La crise, quelle crise ?

Étiquette : English

  • How to kick the fear of public speaking in the b…

    public-speakingIt is said that on the fear list, public speaking comes before the fear of death. It has even its own word: glossophobia, coming from the Greek glossa, meaning tongue, and phobos, meaning fear. The symptoms of glossophobia can vary and are numerous: dry mouth, trembling body, sweating, just to name a few. In her article How I Got Over My Fear of Public Speaking, Kelly offers a good set of advices, from her own experience, on how to overcome glossophobia. I although introduced 3 simple hacks to better speak in public and 5 deadly mistakes to avoid to be a good speaker.

    Whatever your audience, whatever your topic, and whatever your public speaking skills, anxiety and fear always kicks in. There’s a story one of my mentors of public speaking that I particularly like: A young actress, after a play, goes to see the great Sarah Bernhardt and asks « madam, I never add stage frights, is this normal? » Sarah Bernard answers « Don’t worry, it comes with talent ». Just to say it’s completely normal to have stage fright, it’s actually a nice feedback loop that helps us remember the essential things to do to get good at what we are about to do.

    Here are a set of behavioral tips and tricks to feel better when you are about to deliver a public speech:

    • Shout! If you can find a secluded place when nobody hears you, go there and shout the loudest you can. It will help a lot empty the tension you have.
    • Stand right! Pull your shoulders backwards, push your breast forward and stand right. Exaggerate the movement before setting the foot on stage, it will relieve the tension in your upper body.
    • Put one foot slightly ahead of the other! A little bit like martial art practitioners. This will provide a better balance.
    • Breathe slowly and deeply! Breathing is essential, breathing slowly will lower your cardiac speed and lower your anxiety
    • Look at your audience, spotting friendly faces! There are always friendly and smiling faces in an audience, look at them like you were speaking to them one on one, but do not speak only to them, move your eyes around, and come back to those friendly faces.
    • Accept mistakes and failures! You tongue will trip. You will forget a sentence or a paragraph. All this, and more, happens, even to the best. The only way to avoid this is to rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse. If you do not have the time, accept little mistakes

    One thing that most people do not realize is that the best speakers, the Obamas, the Jobs, etc. are prepared to the max. They have a prompter, they have coaches, and they have rehearsed dozens of time. There’s no shortcut to being a great public speaker, but the above simple tricks will help you getting better and better.

    All the best!

  • Space Oddity, a dreamlike ode to space travel

    Since last Monday, there have been overwhelming tribute to the late David Bowie. Sales of BlackStar, his last album, launched two days before he died, have surged to a point of becoming number one in the UK. I have not been a die-hard fan of Bowie, but have enjoyed many of his songs, danced on Let’s dance. Modern Love and China Girl, listened thousands of time to Ashes to Ashes, but no other songs made as strong an impression on me as Space Oddity.

    480px-Bowie_SpaceOdditySingle

    While thinking about Space Oddity and browsing Youtube, I found the original video of the song:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D67kmFzSh_o

    It’s a very interesting version compared to the one that is most commonly known:

    I do not know which I prefer, but it almost seem two different songs, the 1972 version adding more instruments and changing the voice completely. Not even talking about the almost dreamlike images of the 1969 versions, compared to the almost dull images of the 1972 one (honestly, the guitar rifs are not even synced with the music, but eh, we are in the 70’s…)

    I discovered the version Chris Hadfield recorded in the ISS while reading his book (wrote a blog post on this):

    This last one takes a new flavor now Bowie’s gone. It’s probably not the best version of the song, but it’s the only one (with some changes in the words) that is resonating with a real in space experience.

    One of the reasons this song has such an impact on me is probably the fact I always been interested into flying and I wanted to be a fighter pilot until the day I was forced to wear glasses, and needed to forget my dream (that I overcome by getting my windglider pilot license at 17, more than a year before my car driving license). I still love flying today, although I do not pilot gliders anymore, but I still believe it’s temporary.

    Having said all this, what is the song that made a strong impression on you and that you are still singing or whistling years after, and that makes you happy?

  • My life, my love, my work

    Happy New Year 2016! To get a new fresh start for this blog, I’m participating in the Blogging 101 of the WordPress Blogging University. As such, during the whole month of January, I’ll have tasks to do to improve the blogging experience, learn new stuffs and increase relevance of this blog to you, my readers. So here’s the result of Day One: Introduce Yourself to the World.

    I am Marc, a Geek at heart, as I introduced my about.me page. I am of this generation that knew the world before Internet, who embraced Internet with sheer delight, and is now moving to prudent usage. I have six passions in life: my family, technology, leadership, productivity, public speaking, and watersports. I have a seventh that has been set aside for the time being which is flying, as I am a licensed wing glider pilot, but cannot, yet, find enough time to fulfill this passion.

    My passion for technology led me to found my own IT company in the 90’s in Paris before selling them in the 2000’s and joining Microsoft in the sunny island of Mauritius. One year leading to another, I am now the Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft in Africa.

    Leadership, productivity and overall personal excellence are dear to my heart, as I believe that with the same 24 hours everyone has, a few uses those to create something bigger than themselves and this require all three.

    Public speaking is an old passion of mine that started in high school with theater and continued all along my professional life as an IT instructor, launch event speaker until my TEDx talk and my national winning speeches at Toastmasters convention.

    Finally, I am an avid fan of watersports like windsurfing, kitesurfing, wakeboarding, scuba diving, waterskiing, catamaran sailing, to name a few.

    So what about blogging? Well blogging is first writing, And writing I did: published 18 books in the 90’s (you can still find some on Amazon, although they are totally outdated), did one eBook and lots of articles in the press and on this blog, for one simple reason: I love writing. Like theater, it started a while back by participating to short stories contests (which I did not win any), then writing my first book in French on IT Training. I did it all by myself using Word for MS-DOS. Yes, I know, may people do not have a clue what DOS is.

    So what’s this blog about? I started it after the subprime crisis, because, although a lot of people were negatively impacted by the crisis, it ended up by becoming hysterical in France and across the world, increasing the gloomy future outlook. I named it Crisis, what crisis? because I felt the crisis, although real for the people who lost money everywhere in the world, because of the « global economy » or their properties in the US mainly, the crisis was created or at least kept up by the media, and people were frozen and felt gloomy, just because of the situation painted by media houses. It was recently I realized this was the title of a famous album by Supertramp, one of my favorite bands.

    So my purpose with that blog was to create a kind of a platform to show people that their future was between their hands and not of somebody else. Then I used it as a digital platform to my leadership articles published weekly in Le Matinal, until my collaboration with the newspaper stopped and I started the one day, one idea motion that led me to publish one article every day for a full year. Then last year was a struggle to keep the pace and the faith. So now, Blogging 101 provides the opportunity to give my blog a new start. Where it will go, I do not know but future and you will tell!

  • The ideal decision making process

    https://unsplash.com/samuelzeller
    https://unsplash.com/samuelzeller

    Day 706 This idea is not mine but Andy Groove’s former CEO of Intel. In his book High Output Management, written in the 80’s, he describes how to create a successful organization and goes through all aspects of management and leadership. For a long time, it has been a model and still is in many aspects, whether you are in manufacturing or not. On all the concepts he describes, the decision-making one is so elegant and simple, it’s the best I came to see. It is described through three steps:

    1. Free discussion. This is probably the most important step. All parties that need to come to a decision need to speak up. They need to provide their concerns and ideas. Free speech is essential and everyone needs to go as deep as possible. Nothing should be left on the table. If the ideas exchange is too shallow, the decision risks to be not that well accepted.
    2. Clear decision. Because the discussion has been to the right depth, consensus is reached with the right balance, having heard all parties.
    3. Full support. Once again, because a consensus has been found and a decision made, all parties need to support the action following the decision. If something has not been said, or things have been left on the table because somebody did not spoke up, it may be necessary to go back to the free discussion step. Pay attention though to not end into an analysis-paralysis infinite loop. Trade-offs have to be made sometimes.

    The interesting piece about this process is the first step. Free speech is essential, therefore the leader of the discussion has to ensure all parties are heard and has to establish a trust environment. If trust is not present, some persons may not feel right to speak up, they may fear retaliation if they disagree. The leader does not have to impose his/her idea but let all parties to talk. It may end up by a decision that is at the opposite to what the leader of the discussion thought at the beginning. So be it, if it’s the best consensus found.

    I am not sure though all companies or group of leaders are ready for this kind of decision-making process. However, to evolve into a growth mindset, this kind of behavior is essential and will contribute to better decision and a more pleasant work environment. Once again, simple, not easy!

  • 5 good reasons to step out of the herd

    https://unsplash.com/alex13
    https://unsplash.com/alex13

    Day 702 In nature, most hunted animals live in herds: gnus, antelopes, buffalos, to name a few. Most hunting animals live in tribes: lions, hyena, or hippos. Some tribes are hunted too of course, but herds are rarely hunters. When it comes to the human animal, the herd and the tribe are generally metaphors. Any human may be part of the herd when it comes to politics, believing the biggest liar, and part of the small tribe that loves paragliding for instance. Admittedly, human herds and tribes are not about hunting, at least not as in life and death, however they are about behaviors, decision-making, and happiness. Some people love to conform and be part of the herd, however most, if not all, belong to one or more tribes they feel good with because it feels good. Politicians have always targeted herds, marketing used to and still is with less and less success, successful businesses are no longer taking care of herds but do their best to penetrate as many tribes as possible. Belonging to a herd gives a feeling of security, this is what society wants us to believe in. As Napoleon Bonaparte rightly said: « The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need. » Some days ago I was writing on being different, being ourselves, not conforming to what society wants to us to conform. Here are 5 good reasons that came to my mind, why the herd mentality has to be avoided to become the true you.

    1. Man is a thinking animal and as such can form his or her own ideas. Use your brain to think and make decisions, do not let others, politicians, businesses, activists decide for you. You are your master!
    2. My needs are different from my neighbor’s. Maslow have defined human needs, and we may all have the same kind at the physiological, safety and love levels. However, when it comes to self-actualization and self-transcendence, their realization is different for each individual. It’s critical to find your path and your tribe.
    3. Success comes to the audacious not to the conformist. Look around you to famous and successful people, they have some characteristics in common, but are mostly weirdos and risk takers.
    4. Happiness is the result of achievement, and achievement does not come without risks. Do things nobody else does, do not listen to the naysayers, feel the thrill of having tested your limits.
    5. Herds are manipulated. Read the quote of Napoleon, it’s the basis of politics, and go back to point number 1.

    Our modern world has reinforced both the herd and the tribe feeling. The herd goes shopping on the Black Friday or on the first day of sales, resulting in really stupid behaviors. Tribes are easily identified and built with social networks, crowdfunding and modern technology. It has never been easier to get rid of a herd and make our own decision. Tribes are becoming far more powerful than herds. Step out of the herd!