Arsene and Other Crimes

The Arsenal vs. Liverpool game on Sunday evening told us a lot about the game of football and, in particular, the ways in which managers can influence their players.

1-0 up in the 12th minute of injury time, Arsenal conceded a penalty with a blatant push by defender Emmanuel Eboue. Up stepped Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt and slammed home the equaliser, and with it dampened Arsenal’s Premier League hopes.

The awarding of Liverpool’s 102nd minute penalty irked Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to the point where he came out and publicly slammed referee Andre Mariner for allowing time to run so late.

Wenger told Sky Sports reporter Geoff Shreeves immediately after the game: “We dropped two points. It was a difficult game against a Liverpool team who basically only defended”.

Contrast this to Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish’s comments: “Everybody will be sat there proud at having seen their team produce a performance like that with the attitude and commitment”.

In short, Wenger criticised his players for failing to win the game and criticised the Liverpool players for their caution. Dalglish, on the other hand, congratulated both sets of players and fans for their
effort and enthusiasm. Furthermore, he explicitly praised four members of his team for their outstanding efforts.

Now – what do the post-match comments really matter? In fact, what do reactions matter at all? Surely it’s more important to walk the walk than talk the talk?

It’s a fair question, but consider the following example:

You have recently started up your own business. You would like to open your own office and expand the business, but to do so you need to secure investment. No bank will loan to you, and you are thinking about selling your home to create funds. As a last-ditch effort, you decide to appear on BBC’s Dragon’s Den to secure an investment. Without the money, you may well go bust.

The pitch goes brilliantly. Four of the five ‘Dragons’ are hugely impressed by the business and show an eagerness to invest. However, one Dragon – Richard Farleigh – decides to speak up and tell the other
that your business model is seriously flawed. Richard convinces the rest of the Dragons not to invest. You walk away with absolutely nothing.

As is traditional on the show, BBC’s Evan Davis interviews you as you leave. What do you tell Evan?

“Evan – there’s no way my business model is flawed. That Richard Farleigh is a joke. He always gets decisions wrong and he shouldn’t be on the show. It’s difficult to secure investment from a bunch of
people who are so cautious”.

Or, do you take the Moral High Ground?

“Evan – I’m delighted with my pitch. I can understand Richard’s concern – and he knows a thing or two about business. However, today showed me that there is huge potential for my business, and I am
absolutely determined to secure investment to make this business the success that it deserves to be”.

This very scenario actually happened to Gavin Wheeldon, an entrepreneur from Yorkshire. By taking the Moral High Ground and making it clear he was open for business, Gavin managed to secure
investment from another investment tycoon. He refused to hit out at Richard Farleigh. In fact, he welcomed his objection and used it to his advantage.

Where is Gavin’s business today? He employs 30 staff and has an annual turnover of nearly £4million. That’s how powerful reclaiming the Moral High Ground can be.

Where would Gavin’s business be if he had done an ‘Arsene Wenger’? Well – let’s look at how Arsenal’s week has gone so far:

Sunday: Arsenal draw 1-1 to all but surrender the Premier League title.

Monday: A number of high-profile former Arsenal players, including Alan Smith and David Seaman, say there is a lack of leadership in the Arsenal dressing room.

Tuesday: Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas suggests that Arsene Wenger would have been sacked if he was managing in Spain.

Wednesday: Arsenal squander a 3-1 lead to draw with bitter rivals Tottenham. Wenger complains: “it’s hard to win two games in such a short period of time”, oblivious to the fact that London rivals
Chelsea had done just that.

Thursday: The Mirror, The Independent and various other national newspapers call for Wenger’s head, suggesting he has ‘lost the plot’.

As for Kenny Dalglish, the only thing he has heard since Sunday is players calling for his position to be made permanent.

All of this alludes to a Broadcasting Business time-honoured principle: claim the Moral High Ground when making your case. Praise and welcome your critics.

Only one of the above Premiership managers has taken part in a Broadcasting Business communication skills course. We’ll leave you to decide which one.

Find Your Voice, Bertie

I went to see the Oscar-nominated film The King's Speech this week and was enthralled by a masterpiece of cinema.

It captured the frustration and sheer terror of the Duke of York or 'Bertie' - soon to become King George VI - as he fought a debilitating affliction...magnified by the new need to communicate by radio.

It made me think of a conversation I had with the highly-personable Scotland rugby forward Kelly Brown.

He explained to the leadership group of Scotland's international rugby team - with whom I was running a media training session last autumn - that he had taken four days away last June for intensive treatment to reduce his stammer. He then volunteered to do the first TV interview rehearsal.

And there I saw devices similar to those portrayed in The Kings Speech.

What George VI and Kelly Brown share is tremendous courage and determination.

Kelly realises the value of explaining his feelings about rugby through the media - and has done what it takes to overcome his disadvantage. He has my undying admiration.

What I felt The Kings Speech also captured was the sense of blind fear and utter panic that can set in before a speech - a feeling I hear about every week in talking to some who attend The Broadcasting Business's Presentation Skills courses.

For those who feel confident in such situations, it's difficult to understand what that's like. But very many have felt that way.

I could relate to the quiet sense of satisfaction the film's other hero - unconventional speech therapist Lionel Logue - took from witnessing immense progress. It's how I feel every day a participant leaves our course with a greater sense of self-belief than when they walked through the door.

Fear of public speaking may be in the mind - but it's as real as the microphone and audience in front of us.

But because it's in the mind, we have the power to overcome it - given the right techniques.

These techniques have helped business leaders, entrepreneurs, public servants and emerging sportsmen and women make great strides over the 22 years we've been running such courses.

Watching George VI overcome his stammer to deliver the keynote wartime speech that forms the climax of the film reminded me of a second parallel: the four presenters pitching Scotland's bid for the Commonwealth Games to 71 voting members in Sri Lanka in November 2007.

I had worked with some members of the team for six months and had seen their fear of failure grow into a genuine confidence in their speeches.

As the last one left the stage, a colleague turned to me and confirmed my feeling with one short comment:  'They nailed it!'

And they had. Glasgow won the vote with a two-thirds majority - and the Games were awarded to Scotland.

That is the immense power of public speaking - and it lies within all of us.

It just has to be brought to the surface.

'Find your voice', Lionel tells George. He could have been speaking to any of us.

Take it Personally

I'm taking my seat in the 10,000-seat MGM arena in Las Vegas for the start of the Arbonne Global Training Conference.

Now, I've attended hundreds of conferences on business down the years - usually waiting to take my turn as a speaker - but today I'm here to learn.

I should explain. Three years ago my wife Caroline was asked to become a consultant with an international network marketing skincare company. The person asking her was Sue Cassidy, whose husband David in the ‘70s had a bigger fan club than the Beatles.

Today 130 of Caroline's 7000-strong team have flown the Atlantic to attend the conference - so we've all spent a lot of money to be here.

I watch speaker after speaker tell their own personal story. You can hear a pin drop when they describe their struggles, their setbacks, their triumphs and their disasters.

What comes through time and time again transcends all that. It's their ATTITUDE that's taken them where they are.

But there's something refreshing about the presentation. What is it? What's different about this conference compared to many I've taken part in? 

Let me tell you - they're sharing PERSONAL EXPERIENCES which are gloriously free of business JARGON.

And there's something else. When they click to bring up another slide, we're looking at a child rather than a graph or bar chart.  We see a funny picture rather than a statistic we're unable to read from the back of this vast stadium.

So today we're hanging on every word as each consultant speaks from the heart.  They are ANIMATED and ENTHUSIASTIC rather than straight-jacketed and dull.

Is it because they're American and natural speakers?  No - one of the best presenters is Iain Pritchard - a hugely-successful friend from Guildford in Surrey, who is massively successful in my wife's business.

I debated for an hour last week with one group of clients in London how personal stories, great illustrations, emotion and enthusiasm will beat unreadable, unintelligible PowerPoint presentations.

At first our clients disagreed....before making splendid pitches without PowerPoint.  They've since changed their minds.

In short, they are following a Broadcasting Business principle: Use visual aids to engage your audience, rather than confuse them with unnecessary statistics and complex models.

I'm looking forward to the closing session of the Arbonne conference today - because the speakers will again ENGAGE me.

We need more conferences like this in the UK - but first we have to give up our addiction to badly-constructed PowerPoint.

Once we do that, we're liberated...free to use emotion, experience and enthusiasm to tell a story and win the audience over.

28 Days Later...

I like January.

We’re past the shortest day…in theory moving towards brighter, longer days.

It’s also time to turn over a new leaf – literally – in the diary.

And that’s the bit I like best about January:  a new year lies ahead and it feels as if anything is possible.

Of course, to make the possible happen, we often have to two things.  Firstly, plan what it is we want to happen.  Secondly, stop doing the things that have made progress impossible.

In other words – we have to set goals and resolutions.

I’ve always believed in goal-setting.  Why let the year happen to you rather than decide what you want to happen?

Or as one of my clients puts it:  “Create your own plan – or be prepared to be part of somebody else’s!”

But you have to write down your goals.

An oft-quoted true story comes from Harvard University in the States.

A group of students was asked if they had goals.  Of course most said they did.

But almost three decades later when researches revisited those they could trace to see if their goals had been realised, they found something remarkable.

The 3% who had written down their goals all those years ago were now worth more than the 97% who had not. 

The road to hell – they say – is paved with good intention.  If you fail to write down your goals, it’s simply an intention.  If you write them down – and follow your own plan – you map out your future.

So that’s goals.  But what about setting resolutions?

Well that can be more difficult, because it often involves resolving to break bad habits and replace them with good new ones.

Several years ago, I interviewed - for an RBS audio production – Dr Steven Covey, author of the highly-acclaimed “7 Habits of Highly Successful People”.

I asked him how long it took to make or break a habit.

“28 days” was his precise answer.

He then explained that we cut a groove in our thought process if we do the same thing repeatedly for a month.  It becomes our habit – and replaces other bad habits which also had been stuck in a groove.

The difficulty is cutting the new groove for 28 successive days – whether that’s stopping smoking, banning cakes from your diet or slowing down behind the wheel.

But, Dr Covey assured me, it only takes 28 days.

In mapping out our route to success, we follow a key Broadcasting Business principle:

Positive thinking, channelled by effective preparation, leads to success.

So this week – the first working week of 2011 – have you set yourself goals and have you embarked on habit-changing resolutions?

If so, good luck.  Enjoy your progress.

If not, may I suggest you resolve to set new goals in the first pages of your brand new 2012 diary?

And that, in the meantime, you prepare to be part of somebody else’s plan in 2011.