ideas

Creating Gravitas: Some lessons from last night's Q&A: Watching the abc's Q&A last night got us thinking about gravitas and how it's created or destroyed through behaviour. The show's panel format lends itself beautifully to behavioural analysis and has many parallels with the boardroom environment. In both, people need to have impact in a group of intelligent, high-profile people. So who had gravitas? Why? Read on to see how Germain Greer and Joe Hildebrand fared...

The Shape of Stories: People often say you need to 'tell a story' to make your communication compelling. But what does that mean?

The Social Media Revolution: Social media is something of a buzzword these days – everyone’s throwing it around and saying that businesses need to be a part of it, but do any of us really know what that means?

Change your words, change your world: Why is it that some messages resonate more than others? Check out this short film to see the effect compelling language can have on the way we think...

Leadership in the Spotlight: “Much has been said and written about Anna Bligh in recent days. Some of it unthinkable hyperbole, as if tears maketh the leader. On closer analysis the Queensland Premier taught even the most cynical among us something about the intangible qualities of leadership”.

50 office-speak phrases you love to hate: Management speak - don't you just hate it? Emphatically yes! The response says it all. Click here to hear our thoughts on those slick and supposedly high impact phrases we hear bandied around the office on a daily basis; including tips for engaging and inspiring your audience.

A Rob Oakeshott Masterclass, or How to Kill your Audience Slowly: Picture this. You have the attention of the Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition, the general public, most of the nation's journalists, some of the international media and heads of state from around the world. Every one of them is watching and listening as you announce a decision that will change the fate of the nation. Public speaking gigs don’t get much more important than this. Nail it, and you’ve established yourself as a person of influence and authority; a strong leader worthy of the esteem of a nation and the position of power you hold. Mess it up, and you’ve done some serious damage to your personal brand and potentially your future career prospects. So how did Independent MP Rob Oakeshott respond to the pressure of this unique situation…

‘When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war’… or How NOT to use PowerPoint: This was the sardonic response of General Stanley McChrystal, the US and NATO Force Commander, when confronted with a colour-coded flowchart with 4 point font intended to shed light on security, economic and political conditions in Afghanistan. It seems the US army is facing the same chronic abuse at the hands of PowerPoint which inflicts many of us in the corporate world. So in an effort to rescue audiences from further mistreatment, these are our tips for effective, engaging PowerPoint presentations...

We are currently recruiting: We are looking for talented, passionate, committed people to develop and deliver skill development programs and executive coaching specialising in persuasive communication strategies and skills. Read on for more details & how to submit an application.

Using Stories to Engage: Stories help us to understand our world and connect with people. Here are two unique approaches to storytelling to feed your imagination.