Good at what you do, but struggling with your communication skills? Igotchu! 😎
Taking the biscuit…
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Show don’t tell. As Albert Einstein reportedly observed: ‘if you cant explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough’. Communicator of the Week Award goes to Gordon McKee MP for his now viral and brilliantly simple explanation of the impact of the UK’s national debt.
​ ​ Gordon McKee has been building a steady following with short TikTok videos explaining different aspects of politics and his most recent one has gone mega viral because of its innovative use of biscuits as props to explain the debt to GDP ratio and why it matters. Most people think about slides when giving a presentation. But one of the most effective methods of crystallising people’s underatanding of a point is to use props. The right prop strategically used can be more impactful than 20 slides. Bill Gates did it when he released live mosquitoes inside the speech hall to emphasise the dangers of malaria to his European audience. Jill Bolte Taylor did it when she held up a real brain in her Ted Talk to demonstrate how we can choose we experience life when we use the right hemisphere of our brains. So, ask yourself: if I had to ‘show’ them my idea without ‘telling’ them my idea, how would I do it? Kolarele |
Build your Communication SuperSkills
Good at what you do, but struggling with your communication skills? Igotchu! 😎
A double-header this week. As the Artemis II orbited the earth, the crew held a press conference, at the end of which the pilot, Victor Glover was asked for his thoughts from space on Easter Sunday. His first words in response were that he did not have anything prepared, which, if you've heard me talk about the importance of your speech opening, you will know is a terrible way to start. But then he delivered the most eloquent short speech about the beautiful oasis in the universe that is...
Sometimes you just have to get in people’s faces to get them to take action. Communicator of the Week Award goes to coach Brenda Frese, who was video in a now viral clip as she literally shouted in the face of an underperforming player on her basketball team. ’I need you to lock in’ she bellowed. ‘I believe in you.but you’ve got to want it the most’ if you watch it, it is uncomfortable, but the outcome was that the player went on to transform her performance and help the team close the gap...
You know the saying (often attributed to Warren Buffett): it takes years to build a reputation, and 5 minutes to ruin it. This week's MisCommunicator of the Week has proved that adage to be truer than ever. Prior to this week, not many members of the public knew much about John Healey. He was one of the more respected members of the Labour cabinet, quietly getting on with the difficult job of Defence Secretary. In an increasingly dangerous world full of wars, conflicts and terrorism, he...