Lead In 30 Podcast

How to Capture Your Thoughts & Share Them Powerfully

• Russ Hill

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Effective leaders are powerful communicators. I learned that lesson in a moment of total failure. The CEO of a Fortune 10 company called on me in a meeting and what transpired was a moment that changed how I have showed up in every meeting since then. It was humiliating but transformative. 

In this episode I share the best practices I developed in that moment that have helped me powerfully communicate in discussions with others. See what you think!

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About the podcast:
The Lead In 30 Podcast with Russ Hill is for leaders of teams who want to grow and accelerate their results. In each episode, Russ Hill shares what he's learned consulting executives. Subscribe to get two new episodes every week. To connect with Russ message him on LinkedIn!



Speaker 1:

of all the skills and abilities that are out there, where would you rank the ability to communicate powerfully, like? How important is that in leading others, in selling, in growing an organization, in growing your own career? In this episode, I want to share with you things that I've learned over the years and how to capture your thoughts and share them powerfully.

Speaker 2:

This is the Lead in 30 podcast with Russ Hill.

Speaker 1:

You cannot be serious.

Speaker 2:

Strengthen your ability to lead in less than 30 minutes.

Speaker 1:

Those of you that listen to this podcast on a regular basis know that in college I studied communication. Now, my intention in choosing that major wasn't hey, I want to improve my ability to communicate well in the world of business or in life or whatever. No, that wasn't my intention. It just so happened that I, that the, the degree to uh in journalism to go into the media business, was in the school of communication. So I didn't that that was. My intent was, oh, I want to go into the news businesses, the sports business, whatever, and I want to. Um, I, I. So I got to get a major in journalism and communications and so in, in, in the, the effort or in the pursuit of a career in the media business, which I ended up doing for um almost 20 years. Um, I, I ended up studying communication then, but that wasn't like that helped that? That certainly helped me because and I didn't really enjoy the courses at the time but all of the, the uh classes on writing and English and um speaking and all of that did that did that help me tremendously, more than I knew at the time.

Speaker 1:

And then being in the media business and they give you. You know it was. It was the audio version of Twitter before Twitter existed, right? So they'd say hey, russ, we're going to come to you live at X, y, z location, you're going to report on that, and you've got 30 seconds. You cannot go more than 30 seconds, like you might be able to go 31, but you can't go 38 seconds. I mean, those television and radio broadcast, at least in the in, in in 20 years ago, were were choreographed, scheduled down to the second Cause. We've got to hit this commercial break at that moment. We got to, we got to end the broadcast at that moment. So you can't go over like, and you can't go under like you, you, you can't. We can't give you 30 seconds and you go 15. You've got to take the 30 and or it might be two and a half minutes or, you know, depending on the format, might be seven and a half minutes and um, it's.

Speaker 1:

It's funny because, uh, I was on the, I was I, I flew home the other night and um, and I was talking to our youngest son and and I was telling him, yeah, I had six hours on the stage just solo, like I didn't have anybody else from our firm because we had so much going on at the moment spread out all over, all over, uh, different places, and so I was by myself. I'm like six hours, like how in the world, dad, how did you like? How do you like six hours? Were they dying? Like who? Who has enough to say well, you know, you, you, you practice a lot and it wasn't just me, obviously, speaking for six hours. That would be brutal Anyone for six hours. My job was to facilitate conversation. Anyway, my point is, yeah, it used to be 30 seconds or two and a half minutes. Now it might be six hours, but so I learned how to communicate effectively in in school. But the moment that really really committed me to study communication happened in an executive conference room when I was humiliated, and I want to share that with you in just a moment.

Speaker 1:

Welcome into the Lead in 30 podcast, in less than 30 minutes. In each episode, we give you a tip, a best practice, a story, an example, a framework, a model for you to consider using in your effort to more effectively lead others. Just think about it If you were able to strengthen your ability to lead others, what part of your life would that impact? How would it affect your income? How would it affect the way that your team, the performance of your team how would it affect your ability to grow an organization? How would it affect your ability to grow an organization? How would it affect your relationship? Like it would have a profound effect on every aspect of your life If you got better, if you strengthened your ability to lead others. And so in this podcast, our desire is just to give you some things to think about, and hopefully you're listening to other podcasts too. Hopefully you're reading books. Hopefully you're reading articles. Hopefully you're going to events. Hopefully you're part of mastermind groups or networking groups, or you're going to breakfast or lunch, or you're doing different things and you're you're studying different people that are really effective inside your organization at leading others and outside of your organization, and you're you're just a student of leadership, because if you are committed to getting better at it, it's going to profoundly affect all these areas of your life. You're going to make more money, your organization's going to grow, you're going to be happier. You're just a ton of things. That's why I'm so committed to it. So that's what the lead in 30 podcast is for. If you haven't yet learned or know about our 30 day leadership course called lead in 30, check out lead in 30.com.

Speaker 1:

Okay, by the way, for those of you new to the podcast, my background, what I do for living, is consult and coach senior executive teams of some of the world's biggest companies, amazing organizations, and that's so. I feel like I well, I don't feel like I know that I. I make my living working in a leadership lab. I'm with the company in the manufacturing industry on Tuesday, I'm with the company in the healthcare space on Wednesday or Thursday I'm with a senior executive, and whatever industry it is, and and so you, just you do that week after week after week and year after year after year, and decade after a decade, and you pick up a few things because you're around leaders who suck and you're around leaders who are amazing and you're around leaders that just deliver the status quo and you're around leaders that are transformational and you start to observe things that work, and this is the place where I share them, along with our clients who pay for it and get a lot more than you do in 30 minutes. But that's, that's how it goes.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, let's talk in this episode about communication and the. The experience I had that really brought this home for me, the ability to communicate powerfully was well, I knew it all along. But what really made me think okay, russ, you got to step it up like a lot of notches, like you got to improve your ability to communicate effectively was in a boardroom when I was new to the consulting industry and I was a junior member of the team that our firm had sent to a Fortune 10 company. So I'm in the boardroom, the conference room on the East Coast of the US, with the senior executive team of one of the 10 biggest companies in the world and our firm. You know there are these folks on our team who've got lots of years consulting others. I've got a healthy some might say unhealthy dose of confidence. I'm walking in that you know. Okay, I can bring some value here, but I'm just a junior member of the team, not the youngest, but just my role was to do more listening than speaking at that point in my time at the firm.

Speaker 1:

Well, the CEO decides that at the end of the meeting he's going to go around the room and he's going to call on each person to share an observation or something. He's want some some opinions. So he's going around and he calls on this senior executive and that senior executive, and then he calls on one member of our firm and we're spread out around the room. Then he called they're like three or four of us from our firm and he calls on somebody else and whatever else. Then he gets to me and I'm thinking my job, like I'm in the background here, like you don't even know my name, sir, and uh and whatever else, and so I say to him, when it comes to my point or my turn, he's like so, um, what, um, what, what would you add? Doesn't even know my name, right, just points to me what would you add? And I said, well, actually, um, yeah, this is an interesting conversation, I'm listening to it and I don't have anything to add, something like that. Or, you know, I there's nothing that I would want to share, something like that. And he looks at me with this look of like total disappointment. He's like oh, um, well, that's, that's unfortunate. I don't know exactly what he said. It wasn't that's unfortunate, but it was something like oh well, um, okay, but the sense was disappointment, or really like you got nothing. And in that moment I just wanted to curl up and die. I wanted to like okay, I'm now gonna leave the room because I'm a loser right. I felt so small and it was instantly obvious to me that was the wrong thing to say.

Speaker 1:

Russ, how did you not have anything of value to add? How could you not be prepared in that moment to bring value? You have opinions, you have thoughts, you have observations. Why aren't you fully engaged in this? Why aren't you bringing it? And in that moment, failure is an incredible educator. Success tends to not teach us much, but failure is just an incredible tutor. And so it, it, it, it.

Speaker 1:

It's that moment I failed. I failed our firm, I failed that client, I failed myself. I failed everything. Now, did it have a profound effect on my career? Not at all. I felt everything. Now, did it have a profound effect on my career? Not at all. Did it feel like a huge thing in a moment? Yeah, did that. Did that wound like fester for a? Yeah, like the flight home, like the next week, like for a while, like humiliated thinking man. It's going to take a while before these other colleagues of mine get that out of their head. Like it's going to take a while before I create some. I got to create numerous other experiences to make up for the one I just did like I got to bring massive value, another, because now they're walking away, going, okay, well, not really effective to have him here and um. So it motivated me.

Speaker 1:

That's the beauty of failure. The beauty of it is in the moment. It paralyzes you, in the moment it demoralizes you, in the moment it just drains you like it's just unbelievable, isn't it? Like you just every like the will to continue, the will to I mean just everything drains and you just kind of sitting there, laying there, going this feels horrible, I don't like this. And yet so you're in that moment for a minute or a week or a month or whatever it might be, depending on the magnitude of the failure. And then the beautiful thing about life is then you get to create new experiences. And so I came out of that going never again. So how am I going to solve that? Let me teach you the skill here, because I don't want you ever to to be in a situation where you're you, you aren't representing yourself well, and you will have moments like that. I do too.

Speaker 1:

Failure right, we just just talked about it, but the ability to communicate effectively is so critical and I didn't effectively communicate in that moment. And so when you're in a meeting and it's just your colleagues. You're a member of the team and I want you to show powerfully. When, when you're in an organization and, and, and you're, you're in a position to where you're expected to bring ideas which, by the way, is every position right Then I want you to show powerfully. Well, how do you do that? And some of you struggle with this, and so I just want to teach you some best practices that I've learned, and maybe this will be helpful to you. And it begins with you're going to laugh at this, but it's what works for me, it begins with a sheet of paper. Yeah, that's what it begins with.

Speaker 1:

So for me, it begins with a sheet of paper, and what I have to do is be fully present in the moment. I'm not going to bring a lot of value if I'm in a meeting or in a discussion or on a call with you or in a virtual meeting and I'm doing four other things, not going to show up powerfully because you don't have my full attention. And I do that from time to time because there are certain circumstances that I think that's okay to do it in not a lot, but there are some that's okay to do it in. Not a lot, but there are some. So it's sometimes that's okay, but some of you do that all the time and you've got so much distraction and so much, so many things going through your mind and so many notifications and so many things, and you're looking at the phone and you're on that device and you're on your laptop or you're looking at that thing and so you're not bringing value. How could you? You're not focused on the here and now.

Speaker 1:

So it begins for me, the most effective thing in this day and age is an old fashioned sheet of paper, because it's got no ability to have notifications, it's got no alerts, it's got no wifi, it's got no signal, it's got no connectivity, and it makes it powerful, it helps me be powerful and so it makes me present. And so what I'm doing in the conversation that's happening is I'm jotting down notes, and then for me, the system I use is I'm, I'm like, like I'll make the way I take notes in a meeting or a conversation or whatever else. I do this on my computer too, like in a virtual meeting, but if I'm in a, in a in-person meeting, it's on a, it's on a sheet of paper and, um, although I do it sometimes in virtual mini too, but so I and I, the way I take notes is bullet points, just bullet point, and then I write down this bullet point, write down this bullet point, write down this. And then, as I get through those, I'm circling one that seems pretty profound, like oh, that was a really big thing, or underline it. Okay, that was, that's a really big takeaway from what Mike's saying right now, or what Lisa's presenting, or what, or what that person is presenting, or the data that we're reviewing or whatever. So I'm circling that thing and so, and then, and then off to the side, in the margin. This is what works for me. I'm just giving you ideas I want and I'll get to the broader idea and principle here in a moment Then what I'm doing is I'm I'm preparing and summarizing. Okay, based on this half hour that I've been listening to Lisa report out, or based on this 20 minute data review, or whatever it is, what are my two or three biggest takeaways? So, either circle something, or in the margin, or to the side, I write down, I just number one, number two what are my biggest observations from what we've been talking about? And I am prepared at almost any moment for you to call on me and to come to me and say, hey, russ, what are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 1:

And, by the way, it is rare and those of you that my colleagues and people that have been around me a lot or or been in meetings or clients, would be able to tell you this is how I operate and it was worked really well for me. And communicating powerfully. There's lots of things I suck at. There are lots of things I need to work, work at and that I don't really exceed. Excel at communicating powerfully is not one of them. I'm not the world's best, but I'm better than most it is. It is constantly identified by clients of ours, by people around me, as one of my strengths. There are a million weaknesses, things that I suck at. This one I'm at okay, and I'm always working on getting better at it, and so I'm sharing with you some best practices that have worked for me.

Speaker 1:

And so when I'm in the meeting, I'm rarely the first to speak, why? Cause I've got to collect my thoughts. I'm observing, I'm listening, I'm I'm letting other people react. I'm I'm listening to them and I'm kind of forming a position or my two or three takeaways from this discussion and then they're either making the case for me and I'm going to come back to the data, or they're saying things that that can conflict with what I'm my two or three observations. So I'm listening to it, I'm thinking, ok, it's good, really good that I'm hearing this right now, because I'm hearing the argument against the position that I'm developing, I'm open-minded to it and, as you've listened to in recent episodes, I'm staying free as much as possible from emotion in this conversation. It's just data, and so I am rarely. Now. If it's something massive or whatever and I've got energy associated with it, or I think that we're wasting time on this, that or the other, then I'll weigh in earlier, but that's rare. It's rare because I might not need.

Speaker 1:

I was in a meeting just the other day where I thought, ah gosh, I don't know that we need to be spending time on this and I, and then I hesitated to say anything because I thought, oh gosh, I don't know that we need to be spending time on this. And then I hesitated to say anything because I thought, russ, that's your perspective, but for this member of your team, they need time on this, they need to go through this. They need us to spend 15 minutes on this. So let them do it. It's not just about what you need. They need the time on this, they need to process this. They need to say it out loud. They need the time on this, they need to process this. They need to say it out loud. They need to work through this.

Speaker 1:

So, even though you feel like gosh, why are we spending time in this meeting on this topic, like we don't need to be? There's like a million other things that I think we should be talking about. It shouldn't be that. I just took a deep breath and went it's not about you all the time. This is what I'm saying in my mind. This is the mental. This meeting is for them as well, and so they. This person feels the need to talk about this. Let them we're not going to, don't let them go like an hour, but let them take 15 minutes. And, by the way, that's all they took. They took like 10 minutes, got through it and, as they were saying it out loud and the other team members were reacting, they instantly changed their position Like yeah, I'm not sure this is the most important Like they got there on their own. So much more effective than me going. Excuse me, hang on a second. I don't know why. Like me, 10 years ago totally would have been like, hey, hang on. Like 30 seconds to them speaking hey, why are we going there? I don't think this is really what we ought to be talking about right now. I want to cut them off and it would have been the terrible experience for them, like gosh can't even say anything and he's fricking moving on.

Speaker 1:

We teach this in lead in 30 as a second leader. This is my default position of second leader. If I aren't, if I'm not working at all, if I just show up in my default position and the way that I lead others second leader, what we call the general in the lead in 30 course, which is somebody that's a micromanages, somebody that's all about results, somebody that moves at a million miles an hour, somebody that makes decisions instantaneously and challenge and struggles to bring people along, struggles to build alignment and struggles to create engagement on the team, because they're moving at such a fast pace and they're so driven that the rest of the team's like can I just breathe and say something? And so that's my default position. How did I become that way? I don't know, but I am, and so if I show up default, then I cut that person off 30 seconds in. Hey, I don't know why we're spending time on this, isn't there something whatever? And they walk away going that sucked. And they, they have that deflated moment the rest of the meeting, they can't focus on anything and they nod and they act nice and professional like it wasn't a big deal, but they leave going man, he's a jerk. Or they leave going gosh, that that didn't go well. I didn't feel like I represented myself well.

Speaker 1:

Where, if I, just if I work on, if I'm intentional on which I was in that moment, what we call being the third leader, showing up as a leader that creates ownership and engagement through that we, you know, we teach those core competencies in the lead in 30 course, but in and so what I do is I go oh, this isn't about me, they need time to digest this. The team probably needs time to. So, okay, I'm going to listen to this. So, um, a little aside there because it happens, and so I'm sharing as they're speaking, I'm writing down okay, well, what are my takeaways from this? Well, it's this, this and this, and then my default position is to probably say those in two declarative of a sentence. So a lot of times I say I, I'm my, my default is I think this no, or we need to no, or we ought to no, ineffective.

Speaker 1:

So when I'm showing up effectively, powerfully, what I'll say is one thought or one thing we might consider, or something that I was thinking about that I'd love your reaction to. And then they'll call me hey Russ, do you have something to add to this? Or I'm just wondering what you think of, what you think about this topic. Great, yeah, I got two thoughts. They're right there on my sheet of paper and they're concise, and I don't word vomit on them, I just keep it concise. And so it's these two thoughts.

Speaker 1:

So, in order to communicate powerfully, a couple of other things that I would, I would have you consider. So in a meeting or in a discussion, I would, I would take notes and I would, I would look for two or three things that are observations, opinions, insights, reactions that you could share at the appropriate time. That keeps you fully engaged in the conversation and it causes you to show up powerfully and the shorter that sentence can be. So, my, yeah, I have two thoughts about this. It's this and this, this. The shorter that sentence is the better. Um, you know what I mean. Your track went beyond that. Then I I want to, I want to broaden this out to a few other, a few other uh things for you to to consider. I wouldn't just do that in a meeting and this is, this is something I do and it works really well for me and maybe it will for you too.

Speaker 1:

I try to journal or capture two or three things that I've learned this week. I try to when I read a book or I listen to a podcast episode, that's. You know, there's some podcasts that I listen to just purely for entertainment, just mental distraction. Allow me to disengage for a minute. Allow me to whatever something for a minute. Allow me to whatever something that it might be sports, it might be politics recently with the election, might be whatever. I'm not listening to stuff that's going to get a lot of emotion out of me, make me worked up, ticked off or whatever. I'm mostly looking for entertainment, right and escape. Some of you watch tv. You do different things.

Speaker 1:

For me it's a podcast or it's a book, or it's an article.

Speaker 1:

I'm not talking about the entertainment part.

Speaker 1:

I'm talking about no podcast I'm listening to to gain insight from. I'm talking about a book that I'm reading, or an article or whatever that's. That's that I'm I'm reading or I'm consuming to help me be better in some way, and so I try to capture, well, what are the two or three main ideas I got out of that book? What are the two or three things I heard in that podcast episode that really stood out to me? What are the two or three things that I'm going to prioritize next week, based on trying to make progress toward a certain outcome that I desire? What are the two or three things that I'm really going to try to accomplish, whatever it's this concept of two or three things that I'm really going to try to accomplish, whatever it's this concept of two or three things that cause us to be powerful.

Speaker 1:

And then when you ask me, hey, yeah, russ, you read any good books lately, I can come back to you and say, yeah, actually this one. Oh, what would you like about it? Well, two things. This is two things. Hey, russ, it well two things. It's these two things. Hey, russ, what you know? What? What do you think we should be prioritizing at the firm next week? Well, I'll tell you what I'm working on these two things, these two or three things next week.

Speaker 1:

Hey, russ, what are the insights you have in this meeting, or what do you think about that thing, or what should be our top priority in 2025, or what you whatever it's these two or three things constantly looking to, and then I can communicate them. What'd you get out of that? What'd you think about this? What do you think about that? I, it's funny. I mean, I do this in all areas. I'm a geek about it. We go to a movie as a family. I'm walking out in the family, some big dialogue around. I love there was amazing or whatever. And they, finally, they'll come to me. Hey, dad, what'd you think about the man I'm like well, these two things. I'm telling you I'm a geek about it.

Speaker 1:

I thought this, or it might just be one headline, sometimes it's just one. I thought it was really the yada, yada, yada, but whatever. Okay, and it's just concise. The fewer words you use. The more you've thought about that, the better.

Speaker 1:

So, on the next call that's scheduled with your boss or with your team, what are the two or three things that you want to get across to the team on that call? What are the two or three things you took away from the call that you just had with your boss. What are the two or three things that you got it and then so you're capturing those thoughts? Just two or three. You got to narrow it down Now.

Speaker 1:

I don't start with two or three on the sheet of paper. I've got 10, I've got 20, but then I'm circling the ones. Oh, no, it's that's it. How could I, how could I reword that and make it even more powerful? Oh, basically what I'm saying there is I'm not sure that we've got the right strategy. Oh, that's a powerful way to communicate that. Or I, I'm thinking that we need to do this, and then I'm ready and I'm showing up for that call, that meeting, that interview, that market visit, that whatever with those things. That, in my experience, is how you capture your thoughts and share them powerfully, and I'll talk to you in the next episode of the Lead in 30 podcast.

Speaker 2:

Share this episode with a colleague, your team or a friend. Tap on the share button and text the link. Thanks for listening to the Lead in 30 podcast with Russ Hill.