Page 74 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

THE STRONG FINISH 65

base their projections on what happened, let’s say, in the last couple
of quarters. A division vice president who makes recommendations
to a board’s senior management committee based on intelligent pro-
jections, which themselves are the product of solid data, provides a
good service. So the useful news should be what’s coming.
If a big change in the demographics, say, of the customer base of
a large insurance company is unfolding, then senior management
will have to know about that change and take appropriate action. If
federal legislation is in the works that would severely restrict or even
ban the sale of a given product, then that information has got to take
priority in any presentation relative to the endangered product. If

the financials or sales and marketing numbers are developing into a
pattern over recent quarters, that’s important. You’ve got to know
where those numbers are heading, what the changes mean for the
business, and what we ought to be doing about them. Then you’ve
got to project. You are now translating essentially random data into
meaningful information that can have a measurable dollar effect on
the company.
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One reason so many business presentations fail is because they lack
the added value of clear translation, mentioned earlier,
and intelligent future projection.
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I am talking about spotting trends and changes and vital signs,
and then ending your talk in such a way that people hear and
remember what you say and can take appropriate action, if neces-
sary. Let’s say, for instance, you are talking to a trade group and
making the point that change is coming. You might end with some-
thing like this:

◆ “So based on everything we know, here’s what I see . . .”
◆ “I see the recession softening and the dollar slowly
strengthening . . .”