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Of all the communication skills, the one I’ve been least comfortable with is influencing. It’s not that I’m not good at it. I must be able to influence people - otherwise I wouldn’t have been running my own business for four years. But part of me associates...
What's the point of PowerPoint? The slides are there to support your message as a presenter. Yet, sadly, many of the PowerPoint slides that we see in English business presentations in Japan distract and confuse the audience. Here’s an example that I’ll never forget....
A former colleague referred to it as the "bulls**t sandwich." Maybe you've heard these three layers of feedback: "You're doing really great at X. You made a complete mess of Y. You should have done Z instead. Keep up the great work!" This feedback model of starting...
An Interview With Rena Suzuki, Leader of Lean In Tokyo I met Rena Suzuki, co-founder and leader of Lean In Tokyo, when she was emceeing an event to promote the Global Summit of Women - known as “Davos for women” - which will be held in Tokyo in May. I was...
The other day, I lied. I was HORRIFIED because I like to think of myself as an honest person. But the lie just plopped out of my mouth before I could even think. While ordering lunch, I told the lady selling Thai food from a truck near my office that I’d just got back...
Have you ever seen a robotic presenter? The presentation just looked too rehearsed? Actually, the problem was probably not being too rehearsed. More likely, the presenter hadn’t rehearsed enough. When I coach executives for keynotes and other important presentations,...
I was lost – somewhere in Tokyo - five minutes before my meeting with a new potential client was scheduled to start. The company should have been only a few minutes’ walk from the station. I’d arrived 30 minutes ago and had been walking, following directions on my...
What’s more scary than giving a presentation? The Q&A session after the presentation. A Japanese executive who I’d been coaching for a keynote speech emailed me the other day because he’d just found out from the conference organizers that he would have a Q&A...
I loved this question in the Sasuga! Community Facebook group (thanks, Helen Lewis!): “I struggle with handling all the different threads that come at me - from friends, from family, from students, not to mention work colleagues. There is never time to be all things...
One of the funniest moments I remember from my ten years with McKinsey was when I sent an internal chat message to a young consultant who’d done something that I appreciated. I can’t remember now what he’d done, but I’ll never forget what happened later that day. The...
I’m sad when I hear that people spend time and money on training and then don’t put what they’ve learned into practice. What a waste. Mottainai. This applies to me too. I’ve taken courses and not made the most of what I learned. Why do we waste time and money like...
Do you give yourself reasons why you can't do something? "I don't have time." "I'm not good enough." "I should give the opportunity to other people." By doing that, you're arguing for your limitations. If you keep doing that, you prevent yourself from going beyond...