Making Business Matter (MBM)

The return on time & money invested is zero.

You work in the corporate world, you attend 1-day training courses. You come back and get on with your work. Nothing changes. We spend 10 years at school going to lesson after lesson. Yet, we then get out into the big wide world and expect to learn a skill between 9-5 in a training course. It simply can not happen.

Are your presentations engaging? Recent research says that audiences either go on their phones or fall asleep in presentations. We need to make our presentations much more engaging. Presenting is a key business skill and if we are not good at this skill, we will fail to engage our audience and sell, gain buy-in, or achieve our objectives.

E3 - Don't Start with a Powerpoint Presentation!

Do you always start with a PowerPoint presentation? Are they engaging?  Recent research says that audiences either go on their phones or fall asleep in presentations.

In this podcast, we discuss the fact we need to make our presentations much more engaging. Presenting is a key business skill. If we are not good at this skill, we will fail to engage our audience and sell, gain buy-in, or achieve our objectives.

Read the Don't Start With a PowerPoint Presentation Podcast Transcript:

"Presenting and presentation skills are one of the key skills we need to have as a knowledge worker in the digital age. My name is Darren Smith and you're at Short and Sticky Stories. We're making business matter the home of sticky learning."

"So I worked in corporate for about 15 years and commuted into London there and back four hours a day. Okay. Hey, it was what it was. I was a buyer for a large UK supermarket and the story I want to share with you is of frozen carrots. Yes, frozen carrots. They don't turn over very much, but hey, it was part of the portfolio that I bought. So we had a carrot supplier, a frozen carrot supplier, and the meeting was coming up. So this was about consumer research. They had been out and done some work on understanding shoppers. So my ethos was around cash flow management and understanding shoppers, not surprisingly."

Frozen Carrots

"They had taken this and run with it, not quite what I wanted them to do. I expected something a little different, but hey, good on them for trying. So the meeting day came. I booked a meeting room and there were about eight of us."

"So eight of us in this room, teas and coffees ready. We just grabbed a brew and this guy stands up. So he's in front of a screen and the first slide with the name of the supplier comes up. He says, "I'm going to talk about shopper research on frozen carrots and I'd welcome questions at the end." Now I wanted to be a polite buyer, so I checked in. Okay, so you want questions at the end. So no questions during, no. And then what happened made my heart sink, because as he just was setting up a bit more of the tech, cause he'd forgotten something, which is fine."

122 Slides

"I just saw that giveaway on the bottom right of the screen of PowerPoint. One of 122 slides. Yes, you heard it. 122 slides. 122 slides on shopper research of frozen carrots. Now I'm all for understanding the shopper, but that was ridiculous. So where had he gone wrong? Well to my mind, he'd done an awful lot of work and fair play to him. The challenge he hadn't considered was making that stick. We're not talking in this context about a learning stick, but we talking about a stick in terms of what actions we're going to take away from this and implement."

"Over the next two and a half hours, two and a half hours, this guy took us through slide by slide, shopper research of frozen carrots. He went into baby carrots, he went into wonky carrots. He went into the packaging. To his credit, it was exceptional."

The Best Worst PowerPoint Presentation in the World

"It should be framed as probably the worst presentation in the world based on the best piece of work. And her

Are your presentations engaging? Recent research says that audiences either go on their phones or fall asleep in presentations. We need to make our presentations much more engaging. Presenting is a key business skill and if we are not good at this skill, we will fail to engage our audience and sell, gain buy-in, or achieve our objectives.

You are doing shallow work only. Working as a knowledge worker in the corporate world can be tough. The danger is that you are busy but busy doing the shallow work. The work that doesn't make a big difference. Learn how to identify the important tasks and know how to get them done.

E2 - Putting Off the Important Stuff? Identify the Important Stuff & Get it Done

Stop putting things off. Get beyond being just busy and be able to make the deep impact on your results that you want. You are doing shallow work only. Working as a knowledge worker in the corporate world can be tough. The danger is that you are busy. Busy doing the shallow work. The work that doesn't make a big difference. This Podcast will help you learn how to identify important tasks. And know how to get them done. More importantly, it will help you to stop putting things off.

Read the Putting Things Off Podcast Transcript Below:

"I bet you're busy, really, really busy. Well, busy nowadays equal to sjob. No one has a job where they've got a few hours spare to yeah, let's have a look at that new thing." "My name is Darren Smith and you're here at Sticky and Short Stories, the home of Sticky Learning, MBM, trainers to the UK grocery industry."

My Commute

"I worked in corporate for about 15 years and commuted every day, four hours a day to London, two hours there, two hours back. Often, when I walked into my office and there were another 20 emails which I barely touched and yet another email from marketing with 15 attachments to get done within 48 hours. Of course, I hadn't read the last lot, plus voicemails, plus back-to-back meetings. I could not get my head above water." "I was stressed, overwhelmed and it felt like the email monster was just growing."

Putting Things Off, Procrastination

"Now having left, and run time management courses for 15 years, I had to learn and I learned the hard way. I learned what works and what doesn't work. The time management gurus call it procrastination. We call it putting stuff off, putting off the big stuff." "So you have one of those days where you come in, let's say eight o'clock. I'll just have a quick check of my emails and you do. An hour later, a cup of coffee you've had, maybe a chat with a few other people that have come in and you're off to your first meeting around half past nine, 10:00 o'clock. That meeting overruns. You come out of there about quarter past 11. A quick check of your emails, a quick catch up with Bob down the corridor and all of a sudden it's time for a sandwich at your desk whilst you read a couple of reports, and maybe catch up with one of your team."

The Busyness Continues

"And then you're coming out of lunch, you're into the two o'clock meetings. They're overrun and you must get some of this important stuff done. That's what's in the back of your mind, but you never do because you're running from meeting to meeting or email to email." "So you do the quality work at the end of the day when everyone's gone home and at that time when you're at your most tired and you have the least energy is when you start to do that work that makes the real difference."

Brian Tracy

"Brian Tracy, the time management guru from the States wrote a fabulous book called Eat That Frog. The basic premise is that if you can identify the biggest and horrible thing, the frog and get that done first, then the rest of your day will be easier because you've got the worst thing out of the way."

"Now, I never did this in 15 years in corporate, but I wish I had. Because what we're trying to achieve is we're trying to get the things done that make the biggest impact. Now that sounds easy."

Why Are You on the Payroll?

You are doing shallow work only. Working as a knowledge worker in the corporate world can be tough. The danger is that you are busy but busy doing the shallow work. The work that doesn't make a big difference. Learn how to identify the important tasks and know how to get them done.

The email Monster is taking over. He is out of its cage. Listen to this podcast to find out about the hare and the tortoise technique. A new tool required in this digital age to manage the daily onslaught of emails. Tame the email monster once and for all.

The email Monster is taking over. He is out of its cage. Find out how you can tame the email monster with the hare and the tortoise technique. A new tool required in this digital age to manage the daily onslaught of emails.

E1 – Email Overload? Try ‘The Hare and the Tortoise System for Managing Emails’

Get on top of your emails, and get the deep work done with this new technique for managing emails.

The email Monster is taking over. He is out of its cage. Listen to this podcast to find out about the hare and the tortoise technique. A new tool required in this digital age to manage the daily onslaught of emails. Tame the email monster once and for all.

Read the Managing Emails Transcript Below:

“I want to share a story, a story about the hare and the tortoise. But the hare and the tortoise are having a race about email. My name is Darren. You’re at The Home of Sticky Learning NBM.”

“You’ve all heard about the hare and the tortoise. Well, it’s about email overload. It’s fast becoming the main reason of stress and it’s overwhelming. Most people, they can’t get away from feeding the email monster. It just keeps growing. No matter how much you seem to clear the emails, they just don’t stop.”

We’re Not Getting the Deep Work Done

“The challenge is that we don’t get the deep work done. Cal Newport wrote a book called Deep Work, and it’s all about doing the stuff that makes the big difference. It’s very easy to skim across the day being busy in inverted commas getting stuff done, but just clearing the emails.”

“Now the problem with that assumption is that doing the emails delivers the biggest impact, and it doesn’t because whatever comes in on email, comes in on email and it’s not necessarily what makes the big difference to why you’re on the payroll. You’re on the payroll to make money for your business, and the emails don’t necessarily do that.”

About the Hare and Tortoise Method of Managing Emails

“So the hare and the tortoise is all about splitting up the clock face, and it’s deep work and shallow work. So imagine a clock face 12:00 around to 12:20. That 20-minute segment in an hour, that’s when you can do the hare work. Run really quickly, getting emails done, as many as you can and as effectively as you can 12:00 until 12:20. Now in the other 40 minutes of the clock, 12:21 right around to 12:59, that’s when you do the deep work. That’s when you’re like the tortoise. You’re making a big difference.”