The Presence Lab | Executive Communication Under Pressure

We receive a lot of mail from people asking what they can do to change or transform their company from the bottom or the middle. Many of these emails express utter frustration at feeling stuck in a company that doesn’t get it. Here are Jason’s thoughts and advice on making an impact from the bottom or the middle.

This week, in preparation for a speech in Arizona, I interviewed Patsy O’Brien, the Chief Operating Officer of Smith & Howard, an accounting and advisory firm in Atlanta, Georgia, a firm consistently rated the number one CPA firm in America by INSIDE PUBLIC ACCOUNTING. At the end of a great conversation Patsy said, “Wait a minute, there’s one more thing I need to tell you about before we wrap up.” What she said has profound implications for every business and is one of the coolest and biggest game changers I’ve ever come across.

Peter Drucker said culture eats strategy for breakfast, your research really illustrates that point. (Jason, pick it up and illustrate with a story). When you talk about a lean culture, what do you mean? In your book, Less is More, you identify eleven leadership traits behind creating the culture. While we don't have time to go into all eleven. Give us one or two that a leader can focus on and improve in the next week.

What can you learn from the most successful companies? The research shows top performers consistently master the art of creating and sustaining organizations where everyone thinks and acts like the owner. In this episode of The Game Changers, Jason shares the story of Billion Dollar Brad and details the way to make every employee feel like the owner.

Need some help supercharging meetings within your company? Here are six things to do to make every meeting exciting and productive.

In preparing for five upcoming speeches to five different companies in five different cities Jason was tasked with five different assignments. One company wants to get everyone on the same page. Another wants to their workers to embrace radical change, another fears a new onslaught of competition, still another is struggling with finding, engaging and keeping its workforce and other wants to learn how to make everything happen faster. They’re all searching for a magical answer and there is one. It’s revealed in this edition of The Game Changers.

Do you love stories about fast growing remarkable companies with nothing but upside potential? Here’s a story about a company that has increased their revenues ten times in fifteen years. High tech? Nope. Healthcare? Nope. A new App? Nope. Try… you’ll love how this company keeps everyone on the same age shooting at the same target.

Have you ever noticed that some people just seem to be luckier than most and go from strength to strength and win to win almost effortlessly? Have you ever been tempted to mutter under your breath that you’d like to be as lucky as they are? Here are a couple of basic truths about getting lucky.

Last week I spent some time with a CEO in the middle of a 26 billion dollar merger. He was talking about the challenges of getting both companies on board the same culture and had some startling, revealing and spot on advice.

It’s been said that luck occurs when preparedness meets opportunity. Most fortunes and successful careers have been created when someone sees something, instinctively knows it’s going to be a winner and finds a way to put themselves in the front of the parade. But, how do you find the parades in formation so you can get in front? That’s the subject of this edition.