3 Tips for Making Small Talk with the Big Boss

Having the chance to talk with someone high up in your organization can be a great opportunity to share your ideas and gain exposure. But it can also be nerve wracking — what if you say the wrong thing? Here are three tips for preparing for your next chat with a head honcho:

1. Do your homework. Find out what the senior team's priorities are. Work out a few key points about your projects or career as they relate to what senior leaders care about now.
2. Be brief. Once in front of the senior leader, make your key points succinctly.
3. Read the situation. If the senior leader is not interested, thank her for her time and move on. How you behave is more important than what you say. Yammering on signals a lack of self-awareness.

Source: Harvard Business Review

4 Tips for Speaking from a Podium

The podium can be an intimidating place. Even seasoned public speakers feel anxious when standing in front of a microphone. Here are four tips for making your next speech from the podium hum with confidence:

1. Keep your feet planted and stand up straight. This will convey poise and strength, even if that's not what you're feeling.
2. Don't memorize. Unless the speech is very short, the anxiety of trying to remember your lines will only make your task harder.
3. Find a place for your hands. Put your hands in one place — for example, on the sides of the podium — and then forget about them. You will bring them up naturally to gesture as long as they have a place to return to.
4. Practice, practice, practice. Rehearse as many times as you can, in an environment as close to the real experience as possible

Source: Harvard Business Review

What's Your Leadership Brand?

A leadership brand tells people what is distinctive about you as a leader and communicates what you have to offer. Summarizing your brand in a statement is a useful and often enlightening task. First, answer two important questions:

1. What do you want to be known for?
2. What results do you want to achieve in the next 12 months?

Take these two answers and put them into the following statement: I want to be known for ______ so that I can deliver ______. Once you have your statement, be sure that you are living up to it. Ask others for input on whether you are achieving your goals and whether they see your leadership brand in the same way you do.


Source: Harvard Business Review