argument for change (= it’s painful and doesn’t work for anyone anymore), then make a financial argument for change.

Make sure you reassure the hierarchy that better communication leads to better outcomes, not a loss of control, if you create a Push-Pull-Exchange system.

10/ The communication in our team feels chaotic, and we waste a lot of time chasing. Anything we can do to reduce the friction? (Micha)

Absolutely – I just released this brand new video where I share a simple tool that can save your team hours every week. ⬇️

ON THE SHOW

Steal the Guide I've Given 300+ CEOs

▶️ Episode 341 on YouTube, Spotify or Apple.

Does your team know the best channel to reach you? What time you'll actually respond? What you need to make a decision?

In this short video, I walk you through the seven points of my How to Work With Me Guide that's helped over 300 CEOs take the guesswork out of their teams.

It takes just five minutes to create the guide, and will give everyone hours back every week. If communication feels chaotic in your team or company, this is the simplest fix.

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Have an inspired weekend,

Oliver

Eo Ipso Communications GmbH

c/o Mindspace

Uhlandstraße 32, 10719 Berlin

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