Column: CEO Learnings
If Warren Buffet hadn’t conquered his fear of public speaking, he may never have become the billionaire we admire today. He was “terrified” of public speaking and took specific steps to overcome his fear. He took the Dale Carnegie course and today, his certificate is the only “degree” that he displays in his office. He is a strong believer in public speaking and feels that effective communication is even more critical to success today than ever before.
Author Carmine Gallo touches on this need in his best-selling book “Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great” and offers foundational tips on the basics of good communications and those of today’s greatest persuaders.
Who is Carmine Gallo?
Gallo is one of today’s most influential communications professionals in our nation. His insights on both public speaking and written communication have filled the pages of nine books, which have been translated into 40 languages.
Gallo’s best-selling “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs” has been the “go-to” resource for those seeking to improve their pitch for nearly a decade. He has worked with some of the most iconic brands in the world that shape our everyday life including Google, Accenture, Intel, Coca-Cola, and LinkedIn.
The author believes our mission in life is to enrich the lives of others, which will in turn enrich our world. We can do this with persuasive communications which can move others to new thinking and change.
Five Stars
“Five Stars” provides a template on how to win in the war of ideas in a world drowning in noise.
The “how” he provides comes from hard-earned insights gained from a life of being laser-focused on the art of persuasion and effective communicators:
- After thousands of years, Aristotle’s treatise on the ancient art of persuasion (logic, credibility, emotion) — entitled Rhetoric and penned in the 4th Century B.C.—still provides a key to inspiring audiences.
- “An emotional connection is the winning ticket!” Neuroscience and the MRI have helped us to discover how certain words, speakers and styles make an emotional connection in the brain with the rest of us.
- Clear, measurable objectives can capture the imagination on how we view what is possible.
- The importance of antithesis, anaphora, alliteration, and parallelism in making the abstract concrete and understandable.
- The five-step communication model, HEART, that changed the culture at the Cleveland Clinic to one of caring.
- The Pathos principle and the role of emotion in remembering – Why do we remember the first person we kissed? Persuasion cannot occur in the absence of pathos and an appeal to the audience’s emotion.
- Humans are wired for stories. In “Five Stars,” you will find: three kinds of stories you can tell; seven elements of impactful signature stories; and the three-act storytelling structure.
- Conquering the fear that holds you back through rehearsing, rehearsing, and rehearsing.
- The importance of reading to improve one’s writing, expand one’s horizons, and to force our brains to make new judgments.
- “Finding your passion that makes your heart sing.”
Gallo provides vivid, real-life examples
To underscore how this can be done, Gallo provides sketches of persuasive speakers — scientists, entrepreneurs, professionals, leaders, TED stars, all of whom moved from good to great (Five Stars) as communicators. These include Michael Dubin, founder of Dollar Shave Club; Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai Indra Nooyi, former CEO of Pepsi; Apple’s Angela Ahrendts; SanDisk’s Eli Harrari;President John F. Kennedy; and Hamilton creator Manual Miranda.
“Five Stars” is a metaphor Gallo chose to use to connect great communicators to “Five Star” brands and ratings that are used today to separate the great from the good. Brands which were once in the middle of the pack have catapulted themselves over their peers to earn the title of being the best of the best – and earn 5-Stars. Similarly, with a focus on effective communications, we can also catapult ourselves to be the best of the best in our chosen field.
Persuasive communications change thinking and behavior. This, according to Gallo, can be the destiny for those who choose to become “Five Star” communicators.
RELATED RESOURCES:
- “Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great,” by Carmine Gallo
- The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, by Carmine Gallo
- Rhetoric, by Aristotle
———————
Thomas M. Loarie is the CEO of BryoLogyx, rotating host of THE MENTORS RADIO SHOW, and a senior editorial advisor and columnist for Catholic Business Journal. He may be reached at TLoarie@CatholicBusinessJournal.biz
View Articles Thomas M. Loarie is a popular host of The Mentors Radio Show, the founder and CEO of BryoLogyx Inc. (BryoLogyx.com), and a seasoned corporate... MORE »
You must be logged in to post a comment.