Page 53 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

44 CREATING THE PERFECT PRESENTATION

where you can be sure they are safe. Surely if you predict events just
twenty years down the road, you may be fairly secure in the knowl-
edge that the majority of your listeners won’t remember—or care—
what you said way back when. (Besides, they might not even be
around to have an opinion.)
So go ahead and have a little fun—with the right audience. Peo-
ple love to believe they have had a glimpse into the future, and if you
follow your strong lead with credible evidence based on sensible pre-
sumptions and current facts, you might even be able to convince
yourself that what you see coming will really happen. For
example:

Thirty years from now, the company you work for probably will
not exist. Your workweek will be just three days. You will work
at a computer terminal in your home offi ce two of those days,
with the third day devoted to meetings with fellow work associ-
ates via videoconferencing and in production centers run by
corporate city-states. You will spend another two days energiz-
ing and brainstorming in think tanks run like round-the-clock
conference centers by corporate city-states.

That’s quite a picture you’ve just painted. Arguable, but interesting
enough to make me want to hear more. For all you know it might
actually come true—because some of these seemingly wild premises
may have some foundation in fact, based on what we are already
beginning to see.
Going back for a moment to our centerpiece of globalization, it
would not be diffi cult to provide an intelligent link between our
dramatic future depiction and how these great changes could be the
eventual result of worldwide political, economic, social, and spiritual
shifts we can feel even now.
You should note, by the way, that people who like to position
themselves as leaders, whether in business or politics, are also fond
of future projection and don’t hesitate to jump right in where others
may fear to tread. So feel free. Jump right in with them.