“I won’t let fear of a possible ‘no’ interfere with my telling,” writes Peter Guber in his terrific book Tell to Win about how we can use storytelling to achieve our business goals.

The trick is not to eliminate fear, but to use it.  We channel the adrenaline instead of resisting it.

Philosopher Brian Johnson tells us courage is not the absence of fear, but being aware of fear and … continue reading

If we tell a story we don’t believe in, our audience will sense it immediately.

Like intention, authenticity and energy can’t be faked.  

This week we are looking at how to best deliver our message utilizing best practices from Tell to Win, Peter Guber‘s book about storytelling.  Peter quotes Williams College professor George Marcus who has studied the role of unspoken communication in the success and failure of … continue reading

If we want to “tell to win,” we must turn our audience into active participants, not just passengers.  

This was the lesson we looked at yesterday from Tell to Win, Peter Guber‘s brilliant book on storytelling.

When they are active participants, they own it, they act on it, and then they tell it forward.  

Today we take a master class on putting this idea into action from illusionist … continue reading

Powerpoint.

How do we feel when someone’s presentation consists of them reading their Powerpoint slides?

Bored to tears.

“You could have mailed it to me,'” says presentation expert Jerry Weissman. His clients are typically financiers charged with raising hundreds of millions of dollars by persuading institutional investors to make large investments.

Jerry’s advice?

“You are the story… The presenter is the story.”

“Whatever your business,” writes entertainment mogul Peter … continue reading

Movie producer Peter Guber paused for a moment outside the closed door of Warner Bros. CEO Terry Semel‘s office. 

Peter was ready to start filming Gorillas in the Mist, a project he had invested three years in developing, a true story about the renowned primatologist Dian Fossey, who studied, lived among, and ultimately died to protect the last surviving silverback mountain gorillas.   

Peter had heard through the … continue reading

At PCI, do we publish publications?  Or, do we inspire dreams and transform lives?

Both, actually.

PCI turns 100 this year and this week we are looking at five key lessons we’ve learned about building an enduring organization.  So far, we’ve explored the power of shared values, focusing on becoming a learning organization, leading with a servant’s heart, and putting forth a vision.  Our fifth and final learning is … continue reading

Last Monday, we celebrated the birthday of one of my favorite Americans, Martin Luther King, Jr.  Fifty years later, his “I have a dream speech” continues to inspire us toward a better future, to become a better country.

As leaders, we should take note: vision is powerful, one of the most powerful tools in our leadership tool belt.  

This week we’re exploring five lessons from PCI ‘s 100 years which … continue reading

There’s an expression I like: the day you stop learning is the day you start dying.  That can happen when we are 17.  Or 97.

This week we’re exploring five lessons which have helped PCI survive and thrive over the last 100 years. 

Lesson #3:  Becoming a learning organization – learning, growth, and getting better at getting better – is the best strategy to stay ahead of the frantic and unpredictable change which characterizes … continue reading

Many organizations look like this.  

There is a CEO at the very top, then as we move down the triangle, there are vice presidents and other senior leaders, then below them are supervisors, and finally you have the front line.

This week we’re exploring five lessons which have helped PCI survive and thrive over the last 100 years.  Today, we turn to servant leadership. 

Lesson #2: Servant leadership turns the traditional … continue reading

100 years ago, my grandfather Rocky Clancy founded the Rockwell F. Clancy Company, our predecessor company.  Rocky was born in 1893 and grew up in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood in the Union Stockyards of Chicago where my great grandfather was a Methodist minister.

From the Civil War until the 1920s, Chicago was the center of the American meatpacking industry, producing more than 80 percent of domestic meat consumed nationally.  The slaughterhouses … continue reading