January 26, 2007
Great New Book from Marshall Goldsmith
Just got through reading the book from Marshall Goldsmith, "What Got You Here Won't Get You There", after reading the Business Week article (Jan 8 issue). In the book, Goldsmith outlines annoying habits that can keep people from achieving all that they want. I wish that I wasn't guilty of all of these at some point, even today, but he reminds me of what I should be doing versus what I am doing.
I'll admit I'm lucky-I've got the best gig in the business, but Dr. Goldsmith reminds me of concrete strategies that can help improve my effectiveness in my role here at the Center.
Read the article, and check out two free chapters he has shared online. I've also included a link to the "playbook" in Business Week and then read the book.
Posted by chitch at 11:43 AM | Comments (2)
December 31, 2006
Ram Charan's Eight Secrets for Executive Leadership
I just finished reading Ram Charan's article from his forthcoming book, "Know-How: The Eight Skills that Separate People who Perform from Those Who Don't". This article from Optimize Magazine gives leaders from all sectors (non-profit, public corporations, and service organizations like education) an interesting and worthwhile model for building leadership. Charan has written numerous articles and books and I find them all to be very useful and practical.
Can't wait to read the entire book when it comes out. His work is well worth your time.
Posted by chitch at 5:13 AM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2006
Escaping from PowerPoint Purgatory
I'm guilty of creating more than my share of PowerPoint slides in my work in teaching management and leadership skills. I always think that the slides are important and serve as a good teaching tool and reference for my clients. Some recent reading I have done has caused me to rethink the number of slides I create and what I put on them.
One rule I've worked hard to apply is no more than 10 words per slide. As one client told me-if you're going to simply read the slide, just email them to me and save me the time.
Another practice I've been working on is to use a picture or graphic as the slide and put my talking points in the notes section of the slides-I can then use the notes as reminders (like the old 3x5 cards) and have the visual as the key that clients see.
Picked up a book, by Cliff Atkinson, entitled Beyond Bullet Points that I'm going to read and see if I can get some more ideas to share.
Check it out. He uses a Hollywood analogy for how to frame the storyboard view.
Now as to whether what I learn in the book will translate to more effective presentions... I'll let you know.
Posted by chitch at 8:52 PM | Comments (1)