Articles
Storytelling Tips from Stephen Hawking’s Co-Author
People who reach the top in nearly every field have different skills, of course, but they share one thing in common: they’ve learned to express their ideas to inspire others to action. Dr. Leonard Mlodinow is one such expert. He’s co-written two books with his mentor,...
Scientists Are Inspired By Effective Communicators To Address The World’s Biggest Problems
An experiment that produced a burst of energy that lasted 100 trillionths of a second might not seem consequential, but considering that it generated 10 quadrillion watts of fusion power (the same process our sun and stars use to create energy), it represents a major...
How To Build Your Dream Career According To This Silicon Valley CEO
Metaphors exert a powerful influence on our daily decisions. For example, many of us strive to climb the “career ladder,” each step taking us closer to the top. But what if some steps represent smaller leaps than others? What if we slip off a rung or take a step...
Climate Scientists Took A 1,300-Page Report And Condensed The Data To Make It Newsworthy
It’s been a week since the United Nations released an exhaustive report on climate change. I’ll wager that few people have read the entire report unless it’s been their full-time job. At 1,300 pages, the climate report would have taken the average reader 43 hours to...
The Most Common Job Interview Question And How To Answer It According To Harvard Career Advisor
Gorick Ng was fourteen when his single mother was laid off from her job at a sewing machine factory. His mom didn’t know how to write a resume, and neither did he. But he learned what he could to help his mom apply for jobs. On weekends, he helped his mother scrub...
Admiral James Stavridis Reveals The Essence Of Leadership
In my career as a communication specialist working with CEOs and successful entrepreneurs around the world, I’ve reached one firm conclusion: great leaders read far, far more books than the average person. For example, retired U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis reads...
How Bill Gates and Warren Buffett Stay Optimistic When Everything Seems to be Falling Apart
Optimism gets a bad reputation in times of crisis, precisely when it's needed the most. Rational, data-driven optimists don't ignore serious problems, but by celebrating small wins they drive progress. Bill Gates calls optimism his "superpower." Gates believes that...
This Interview Question Reveals Volumes About a Job Candidate in One Word
A recent Wall Street Journal article pointed out how often job candidates lie during hiring interviews. One psychology professor conducted studies showing that job candidates tell two to three lies on average during a 10-minute interview. In a tight job market, the...
If You Want to Be an Exceptional Public Speaker, Start Acting Like One
Actress Anya Taylor-Joy, the star of Netflix's mega-hit The Queen's Gambit, did not know how to play chess before filming began. But once Taylor-Joy took on the character of Beth Harmon, her attitude, expressions, and mannerisms gave viewers the impression that she...
Jeff Bezos’s Four Core Values That Made Amazon A Success
When Andy Jassy takes over as CEO of Amazon, founder Jeff Bezos can be confident that Jassy has internalized the company’s core values. After all, Bezos has been consistently communicating Amazon’s four core principles since the day the company launched in 1995. A...
3 Compelling Communication Strategies Bill and Melinda Gates Use In The Annual Gates Letter
Every year I look forward to the Gates Foundation letter because Bill and Melinda Gates are serious students of communication. They use a variety of writing and delivery techniques to make complex information easy to understand and compelling to read. The 2021 Bill...
What Made President Joe Biden’s Inauguration Speech So Powerful
Joe Biden’s inaugural address at noon eastern on Wednesday was well-written with powerful rhetorical flourishes and inspiring themes. According to one speechwriter who worked with Biden while he served as vice president, “He knows that words matter.” In collaboration...
Build Trust in Science Using This Communication Method
“People are dying because we can’t communicate in ways that allow us to understand one another. That sounds like an exaggeration, but I don't think it is.” The actor Alan Alda wrote that sentence three years ago, but it’s more relevant today than ever. While most...
Marc Benioff On The Essential Communication Skills Used To Build Salesforce
Salesforce founder and CEO, Marc Benioff, took a big step last week to grow his company's influence in cloud computing with an agreement to buy Slack for $27 billion. Today Benioff makes news as a prominent voice in business, but 21 years ago, when he co-founded...
Elevate Your Communication Skills In 2021 With These 5 New Business Books
Some terrific business books were published this year. I've been able to read at least 50 new books and speak directly to many of the authors. If your goal is to improve your communication skills--and let's face it, everyone has room to improve in this area--these...
Hint Water Founder’s Communication Skills Helped Her Turn An Idea Into A $150M Brand
Kara Goldin, the founder and CEO of Hint Water, turned an idea that struck her one day at the kitchen table into a $150 million a year business. Along the way to building a popular lifestyle brand, Goldin discovered the power of storytelling to grab attention and...
Virologist Explains The Pandemic Uses A ‘Swiss Cheese’ Metaphor. His Message For Educators
The Swiss cheese pandemic defense metaphor IAN MACKAY/VIROLOGYDOWNUNDER/BASED ON THE SWISS CHEESE MODEL BY JAMES T. REASON If a photo can say a thousand words, an infographic on the coronavirus pandemic speaks volumes. The “Swiss cheese model” of...
The Legacy of Zappos Chief Tony Hsieh
It was never about the shoes; it was about the culture. That was the big lesson I took away from my first meeting with Tony Hsieh at Zappos headquarters a little over a decade ago. Like many others this weekend, I was shocked and saddened to hear that the man who...
John McCain’s Concession Speech Reminds Americans That Words Can Inspire and Unite
Twelve years after John McCain conceded the 2008 U.S. presidential election to Barack Obama, the video of McCain’s speech has gone viral, racking up about 15 million views. People began sharing the video on Thursday after Donald Trump claimed voter fraud in the 2020...
Watch Bill Gates Give 30-Second Answers to Common Job Interview Questions
Bill Gates has hired thousands of people at Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He knows what to look for in job candidates. How would Gates handle a job interview if the tables were turned? During an interview for his new YouTube series...
Sell Dreams, Not Products
When Steve Jobs launched the first Apple retail store, he made a statement that has inspired Apple's messaging ever since. Jobs said, "People don't just want to buy personal computers; they want to know what they can do with them." Great communicators don't sell...
Andrew Cuomo Gave 111 PowerPoint Briefings in the Pandemic. Here’s What He Learned
On March 2, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo gave the first of what would become 111 consecutive days of Covid-19 PowerPoint updates. Cuomo’s ‘daily briefings’ turned into must-watch TV, with millions of viewers tuning in throughout New York, America, and around the...
How John F. Kennedy Turned a ‘C’ in Public Speaking into a Super Power
I’ve often said that great public speakers are made, not born. John F. Kennedy was no exception. In the new book, JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, Pulitzer prize-winning historian Fredrik Logevall traces Kennedy’s transformation from a shy, awkward speaker...
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Gave a Law Clerk 3 Tips for Good Writing
In one short sentence, Ruth Bader Ginsburg taught one of her law clerks the secret to strong writing. Ginsburg said: "Never use four words when three will do." Ginsburg was a precise editor, says UC Berkeley law professor Amanda Tyler. Although Tyler worked for...
Elon Musk’s Simple Presentation Hack to Grab Attention
Elon Musk delivered a highly-technical presentation last week about battery cells, gigawatt-hours, and electric vehicles. It was the type of presentation you'd expect from the Tesla founder. But then he dropped a surprise. "What does this mean for our future...
3 Communication Tips to Ace a Virtual Job Interview
When it comes to landing a new job, it’s important to stand out professionally. This has always been true, but social distancing and virtual meetings have made it more difficult than ever to make a positive impression. One thing that can set you apart from the...
How Ruth Bader Ginsburg Sharpened Her Writing Skills to be Persuasive
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s quotes in this article are based on Ginsburg's interview with Professor Bryan Garner, published in volume 13 of The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing. It’s a fascinating interview that you can read here. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg won...
Guy Raz and Carmine Gallo Talk Storytelling and Entrepreneurship
Famed venture capital investor Ben Horowitz once said, “The CEO’s main job is to be the keeper of the vision and the story.” Guy Raz agrees. Raz is the popular host of several NPR podcasts that reach millions of listeners a month. He shares the stories of famous...
Carmine’s Book Featured In USA Today Article
Carmine Gallo has studied Jobs and Apple for years. He has written several books on the subject, including The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. (I have also had Gallo on my podcast. You can hear the fascinating interview here.) Gallo says that the secret to Apple’s...
Jeff Bezos Shares an Inspiring Origin Story
All great stories have a structure. Skilled storytellers like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos follow the structure to keep their audiences engaged. On Wednesday, Bezos joined other tech CEOs (Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai and Mark Zuckerberg) at a congressional hearing to answer very...
Start a Successful Negotiation in 2 Words
Start a Successful Negotiation in 2 Words Great leaders build rapport, trust, and commitment If you run a business, your people are looking to you for guidance in a moment of crisis. Your words make an impression on your team, partners, and customers. According to a...
5 Ways To Ask For Help And Get It
During a crisis like the coronavirus pandemic, many of us are reluctant to ask for help in our daily lives or in the workplace. An editor for Time Magazine acknowledged the unexpected challenges she and her husband faced when he fell ill with Covid-19. She needed...
How to Persuade Someone in 50 Words or Less
I don't play tennis, but I was captivated by a book about the tennis champion Maria Sharapova. I was sold on it after reading a 50-word pitch in The New York Times. When a reporter for the newspaper interviews an author, the last question is always the...
How To Prepare To Face Tough Questions Like High-Powered CEOs
According to the New York Times, the tech titans scheduled to testify today at a congressional antitrust subcommittee hearing have been preparing with their teams. The newspaper says Mark Zuckerberg’s legal firm has been working with him at his estate in Hawaii while...
Business Insider Asks Carmine for his Recommended Reading List (premium subscription required) READ ARTICLE
Three Ways To Make Virtual Meetings Less Tiring And More Engaging
The pandemic lockdowns put in place to fight the spread of the coronavirus have accelerated the already growing trend of holding virtual meetings. Millions of remote meetings and online interactions have provided Microsoft plenty of data to uncover the good and the...
Mastering Message Delivery: Lessons From Journalist Robin Roberts
It's easy to see why Robin Roberts is one of America's most beloved television news personalities. In a new program for MasterClass, Roberts smiles, leans in, and exudes optimism, hope, and gratitude to the audience. Roberts also provides hours of valuable tips on how...
3 Strategies To Unleash Your Creativity You Can Learn From Lin-Manuel Miranda
The Disney Plus film release of Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning blockbuster, gives us an opportunity to analyze the creative spark that turned the project from an idea into a cultural phenomenon. According to LinkedIn, creativity is the number one...
These Easy Four Steps Will Help You Become A Better Speaker
Florida State psychology professor Anders Ericsson, a giant in the field of peak performance, passed away this month. Malcolm Gladwell brought Ericsson’s research to a larger audience in his book, Outliers. Many of us are familiar with the now-famous “10,000-hour...
The 2-Step Plan For A Successful Life Shared by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai
When Google CEO Sundar Pichai arrived in the United States 27 years ago, he could never have imagined that he'd be leading one of the most valuable companies in the world. Looking back, Pichai credits "a deep passion and an open mind" for his success. It's a two-step...
How To Present Like An Apple Exec
This week's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference was notable for its format (virtual) and its announcements (hundreds of new features covering the entire product line). The Apple keynote also had something for anyone creating and delivering a business presentation--a...
How Apple Was Able To Engage Viewers In Its First Virtual Event
The simplest way to keep an audience’s attention is to break a pattern. In other words, change it up. That’s exactly what Apple did in its first all-virtual presentation to kick off the 2020 WorldWide Developers Conference. Apple CEO, Tim Cook, walked onto the stage...
CEOs Become ‘Chief Empathy Officers’ In Response To Black Lives Matter Protests
It’s easy to meet anger with anger. It’s harder to meet anger with empathy, but the leaders who strive to understand how others feel will earn the admiration of their employees, customers, and the communities in which they do business. A closer look at statements made...
Who to Trust in a Crisis
Avoid listening to people with ‘chauffeur knowledge,’ advise billionaires Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. A crisis presents an opportunity to learn new skills and develop new attitudes that will help you become a better leader. The coronavirus pandemic is...
How Andrew Cuomo Uses FDR’s Metaphors to Communicate in a Crisis
Every crisis is unique, but the model for communicating in a crisis follows a time-tested formula. Every crisis is unique, but the model for communicating in a crisis follows a time-tested formula. Leaders throughout history have used plain language to convince people...
A Leader’s Words Matter in a Crisis
“Words are the most important tool in a world where command-and-control leadership has given way to power by persuasion.” Carmine Gallo When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that all nonessential workers should stay home to slow the spread of the novel...
4 Steps for Communicating Science like Dr. Anthony Fauci
The lead scientist during the coronavirus pandemic has a gift for translating science into everyday language According to Dr. Anthony Fauci’s wife, Christine Grady, his “enduring gift to society” is his ability to make complicated information easy for everyone to...
4 Easy Ways To Sharpen Your Public-Speaking Skills Without Leaving Home
The ongoing coronavirus crisis has confined many of us to our homes and has created a lot of uncertainty in our lives. But there is one thing I know for sure--it will eventually pass and you'll be right back out there building your career, pitching your idea, or...
Andrew Cuomo Adopts FDR’s Communication Style in Coronavirus Updates
Every crisis is unique, but the model for communicating in a crisis follows a time-tested formula. Leaders throughout history have used plain language to convince people to take massive action. In a press conference on Saturday, April 4, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo...
Marriott’s CEO Displayed Authentic Leadership In A Time Of Crisis
Marriott International CEO, Arne Sorenson, is an authentic leader and he proved it this week with the release of a 6-minute video to Marriott employees, shareholders, and customers. “This is what leadership sounds like,” one person said after watching the video on...
Andrew Cuomo: Leadership In A Time of Crisis
There’s a big difference between a person with a leadership title and a truly inspiring leader who brings out the best in us. In the battle to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is emerging as one of the leaders you’d like by your...
There Are Three Steps To Crafting A Winning Vision Statement. Just Ask The 49ers.
The San Francisco 49ers Are Heading to the Super Bowl Thanks in Part to a Tactic Learned in a Stanford Management Class There are three steps to crafting a winning vision statement. Just ask the 49ers. The day after the San Francisco 49ers won the 2020 NFC...
A Navy SEAL’s New Book Unveils A 4-Point Leadership Plan All Leaders Should Follow
Jocko Willink spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy SEALs, rising through the ranks to a become a highly decorated commander. In his new book, Leadership Strategy and Tactics, Willink has written a field manual for leaders in the business world. The book, published on...
Learn From NASA’s Newest Astronauts: Your Resume, Degree And Experience Are Only Part Of The Formula Required To Succeed
The new class of astronauts who NASA introduces on Friday are carrying some big hopes on their shoulders. They are the first astronauts to graduate under Artemis, a program that intends to land the first woman on the moon and the next man by 2024. The moon is a...
Bryan Stevenson And The Power Of Persuasion To Achieve ‘Just Mercy’
“You have to be persuasive when you're trying to change the world,” human rights attorney Bryan Stevenson said at an event to promote the movie Just Mercy, which opened nationwide this weekend. The movie is based on Stevenson’s bestselling memoir of the same name. It...
The ‘Rule of Three’ This A Quantum Physicist Uses To Simplify Complex Ideas
In its simplest definition, quantum physics studies the smallest things in the universe and seeks to explain how everything works—how the particles of nature interact. It gets much more complicated from there. That’s why I was intrigued by a recent article on the TED...
What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation
5 Simple Secrets of Great Presentations I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest...
Reach Your Goals In 2020 With This Easy Mental Hack
We really aren’t very good at forecasting the future, but one thing is predictable year after year—most people who set a New Year’s resolution will fail to keep it. Gyms bank on it. Gym owners know that most of the people who sign up for a membership in January will...
Country Star Tim McGraw Helps You Stick To Your Goals In The New Year With A Proven Psychological Strategy.
About 10 years ago, country music superstar Tim McGraw didn't like what he saw. McGraw and his daughter were at a movie when a trailer appeared for a film he had a small part in. McGraw saw himself magnified on a 30-foot screen. He was carrying 40 extra pounds and was...
Google’s New Ad Campaign Uses Storytelling To Bring Data To Life
Dave and Patti Fuller consider themselves simple New Hampshire farmers, but this month they’ve had more free advertising than they could ever pay for. The couple’s photo, taken in their maple syrup store, has been seen in the New York Times, the Wall Street...