Magic

from Able Leader, April 2008

by Steve Kaye

It seems so easy.

The magician reaches in a hat and pulls out a rabbit.

Or maybe, someone seems to have consistent good luck with a business, a career, or a life.

Everything works so well that it seems like magic.

But you know that every magic trick has a secret behind it. That rabbit, for example, was put in the hat before the show.

So, here are the secrets behind five works of magic.

1) Better Meetings.

What you notice: Everyone participates. Everything proceeds smoothly. The meeting ends with useful results.

The secrets:

Write out the goal for the meeting. Draft an agenda. Show the draft agenda to key participants. Listen to their suggestions. Combine their ideas into a working agenda that can be completed in a reasonable amount of time (such as within 40 minutes) with a realistic number of people (such as six to ten). Treat everyone with respect, create a safe environment that facilitates candor, and use a process that leads to results.

2) Better Communication

What you notice: Relationships work. Conversations flow easily and naturally. New ideas and differences are explored with dignity.

The secrets:

Pay absolute, complete attention to what others say. Show interest in what others say. Let others talk, without interruption. Accept that everyone is telling the truth as they know it. Listen first, speak second. Feelings matter more than advice or solutions, so always acknowledge how someone feels first. Clarity and brevity matter because people are more impressed with what they understand. Let others be the star in your conversations. Praise reveals courage, anger reveals weakness.

3) Better Presentations

What you notice: Everyone pays attention. People gain useful ideas. People take action as a result of the presentation.

The secrets:

Know why you are speaking. Then design a presentation that accomplishes that goal. Speak about them and their issues (and not about yourself). Write key parts of your presentation, then rehearse your talk until you know how to deliver it without having memorized the script. Realize that the audience wants you to do well, until you either bore them or offend them. Then they want you to finish. Stories matter more than facts. A good presentation requires more time to prepare than to deliver. You will impress the audience more by being human than by being clever.

4) Better Life

What you notice: Things work. Problems resolve quickly. Everything feels good.

The secrets:

Give yourself permission to do well. Find a vision of good living, and then live toward that vision. Set goals and take actions that produce the type of life that you want. Build life routines that achieve balance between what you must do and what you want to do (such as work and play, strive and rest, spend and collect). Make decisions based on your essential priorities. Expect good things to happen and protect against bad events. Accept rejection, setbacks, and failure as learning points. Live forward into the future.

5) Better secrets

What you notice: All of the secrets are very simple. Most likely you knew about them.

The big secret: These secrets work only when you use them.

For example, everyone knows that preparing an agenda is an essential step in getting results from a meeting. But few people take the time to prepare one.

It's like reaching in the hat, expecting to pull out a rabbit, without having put one in.

So, this newsletter is a reminder to do the basic things that lead to success.

And when you master them, everyone will think you are working magic.

Much success,

Steve Kaye
714-528-1300