VoicePRO News & Blog
Leadership Training & Effective Communication Strategies.
Investing in Executive Presence – what’s the return?
In today’s business, we are always looking for a guaranteed return on our investments. With the market being strong, and at the same time on the edge of volatility, it has never been more important. Due to its importance, understanding what is really being measured and how to calculate it is critical. ROI is an […]
3 Public Speaking Survival Skills
A couple of weeks ago I participated in an urban obstacle course through downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Run by the WooHoo Foundation, a group dedicated to helping the local breast cancer community, the course runs a little over nine miles and features eight obstacles including a run through Progressive Field (home of the Indians), and section […]
The Quiet Power of Introverts
The classic Hollywood image of a leader is that gregarious extrovert in the middle of the group, tossing out ideas a mile a minute, brainstorming, “spit-balling”, and cajoling the group to a neat solution for a weighty problem before lunchtime. Only trouble? It doesn’t seem to be the truth – at least not the whole […]
3 Dangers of Generational Generalizations
As a member of Gen-Y, or a “millennial”, I’m sensitive to articles with tips for “Managing Gen-Y employees”. Even if the articles offer decent leadership advice, most of them have three things in common. First, the authors are not millennials, they merely manage them. Second, the tips could be applied to all employees, not just […]
3 Steps For Fair Firing
In a recent interview withHarvard Business Review, Gilt Groupe CEO Kevin Ryan details his keys to developing a quality team: recruiting and managing talent. Ryan says that, although never fun, terminating people who haven’t panned out is crucial to creating a quality team. If left unchecked, underperforming employees will bring a company down, and it’s […]
Caught In A Lie
KABLAM! That’s the sad – but unmistakable – sound of best-selling author Jonah Lehrer’s credibility imploding. A recent Wall Street Journal article reported that Lehrer, whose book Imagine: How Creativity Works inspired a recent VoicePro blog post, had fabricated quotes from Bob Dylan, a key character in his New York Timesbestseller. But it gets worse. […]
3 Pre-Speech Tips From A Dancing Sprinter
How do you calm pre-speech nerves? It’s a question we get from a countless number of VoicePro®’s Speak Present Influence® participants. We offer our advice and tips but it’s always difficult to simulate the actual experience. Then along came Michelle Jenneke’s viral video. In case you haven’t seen the video, Australian sprinter Michelle Jenneke has recently […]
3 Leadership Lessons From Tina Fey
In real life, Tina Fey is an Emmy winning writer, actress, and producer. This can be difficult to imagine given that her 30 Rock character, Liz Lemon, is completely clueless, especially when it comes to leadership. Once I began listening to Fey’s autobiographical audiobook, Bossypants, imagining Fey as a strong leader was nearly impossible. The […]
Choking: 5 Lessons From Olympic Losers
In the gold medal rush of the Olympic games, we love to see the historic victories, the powerful stories, and the come-from-behind finishes. But experts tell us there’s a lot to be learned from the losers – as painful as the lessons might be. A book called Choke by Sian Beilock, which was recently reviewed […]
The Amazing Spiderman: 3 Tips For Updating Your Speech
Over the Independence Day weekend, audiences around the globe flocked to see the new incarnation of America’s favorite wall crawler, Spider-Man. Before the movie was released, however, critics and fans alike asked if a new Spider-Man film was even necessary. A fair question, considering the previous incarnation of Spider-Man had already been completed, granted somewhat […]
