One Minute Pause no 18
Imagine you’re giving a presentation to 10 people in a boardroom.
You pause for a moment, look at the audience and there’s a sea of blank faces looking back at you.
Worse still, there’s two people yawning, a few people planning their next holiday, and one who’s just nipped out to the loo.
If […]

One Minute Pause no 17
Simeon, a highly paid marketing director for one of Murdoch’s media publications, recently asked me for some help after missing out on a dream role at a rival publication.
During our 2 hour meeting it became clear that he was brilliant at his job - in only 18 months he had turned […]

One Minute Pause no 16
Take a moment to think of the people who you know with charisma.
Maybe it’s someone at work, or a celebrity, or one of your mates who always seem to be driving the next exciting day out.
Got a picture in your mind of the type of person I’m talking about?
Charisma is the […]

One Minute Pause no 15
I’ve taken a break from the topic of spoken communication (just for a week).
Instead, I’ve compiled 5 business books that you really must read.
Twice.
In fact it’s not fair for me to say that I compiled the list.
They’re mainly your suggestions (thanks for all your great ideas).
So, if you haven’t read them, […]

One Minute Pause no 14
There once was a kindly researcher called Mahrabian who hit on an idea.
He wanted to study the effects of body language on verbal meaning.
He set out to answer the following question: How much meaning do people get solely from words, and how much more meaning do they get combined with […]

One Minute Pause no 13
I am currently reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.
It’s all about how our unconscious minds make snap decisions for us that we can’t always explain.
Here’s an example: As a doctor, the risk of being sued for malpractice has very little to do with how many mistakes you actually make.
There are highly […]

One Minute Pause no 12
Just in case you’ve flown back from the Congo today after enjoying 3 months in a tent, here’s some news: there’s a national election going on in Britain at the moment.
(If you are sick of hearing about politics, skip down to The Human Factor subhead).
In the hallowed halls of Natural Training […]

One Minute Pause No 11
There’s something magical about the number 3.
Let me explain.
We live in an over communicated society.
There’s advertising everywhere.
Sometimes I wander from the bedroom to the bathroom half-expecting an advertiser to have bought the floor space. (”Have you thought about new around-the-rim Domestos?).
In response to this over-communication, there’s a part of our mind […]

One Minute Pause No 10
By now we all know about Google. We all use it - frequently.
But what exactly is it about Google that has made it such a name?
People vary on the answer, but one thing is certain:
Google, like any search engine worth its salt, makes sense of the web.
As you know, the […]

One Minute Pause No 9
A few years ago the management at Toyota had a problem.
They found that every week, an entire Tuesday afternoon, from 12:30pm - 6:30pm was tied up in the weekly management meeting.
The problem wasn’t that the meetings lacked value - they did give everyone an insight into how the manufacturer was operating, […]