With Christmas and Epiphany (aka The Festival of the Kings) just behind us and millions of people continuing to celebrate the birth of a religious leader more than two thousand years ago, my thoughts turn to what for me are the essential characteristics of a great leader in the 21st Century. Many people in the …
“Blue and green should never be seen. Fawn should never be worn. Only wear yellow if you are mellow. Never wear brown, when in town.” So says the rhyme, which seems to have very little to do with style or dress advice, but is often used to persuade us that there are rules to obey …
In the 1950s, a young man enrolled in a public speaking course “not to prevent my knees from knocking when public speaking, but to do public speaking while my knees are knocking.” That young man was Warren Buffet, now one of the world’s richest men. The course was a Dale Carnegie (author of the multi-million bestseller …
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference” Sir Winston Churchill I’m not sure if Churchill was referring to the attitude I describe in this article. I’m also not sure that I agree it is a ‘little thing’. However, I am sure that he was right in saying that attitude makes a big …
“One often contradicts an opinion when what is uncongenial is really the tone in which it is conveyed.” Frederich Nietsche This article is not just about the tone we employ, but about interpreting or misinterpreting what has been said, though our tone of voice can play a critical part in how what we mean to …
“You’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, don’t mess with Mister Inbetween.” Music by Harold Arlen. Lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Published in 1944. Whenever I hear this song (Rumer released a very good cover version in late 2012) it makes me smile and lifts my mood. This could …
The rise in demand for public speaking It’s time for us all to elevate our public speaking. The British Events industry was worth 39.1 billion in 2013 and 19.9 billion of that came from conferences and meetings (source: Business Visits and Events Partnership). There has been a healthy growth over the past five years and …