Page 40 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

GET IT TOGETHER 31

the value of the presentation—because rather than simply present-

ing facts and data, now she is making specific strategic recommen-
dations based on that data. This tactic by itself would not only be
helpful to management, but also cast the presenter as a potential
future leader.

THE SNOW JOB

An executive friend of mine complained recently that a manage-
ment consultant he was considering hiring gave a presentation that
seemed not only inane, but pointless. My friend felt suffocated—
buried under an avalanche of statistical information presented in a
PowerPoint extravaganza packed with endless rows of hard-to-read
numbers. For three hours he suffered under this onslaught; then he
confi ded later that he felt pretty stupid because he was unable to

figure out what the guy was trying to say.
I assured my friend that the problem lay not with him but with
the consultant (who, as you might imagine, did not get the job).
Either out of ignorance or sheer devious intent, the consultant had
“snowed” my friend with enough random facts to ruin a good half-
day’s productivity, perhaps hoping that the appearance of arcane
knowledge would substitute for a lack of competence.
Had he been a good translator and explained in eighteen min-
utes or less (see Chapter 14, “The 18-Minute Wall”) how the num-
bers told a story that could help his would-be client, my guess is that
the consultant would have had the job. So translate and prosper—and
watch your clients prosper.

DUMP THE DATA DUMP

The fact is that most people are turned off by endless rafts of infor-
mation, as we witnessed in the consultant story. Data dumps are
generally held to be arrogant and selfi sh, because they make the