According to “Shark Tank’s” and entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk had incredibly high signal-to-noise ratios. In other words, they could maintain high levels of clarity without succumbing to distractions, disruptions or low-level chatter. In this episode, I share some practical ways to manage your noise and increase your ratio.

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Call Back Episode 209: Tech Timeouts, originally recorded on October 18, 2021.

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A 1980’s self-help guru predicted that if you “go into the silence” for 30-60 minutes, you will get clarity 100% of the time. In an environment that doesn’t allow even a few minutes alone, we may find this hard to believe or impossible to achieve. Well, in times that are highly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA), we need to follow the advice of the Brian Tracy’s of the world.

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Think about being in a meeting and seeing someone who has no vital role and nothing to say. They just fill a chair and add no immediate value. Like a potted plant, they may be there to fill a space. In this week’s episode, I challenge conventions about not inviting people that don’t need to be there.

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Whether it’s an important conversation or a very difficult one, we need to be ready. In this week’s episode, I will walk you through six different considerations to put you in a frame of mind that improves your chances that the exchange will go better than planned.

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Watching someone communicate with no purpose and no plan is brutal. It’s like seeing a poor farmer scatter seed blindly into the wind. If this is how you show up, it’s going to take a toll. Many people communicate like this, with little or no plan with what they want to say. This is where ideas, attention and reputation all perish.

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Great leaders are authentic and willing to share when they’ve struggled, been tested and have failed. Success is often the result of severe challenges, stupid mistakes and painful losses. By being able to open up and share these personal stories, leaders can connect with people more deeply than by barking orders and giving speeches.

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Many professionals aspire to be thought leaders, yet few have what it takes. If this is what you (or someone you might know) feel compelled to pursue, be warned that with this role comes responsibilities. Not only do you need to be experienced, knowledgeable and respected, but you also must be a clear communicator who has some humility and lots of generosity.

The post Ep. 367 – Becoming a thought leader (not a thoughtless one) appeared first on Just Saying.

If you can’t sit still for a moment, it will be hard to extract the real value AI. As these mind-bending developments increasingly take root, we may be too busy to even take notice. The irony – harsh reality, actually – is that we absolutely must embrace quiet time to slow down, learn and embrace it so that we can advance.

The post Ep. 366 – Working with AI slowly and quietly appeared first on Just Saying.

Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z all think they’re somehow superior. When it comes to communication, there are definitely differences but people share more in common than they’d like to admit. In this episode, I provide an limited overview that gets you thinking more about what we all value.

The post Ep. 365 – An imperfect guide to generational communication differences appeared first on Just Saying.