Page 99 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

90 DELIVERY

balance. She shrugged off the jet lag, cleared her head, and forced
herself to focus.
When the Thai leaders arrived in the lobby, they were courteous
but refused to sit down. They were letting her know that they were
in a hurry and that the meeting would have to take place standing.
To press the point, they glanced at their watches. It was all over in

fifteen minutes (originally, she had planned to speak for an hour or
more). When they were gone, she sank into a lobby chair and wor-
ried that it had gone badly.

The following day she flew home—but not before learning to
her surprise and delight that she had won the account, over seven
other vendors! To this day, she attributes the secret of that success
and many more that followed to her familiarity with and skillful
execution of the 8-second drill.
The hardest part is from thirty seconds on down. When you get
to twenty seconds, you are in the neighborhood of the typical
eighteen-second “sound bite” broadcasters talk about. Ten seconds
is a real crunch, and eight seconds is about as far as any human being
can reasonably be expected to go.

When you finally break through to eight seconds, you will have
captured the absolute essence of what you are talking about. This
single statement, phrase, or idea embraces your theme. It is your
message. Frequently, when people tell me they don’t know what
their theme is, I tell them to try the 8-second drill. Your message,
whatever it may be, cannot hide in the spotlight of the 8-second drill.
If you don’t already know your bottom line, you can be sure it will
reveal itself every time.
If you want to have some fun, ask someone to time your perfor-
mance and help you work your way all the way down to the 8- second
prize.
Put the 8-second drill to good use next time you run into the
unexpected—for example, at an important business meeting, and
suddenly have to throw your carefully crafted plans out the window
and reverse the wave.