Page 96 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

HOW TO CAPTURE YOUR AUDIENCE 87

tions, talks, lectures, and speeches—an overwhelming majority—
do begin that way. But that’s not a good reason to do so ourselves. In
fact, one way we can distinguish ourselves is through our uniqueness.
Good managers value differences even in a team environment. Who
will criticize us for being different if being different means we can
also be more effective?
No one will fault you for saying, “Thank you.” That’s fine.
“Thank you” is cordial. But skipping the thank you and getting
right at it is, in my view, even better.

The 8-Second Drill: The Shorter the Better

Of all the virtues that a good speaker brings to the party, none is
more highly prized than brevity. More than a century ago, Mark
Twain got a telegram from a publisher. The telegram read: “Need
2-page short story, two days.” Twain wired back: “No can do 2 pages
two days. Can do 30 pages two days. Need 30 days to do 2 pages.”
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Shorter is sometimes harder. But shorter is also usually better,
because it concentrates essential information into a narrower space,
thereby casting a brighter light on the subject and cutting down the
time we need to listen.
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The ability to focus information into ever-smaller time slots is a
skill essential to our time. For example, a friend of mine was
summoned to his boss’s offi ce for a meeting that was supposed to
take about half an hour. But as my friend got off the elevator, he
found his boss heading for another elevator, beckoning my friend to
join him.
Something urgent had come up, the boss explained. My friend
now found himself having to distill a half hour into the twenty sec-

onds it took the elevator to reach the ground floor. He had to fi gure