Contents
Attack Your Day!: Before It Attacks You
Chapter 1 Activities Rule! Not the Clock
Don’t Be a Slave to Time
Chapter 2 Color Your Choices
The Art of Choosing and Refusing
Chapter 3 Carry Your Time in Buckets
Fine-Tune Your Tools
Bucket One—The Monthly Calendar
The Most Important Appointment
Bucket Two—The Catch-All Bucket
Bucket Five—The Fingertip Data Bucket
Bucket Six—The Communication Bucket
Chapter 4 Arrange Your Plate
Think Inside the Box
Chapter 5 Don’t Just Execute, Flexicute!
Learn to Turn on a Dime
The Newest and Best Survival Skill
Chapter 6 The Hocus Pocus of Focus
Make Time-Wasters Disappear
Self-Imposed, Internally Motivated Focus Breakers
System-Imposed, External Focus Breakers
Taking Flight!: Master the DISC Styles to Transform Your Career, Your Relationships...Your Life
Part I: Taking Flight! The Fable
Chapter 6 If a Tree Falls in the Forest...
Go Online to Discover Your Style
The History and Mystery of the Four Styles
Seven Transformative DISC Principles
Part III: Applying the DISC Styles in Your Life
Steps for Reaching Your Highest Potential
DISC for Selecting an Educational and Career Path
Tapping the Power of Style in Teams
DISC for Teaching and Coaching
Section I Content: The Art of Telling Your Story
A Lesson from Professional Writers
3. How Long Should a Presentation Last?
Consider All the Possibilities—Before You Present
First Things First, Last Things Last
Leave Pointlessness to Woody Allen
The Story You Tell Versus the Slides You Show
...And Other Meaningless Words
16. Rupert Murdoch’s 90% Apology
17. Winning and Losing the World Cup
18. John Doerr’s “Chalk” Talks
Three Best Practices from a Top Venture Capitalist
19. Vinod Khosla’s Cardinal Rule
“Message Sent Is Not the Same as Message Received”
“...But they’re just not that into you.”
Establish Your First and Last Sentences
27. Illusion of the First Time
28. In Praise of Analogies and Examples
29. Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama
30. Aristotle: The First Salesman
Section II Graphics: How to Design PowerPoint Slides Effectively
31. Vinod Khosla’s Five-Second Rule
A Sanity Check for Every Presentation
32. Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the Water
35. Obama Makes a PowerPoint Point
The State of the Union and Presentations
A Presentation Lesson from Akira Kurosawa
37. PowerPoint and Movie Stunts
Use Graphics to Create Continuity
42. Why Use PowerPoint at All?
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
45. No More Mind-Numbing Number Slides
Five Easy Steps to Bring Your Presentation to Life
Section III Delivery Skills: Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Presentation Advice from Composers and Musicians
A Close Cousin of Writer’s Block
49. Swimming Lessons and Presentations
51. “What do I do with my hands?”
A Simple Approach to Gesturing
The Rise and Fall of Rick Perry
Section IV: How to Handle Tough Questions
58. Listening and Laughing with Johnny Carson
Late Night Lessons for Presenters
60. How to Deal with a Direct Attack
“That was certainly a downer!”
61. No Such Thing as a Stupid Question
62. The Patronizing Paraphrase
Trying to Channel Bill Clinton
You Must Respond to All Questions
Section V Special Presentations
66. Speak Crisply and Eliminate Mumbling
67. How to Develop a Richer Voice
68. How to Deliver a Scripted Speech
69. Speaking to an Audience of a Thousand
70. How to Beat the Demo Demons
71. Bring Your Panel Discussion to Life
73. How to Interview Like a Television Anchorperson
74. Ten Best Practices for the IPO Road Show
The Truth About: Getting the Best from People
PART I The Truth About Employee Engagement
Truth 1 You don’t need the carrot or the stick
Truth 2 You have direct influence over your employees’ passion quotient
Truth 3 You get the best by giving the best
Truth 4 It’s not money that motivates
Truth 5 Employment engagement isn’t for sissies
Truth 6 Real engagement gains happen after survey scores come in
PART II The Truth About Yourself
Truth 7 Your behaviors are your brand
Truth 8 You can’t give what you don’t have
Truth 9 “Best” doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone
Truth 10 Think you’re a great leader? Think again
Truth 11 You could be your own worst employee
Truth 12 Visionary or beat cop? Your choice
Truth 13 Your health may be compromising your leadership effectiveness
Truth 14 You don’t have to be perfect
Truth 15 Your career can recover from an engagement hit
PART III The Truth About Engaged Cultures
Truth 16 Employee happiness is serious business
Truth 17 Great leaders make their people cry
Truth 18 Better questions lead to better answers
Truth 19 Individual passion builds a passion-fueled customer service culture
Truth 20 Authentic is better than clever
Truth 21 Retention begins with hello
Truth 22 The bad will do you good
Truth 23 Your biggest complainer may be your best supporter
Truth 24 You can sell an unpopular decision
Truth 26 Nobody cares if you don’t mean to be mean
Truth 27 Controlling your temper is a labor-saving device
Truth 28 There is no “but” in “I’m sorry”
PART IV The Truth About Motivation
Truth 29 Engagement happens one person at a time
Truth 30 If you’re a manager, you’re a career coach
Truth 31 The candidates you’re seeking may not be the ones you need
Truth 32 Ask for cheese—you might get the moon
Truth 33 You lead better when you get off your pedestal
Truth 34 Trust is your strongest persuasion tool
Truth 35 If they aren’t buying it, they aren’t doing it
Truth 36 Overselling an opportunity can cost you precious talent
Truth 37 Focusing on what’s right can help solve what’s wrong
Truth 38 High performers are motivated by a piece of the action
Truth 39 All the generations want the same thing
PART V The Truth About Performance
Truth 40 Compassion promotes performance
Truth 41 A hot star can brighten your whole team
Truth 42 B players are your A team
Truth 43 High performers have enough coffee mugs
Truth 44 Discipline deepens engagement
Truth 45 You don’t have to inherit the problem employees
Truth 46 Performance appraisals are really about you
Truth 47 New hires can inspire current employees
Truth 48 Terminations are an engagement tool
PART VI The Truth About Creativity
Truth 49 Innovation begins with y-e-s
Truth 50 Everyone can be creative
Truth 51 You stand between inspiration and implementation
Truth 52 Failures promote progress
Truth 53 People don’t quit their bosses, they quit their colleagues
Truth 54 Extreme pressure kills inspired performance
Truth 55 Creativity is a balancing act
PART VII The Truth About Communication
Truth 56 Open questions ignite inspiring answers
Truth 57 Serving your employees means managing your boss
Truth 58 Bad news is good news
Truth 59 Trivial conversations are essential
Truth 60 The way you listen speaks volumes
Truth 62 Engaged employees need to know more
PART VIII The Truth About Teams
Truth 63 Absence makes the employee happier
Truth 64 Your team has untapped talent
Truth 65 People need to fight their own battles
Truth 66 Games don’t build teams
Truth 68 Your team can lead you to greatness