1: “My wife says you help people pitch their ideas. Do you think I need some work on mine?” 

Brant Pinvidic was sitting next to Jeff. It was the start of a three-hour bus ride into the British Columbia wilderness for a heli-skiing adventure.

The two men knew each other through their young sons, who were friends at school.

“Well, I guess you’d say I run a plumbing company,” Jeff … continue reading

1: We are building a presentation. What is the most important question we must ask ourselves? 

“How will they rationalize the decision to ‘buy in’ to my proposal?” Brant Pinvidic writes in his book The 3-Minute Rule: Say Less to Get More from Any Pitch or Presentation.

Humans are the only species with the ability to rationalize.

“And it’s the basis and foundation for every decision we make,” he … continue reading

1: We have three minutes.

“Every time we make a pitch, presentation, or proposal to try to influence anyone to do anything, our audience’s first impression will be fully formed in less than three minutes,” Brant Pinvidic writes in his book The 3-Minute Rule: Say Less to Get More from Any Pitch or Presentation. 

“That yes or no is already in their heads,” he writes. “It’s not our fault. … continue reading

1: “The [television] network pitch room is a cold, ruthless, unforgiving setting with a very difficult audience,” Brant Pinvidic writes in his book The 3-Minute Rule: Say Less to Get More from Any Pitch or Presentation.

“Meetings start with smiles that last about ten seconds,” he writes. “If you’ve ever watched Shark Tank, that no-nonsense attitude and curt style was patterned after a TV network pitch.”

The year was … continue reading

“We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.” -John Dewey

1: As leaders, one of our most important roles is to help our team members learn from their experiences.

How do we do that?  

We ask questions.

“There are two questions that we should ask of a salesperson at the end of a call or at the end of the day,” writes Brian Tracy in his … continue reading

1: The date was April 1, 1993. Lou Gerstner had just been named CEO of IBM. For decades, IBM had been one of the world’s most admired corporations.

Now, it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Lou had started his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, one of the world’s largest and most respected consultancies. Soon after taking his new role, he asked his friends at … continue reading