What Got You Here Won't Get You There

I am really enjoying presenting at conferences. Attendees are interested in my topics and are willing participants in dialogues. They also have a host of good and bad experiences around change that adds flavour and relevance to the sessions.

Marshall Goldsmith

Beyond the thrill of presenting, I have the opportunity to learn from other presenters. I was keen to see Marshall Goldsmith open the HRANS conference a week ago. He was voted the #1 leadership thinker and #7 business thinker in the world at the Thinkers 50 ceremony sponsored by the Harvard Business Review. He is also a million-selling author and editor of 31 books. His list of accomplishment is massive.

Marshall was sharing concepts from his latest book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There. I like the title, which reminds me of the saying, "If you keep doing the same things you will get the same results"; you need new thinking, actions and behaviours to get to the next level.

I'm In Very Good Company

I sat up front to get the most out of his talk. Marshall was a fun speaker. He said that he is a Buddhist and gives everything away that he creates on his website. Marshall explained, "We all will be equally dead, so might as well. The world becomes a better place because of what we do." I liked him before he started speaking on his topic.

Here is what I learned from his presentation style:

• Laugh at your jokes, it makes them funnier
• Engage attendees in an activity every 20 minutes, even if it is a group of over 150 people!
• Illustrate points with as many personal life examples as professional ones
• Be generous  ̶  it shows
• Invite people to choose one idea they believe will help them and reinforce the need to do it to get the benefit
• Leave the audience with three key messages

After Marshall's talk, I approached him and thanked him for his advice. I asked him if anyone had come up to him after a talk to offer their help to him with no strings attached. Marshall said he would have to think about that but he didn't think so. That was my one idea from his session and I am now sending him an email with my offer of help. No strings attached.

Phil