Adopted from the following great insight shared by Simon Sinek
We are all drawn to charismatic great leaders and organizations who are good at communicating what they believe.
Their ability to make us feel we belong , feel safe and not alone is part of what gives them the ability to inspire us.
These are leaders who have the ability to draw us close to them in order to command our loyalty.
This results in us feeling a strong sense of BOND with these leaders and organizations.
Adopted from the following great insight shared by Daniel Pink from the book Drive
The key ingredients of a Type I driven intrinsically motivated approach to stimulate creativity and innovation in the modern day of the knowledge worker are as follows:
1. Create an environment that makes people feel good about participating
2. Give users requisite autonomy
3. Keep the system as open as possible
Adopted from the following great insight shared Daniel Pink from the book Drive
“IF-THEN extrinsic rewards have the sole purpose of short term benefits by stimulating desired behavior or compliance for doing routine bound , dreary tasks.Upon realization that an environment is not suited for IF-THEN rewards , extrinsic rewards should be made unexpected and offered only when the task is complete.In other words , where IF-THEN awards are a mistake , shift to NOW-THAT rewards”
Adopted from the following great insight shared by Jim Collins from the book Good to Great
“Bureaucratic cultures arise to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline which arise from having the wrong people on the bus in the first place.If the wrong people are taken off the bus and right people are put on the bus , there is no need of worrying about bureaucracy.”
The Storyteller’s Secret is the third book of Carmine Gallo that I have read after Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, Talk like TED.Like the first two, I have found this equally fascinating.
This book is a must read for those who are looking to overcome stage fright , public speaking as well as those who are into selling.
As is evident from this as well as his previous books, storytelling has always been an art not science and needs the storyteller to understanding the working of the human brain with precision.
The stories of great presentations , the preparation before the presentations , the effort made by the presenter in trying to influence the human brain goes a long way in conveying the message that for passing on a simple message in an easily understandable way needs lot of complex planning and preparation.
The following are the concepts related to engaging presentations, storytelling that deeply appealed to my senses. All these it must be said have deep rooted relationship with neuroscience and ability to understand the working of the human brain. Thus storytelling is still an art using scientific techniques leaving nothing to chance.
1. Neural coupling —– This is what happens when a message from a storyteller is able to engage the listener and his brain (emotional side of it) is tightly coupled with the idea presented by the storyteller. It is similar to resonance that happens when the natural frequency matches. Once a listener is neutrally coupled the job of the storyteller in conveying his message becomes a lot easier. As a result of neural coupling an emotionally charged event gets triggered in the brain that gives rise to excitement in the mind of a listener driving away boredom.
2. Heart sing —- This is a concept coined by Steve Jobs wherein the presenter or storyteller has to connect with the audience in such a way that would make the heart of the audience sing with the message conveyed by the presenter.
3. Mood contagion happens when the mood or magic created by the storyteller spreads like a disease amongst the audience and becomes contagious wherein the audience remains engaged with all eyes and ears enjoying the presentation.
4. Amygdala “Post It” notes – Amygdala is the region of the brain that releases dopamine, the chemical that gives us happiness. The message of the presenter when conveyed in a desirable manner gets registered as a “Post It” note in the brain region named Amygdala and causes the release of dopamine which makes the listener not only relate better but carry the message with him/her after the presentation.
The book “Together is Better” by Simon Sinek tells us that human beings by nature love to socialize and try to find like minded individuals “who believe in what they believe”. This has been true right from the caveman times.
When like minded people form part of same teams , trust emerges , the synergistic benefits get realized , fulfillment happens and astonishing results follow.
We see numerous such examples in our workplaces as well wherein trusting teams produce much better results and are much more motivated than teams filled with cynicism and distrust.
The following amazing quote of Simon Sinek summarizes high performance teams , the need of every workplace.
“A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other.”
Adopted from the following great insight shared by Simon Sinek
“One of the best paradoxes of leadership is a leader’s need to be both stubborn and open-minded. A leader must insist on sticking to the vision and stay on course to the destination. But he must be open-minded during the process.”
Leadership is like parenting and taking care of those in charge to inspire and get the best out of those who work for the leaders..
The following Simon Sinek quote wonderfully describes this aspect of leadership…
“The leaders who get the most out of their people are the leaders who care most about their people.”
Adopted from the following great insight shared by Simon Sinek
“The responsibility of leadership is not to come up with all the ideas. The responsibility of leadership is to create an environment in which great ideas can thrive.”
Adopted from the following great insight shared by Simon Sinek
“Weak leaders want their people to do as they say. Strong Leaders want their people to do as they think.”