Many inexperienced communicators rush to fill awkward silences in meetings, but that's a mistake. Here's why, along with how you can use silence as a tool. The post Unlock the Power of Silence: Why Less Talking Equals More Clarity appeared first on BobbyPowers.net ..read more

Book: Your Music and People by Derek Sivers Reviewer: Bobby Powers My Thoughts: 9 of 10Don't let the title deceive you. Your Music and People masquerades as a book about music, but it's really for anyone trying to build an audience for something they've created (writing, art, products, etc.). In typical Derek Sivers fashion, he says more in 130 lithe pages than most authors do in a 400-page tome. I walked away with dozens of ideas for how to package, position, and market my writing. What I Learned from the Book The best way to make your work stand out is to be one-of-a-kind ..read more

Book: Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo Reviewer: Bobby Powers My Thoughts: 10 of 10 Carmine Gallo has written three of my favorite public speaking books of all time, so you can’t go wrong with any of his stuff. Talk Like TED is my favorite. Gallo analyzes dozens of TED talks and other powerful speeches to determine the qualities that separate the best speakers from everyone else. Just like many of my favorite books, Gallo uses stories to convey all of his ideas and tips. Along the way, you learn the “nine secrets of the world’s top presenters,” and I’ve used those tips to improve my o ..read more

I often evaluate books by their impact per page. Massive, 900-page books have to be amazing to justify the huge opportunity cost of whatever else I could have read or done in the hours it took me to read that single book. By this same logic, short books have a lot going for them because they only take a few hours to read, but the story may linger in my mind for years. These ten novels are all under 200 pages, and they’re some of my all-time favorites. Every one of them is well worth the time. *Note: Each book includes an affiliate link from Bookshop.org. If you purchase one, you’ll support ..read more

“If you’ve ever left a conversation feeling energized, inspired, or enlightened, you’ve been in the presence of a great listener — not necessarily a great speaker. The best conversationalists are the best listeners.” -Ximena Vengoechea With all of today’s distractions and entertainment, listening is harder than ever. But it’s also imperative because it helps us put others first, make people feel cared for, and stay informed on things we need to know. I’ve read dozens of trite listening tips over the years, so I was curious whether there’s anything new and memorable that hasn’t been said ..read more

Image Credit: Dushawn Jovic on Unsplash One of my biggest pet peeves is when people multitask on Zoom calls. A previous CEO I worked with (“Jacob”) was one of the worst offenders. He’d pound away on his computer during the entire meeting, then ask a question showing he’d missed the past five minutes of discussion. Eventually, I talked to Jacob about this behavior and asked him why he saw the need to send emails during meetings. His answer surprised me. I expected him to say he multitasked because he had so much to do, but instead, he said, “I just get bored. I need to do something else ..read more

Image Credit: Brett Jordan on Unsplash On average, recruiters look at a resume for less than seven seconds. That’s how much time you have to make an impression. Wild, but true. And even though that amount of time sounds ruthless, it makes much more sense once you see the massive stack of applications that come in for an average position. I’ve worked in companies that routinely received 200+ applications for each open role. If you’ve recently been searching for a job, I’m guessing you’ve noticed the jaw-dropping (and depressing) number of applications listed for some positions on LinkedI ..read more

The Morgan Library in Manhattan (Photo taken by the author) I loved reading as a kid, but I felt like the love of reading was bashed out of me in junior high and high school from required reading, comprehension checks, and a flawed perspective that the goal of reading was to get a good grade on a quiz rather than to learn something new. Then, in my senior year of college, I picked up Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink, which was not only one of the first "non-required" books I had read in years but also the first nonfiction book I had read as an adult. My world opened up while reading that bo ..read more

Image Credit: krakenimages on Unsplash Eight years ago, I was tasked with converting some of our company’s oldest, stubbornest clients to upgrade from our old “1.0” software-as-a-service (SaaS) product to what my friends and I jokingly called the “new hotness” — our “2.0” product. There was no question—the 2.0 product was WAY better than 1.0. The user interface was better. The software was faster. And it could do countless things the old product couldn’t do. But as I began talking to my customers about the new hotness, they didn’t seem as stoked about it as I was. I heard many demoraliz ..read more

Book: Magic Words by Jonah Berger Reviewer: Bobby Powers My Thoughts: 9 of 10Magic Words is practical and actionable. Berger, a marketing professor at Wharton, conducted years of research to see which words are most persuasive, and he packed all of his best insights into this slim 200-page book. I learned a lot from this book and appreciated Berger's knowledge, stories, and depth of research. If you want to become a better customer service rep, salesperson, public speaker, or storyteller, this book is right up your alley. What I Learned from the Book We now have automated text ana ..read more