The presentation-mindset acknowledges that even the greatest content can lose if it’s not presented in a way that resonates with the audience. While our focus in this blog often is on selling services, products and ideas as part of marketing, sales, Investor and Board presentations, this also applies to how we present ourselves daily if we want to advance our career. If you’re switching jobs, launching new careers, and changing how you work (e.g., no longer full-time in the office), this may be an important issue for you.
Robert Goldfarb, in What’s Stopping Me from Getting Ahead?, challenges the reader to understand how interactions with others may be affecting your ability to promote your career. He identifies 12 common reasons people’s careers are often stopped. They are:
- Lacks integrity
- Overlooks what’s important to others
- Self-centered
- Arrogant and dismissive
- Refuses to Yield on even small things
- Rigidly analytical
- Disrespects people who are different
- Lacks passion for change
- Disrespecting former peers
- Doesn’t delegate and support their accountability
- Focuses on problems, not solutions
- Uses humor as a weapon
After working with thousands of clients on how to present information so they can “win the deal” we developed the ADAP formula for presentation success: Audience Driven, Authentic Presentations. Every misstep mentioned violates one or both of these canons. So keep the general rule in mind at all times, whether you’re applying it to a company presentation for your company or your own career advancement!