An Alternative to Telling Jokes

Should you begin a speech or presentation with a joke?  No--unless you're very good at telling jokes.  And most people, myself included, aren't good at this.

Starting with humor is almost always a good idea, but I strongly recommend an alternative:  Observational Humor, which I define as developing and delivering funny lines about what's going on around you.

You must understand two humor principles.  The first is that humor is aways about connections.  This involves connections between ideas or words:  How are they similar?  How are they different?

The other principle is that humor is always about surprise.  We're moving in one direction, and then we surprise everyone by going off in another direction.

You find ideas for observational humor in at least three areas.  One is what other people say and do  Someone says or does something that isn't in itself funny, but you make it funny by connecting it to something else. 

Another is current events.  A few months ago, if you forgot to say or do something, you could get a laugh by saying, "I'm having a Rick Perry moment," referring to the presidential candidate whose mind went totally blank during a debate.

A third area is the environment--the room is too cold, or too hot, or noisy.  Someone's cell phone keeps going off.  The lights go out, the projector breaks down.  All of these can be sources for funny lines.

The process is pretty simple.  At the meeting where you're presenting, you simply observe and take notes about what's going on before your presentation.  Then look for connections, and come up with a few funny lines.

Observational humor is a great alternative to telling jokes.  A great observational humor resource:  Humor Power Newsletter by John Kinde at http://www.humorpower.com/

3 Trends, 4 Questions for Developing Innovative Strategies

Leadership Unlimited
A Monthly Column by Terry Wall
February 2012: 3 Trends, 4 Questions for Developing Innovative
Strategies

How do you develop innovative strategies that secure your
position and success in the market place?

You look at trends, and then ask questions about how
those trends, projected into the future, could affect your
business.

Many types of trends comprise the landscape, including
politics, geography, and the world order, just to name a few.
Here are three you might consider:

Demographics: The next decade promises massive growth of the
senior population. And, people are relocating much less than
before.

Technology: Mobile technology, and the blending of multiple
technologies for retrieving or disseminating information.

Society: In 1960, 72% of all adults ages 18 and older were
married; today just 51% are. (I’m in trouble if for
Valentine’s Day my wife signs me up for eharmony.com.)

Those are just three categories of trends. And I’ve identified
only one or two trends in each category. But you get the idea.
You have to determine which trends affect your business.

After looking at a trend, you ask 4 questions: 1) What affect
will this have on the products and services I produce? 2) What
affect will it have on how I deliver those products and
services? 3) What products and services should I develop for
the future? 4) What markets should I target?

Let’s look at two examples.

Large, international company: After looking at many global
trends, an international company is introducing a new product
this year. It’s been in the works for several years, and
they’ve invested millions of dollars in this product. It’s a
bold move in an innovative strategy, and they realize the risks
involved.

But the global landscape, and the changing trends that will
influence that landscape, require a bold move if they want to
maintain the top position in a very competitive industry.

Small Business: My friend Tom Falco is in the residential
construction industry. He scanned the industry landscape, and
saw that people aren’t buying new houses because they can’t
sell their existing homes because of falling home prices.

Or they don’t have money to buy a new house. Others, because
of the shaky, uncertain economy, don’t feel comfortable taking
the risk of buying a new house.

Regardless of why, they’re not buying new homes. That’s the
trend.

So Tom asked himself, “What can I do to get more business?” He
decided to focus on home improvement, and found that people who
can’t move at least want to improve the house they’re in.

Tom now focuses on remodeling existing houses—installing new
windows, putting that new roof on, or building a new
addition, of finishing that basement. It’s not the same as
building new houses, but it will do until the industry picks
up.

Look at trends, then ask the right questions.

What trends are you looking at? What innovative strategies
will you use to take advantage of those trends?

Until next edition, keep leading the way!

Copyright (C) 2012 by Terry Wall

Air Traffic Control Chatter, and Why I Got an iPhone

Ok, ok, I finally got an iPhone. 

And it wasn't so I can listen to Air Traffic Controllers talk to pilots, although the ability to do that did come up.  More on that later.

Some of you may remember that in late 2010 I wrote about why I didn't want an iPhone.  What changed my mind was my visit to Las Vegas last week, and conversations with my brother, Kevin, who insisted that I needed an iPhone.

Kevin emphasized all the cool apps, but I'm not into those.  What sold me was Kevin's insistance that it's just more professional to have a smart phone when you're out in public. 

He said my clients expect me to be up to date with technology, especially since they're probably sending me emails from their smart phones.  He's right.  The CEO who brought be to Las Vegas to do the keynote did try to email me right before I showed up, and I didn't get it till checking my email on Kevin's computer the next day.

Just having the iPhone for that is enough justification.

I just don't want to get so attached that I'm always checking my email.  While I was in the airport waiting for my flight home, I watched a mother and her teenaged daughter sitting side-by-side, not talking, but working their smart phones.  For an hour.  I don't want to get that plugged into the technology.

Now for the Air Traffic Control app.  Kevin told me he had heard my flight land thru this app, so he didn't have to rely on the airlines website, which he says is often not accurate.  So we listed to some chatter at the Vegas Airport:

Tower:  Delta 123, you'll have to wait for that Chester 349 to get out of the way.

Delta 123:  Uh, I don't see Chester 349.

Tower:  What?  I..ahh...was just seeing if you're paying attention.  It's actaully  a Continental 349 to look out for...

Kevin and I just looked at each other.  "Wow," I said, "I'd rather NOT hear this stuff...."

On a High From High-Wire Act in Vegas

I was in Las Vegas this week, doing a keynote speech for a client.  A keynote gives me a special sort of high, different from anything else I do as a consultant.  One reason is that an hour-long speech requires a much higher energy level than you can maintain for a longer workshop.  It's more intense.

That short time frame also leaves you no margin for error, which is why a keynote's like walking a tightrope in a high-wire act.  If for some reason you get off to a bad start, you have so little time to recover and make it up.  This is quite different from a half-day or all-day workshop.  In a keynote, you must nail it from the start.

The title of the keynote was, "Embracing Change," and it was for a company that's moving in a new direction.  So the point of my speech was to get their international executives motivated, energized, and excited about the new strategy.

An unusual aspect of this keynote was that my keynote was pretty much a surprise to all but two of the people.  The CEO has never had someone from the outside come in to do a keynote, and she wanted her executives to be surprised.  So it was somewhat of a stealth keynote. 

Because of the surprise element, I couldn't interview several participants in advance, like I'd normally do. Such interviews provide a lot of information about what's going on in the organization, and allow me to customize my keynote to their needs.

But since I could talk only to the CEO and one other person, I was flying blind to a certain extent.  That challenge added to the "high-wire" aspect of this keynote.  They were a great group, and everyone seemed to enjoy the keynote.

Another reason for the "high" is that I got to visit my brother, Kevin.  He just moved to Vegas in November, and since we haven't lived in the same part of the country for over 20 years, we don't see each other as often as we'd like.  Spending time with Kevin was an added treat.

And the weather was nice, too.  But it's always good to get back home!