To Sell Your Story, You Have To Tell Your Story

It’s great when the stars align:

• The Wireless Life Sciences Alliance Summit was in San Diego.
• Michelle King Robson, CEO of EmpowHER (and a dear friend) was a panelist/speaker.
• Michelle and Ed Robson's boat is docked in San Diego harbor. 

The Robson's graciously invited me to stay with them on their 120 foot yacht instead of staying at the Hyatt. Ummmm...okay. As you might expect, it was amazing. But, I will forego a description of the boat's luxury and the 24/7 attentiveness by their staff because the most memorable part of staying on this beautiful vessel was the time I spent with Ed each morning over a few cups of Starbucks coffee.

A little about Ed Robson: Adopted. Graduate of Colorado College. He joined the Marines and was helicopter pilot but then got a leave of absence to play on the US Olympic Hockey Team. Ed started his career selling real estate then started his own real estate company and then started building homes. Forty-five years later (Ed is a vibrant 80!) he is the owner of Robson Resort Communities, a collection of 7 adult active senior living communities in Arizona and Texas. He also owns 100+ additional companies that control the entire supply chain....from water to carpet for the 40,000 homes he’s built. In other words, he owns seven small cities. Its fair to say... he's had a very successful career. 

Ed walks his three dogs at 5:45 am. Since I was on a different time zone and awake before sunrise, I quickly figured out that I could find him on the back deck of the MyChelle by 6 am. I tried to extract as much wisdom as I could from his brain.  The topics of our conversations ranged from from health, seniors and fly-fishing to architecture, wealth, and raising children to be accountable. I asked Ed countless questions. He was gracious, humble, and, frankly, tolerant. But, it was his answer to the most probing and personal question that inspired this blog.

"Ed, is there anything about your career that you regret?" He paused, and I expected him to talk about a failed real estate deal or a missed business opportunity. Instead, he said, "I wish I had been a better student and got more of an education."

He explained, "When I was in a room with these business guys from Harvard or Yale...they weren't more intelligent than me, but they got their ideas out better and faster. And, in those high pressure meetings...there isn't alot of time to listen. So, those guys would win."  

Ed’s laser-like answer wasn’t referring to education as a way to get more book smart but rather, as a vehicle for learning how to be an effective and influential speaker. And, I started wondering…what is the relationship between education, communication, and success?

No one can argue with the value of higher education. There is ample evidence that it is correlated with a broader array of opportunities and greater income potential. In addition to acquiring raw, core knowledge, the learning process, particularly in post-baccalaureate programs, is designed to teach students how to research, analyze, summarize and weave pertinent facts into a compelling, influential argument. Throughout their curriculum, law students are repeatedly required to present briefs, MBA students share their analysis of company studies, and PhD candidates defend their research. With each experience, they get a little smarter and, simultaneously, their communication skills gets a little sharper.

Looking back on my own experience…Morning rounds at John Hopkins Medical School were like a daily Toastmasters exercise. Chief residents expected a crisp, three minute summary of each patient we had admitted during the previous night on-call. No notes allowed. They relentlessly critiqued our presentation skills as much as our diagnostic skills. After 2 years of clinical rotations and 3000 patient presentations later, I graduated with a proficiency in storytelling. (And an M.D.)

While a rigorous academic environment can help fuel and develop strong verbal skills, we’ve all met plenty of professionals who aren’t effective speakers and, conversely, non-professionals who are quite eloquent. The common denominator is neither education nor natural talent. Rather, it’s about practice AND the realization that the story you tell about yourself, your company, your product, your idea--- is highly influenced by Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear—the best-seller written by Frank Luntz. 

Presidents and politicians are judged heavily on their oratory skills rather than their judgment. During my years at United, there were countless times when our capabilities were superior, but how we delivered our story was weaker…and we lost the deal. Clients can really only assess what they experience…and that is you. Therefore, effectively communicating a compelling story that captures mindshare…also captures wallet share.

In my consulting, I typically work with businesses and their executives who have very cool health care technologies or service offerings with significant potential for growth. But, they have challenges telling their story. They are bright, entrepreneurial, and knee deep in content knowledge and product details. But, they don’t spend enough time (and understand the value of) selecting the right words, architecting messages, identifying anecdotes, mining key data points, developing beautiful slides, practicing, practicing more, and then listening to themselves tell their company's great story.

I scratch my head when a senior executive says “I do better when I am spontaneous” and convinces themselves that they don’t even have to prepare key messages before a presentation. I am amazed when sales teams are unleashed in front of clients without being required to deliver the pitch internally to get some feedback. The most common excuse: It’s intimidating. Really? Is it scarier to speak in front of a client representing a multi-million dollar opportunity versus your boss? If that's really true, then turn on your laptop camera and start videotaping. Play it back, critique yourself, then practice again. And, again. That’s what it takes.

All things being equal, those who practice more and learn to communicate better…win. 

Create Health, 
Archelle


PS: You can't delegate the practicing to your marketing director. Doesn't work.