235: The Big Perspective Is Needed When Presenting

<p>The podium is a powerful place for powerful ideas.  The audience has no idea what you are going to say and where you are going to take them during your presentation.  In Japan, at least, they will politely hear you out until the end and then perhaps offer up a question or two.  For the thirty or forty minutes allotted to you, you are the master of the universe, omnipotent over all seated before you.  And what have you done with this remarkable opportunity so far?  Not that much I would reckon.</p> <p> </p> <p>In business we are very pragmatic, practical, down to earth, focused.  No one expects a businessperson to be giving a fiery, impassioned call to storm the Bastille and put the heads of useless politicians and leaders on pikes to be paraded through the town square.  In fact, we bend over backward to be apolitical on the basis that we have customers of various allegiances and beliefs and we don’t want to upset our revenues or hurt our brand.</p> <p> </p> <p>This tends to breed a focus on the details of elements of our business when we speak.  We might be doling out useful advice based on our own experiences to date.  It is all kept pretty locked down, neutral and safe.  We don’t challenge ourselves and so don’t challenge our audience either.  This is not varsity, where a lot of airy fairy stuff can be debated for intellectual stimulation.  This is the real world.</p> <p> </p> <p>The only issue with this “steady as she goes” model is we don’t push ourselves to go higher.  We focus on what we know and have seen, instead on what could be imagined.  We don’t try to think about issues at a more holistic level, to take a local company issue and elevate it to a conundrum facing the industry.  We don’t try to project our intellects to a higher plane of thinking because we are caught up in the weeds of the detail of our speech.  We spend vastly more time deciding the order of our sides than on any big idea.</p> <p> </p> <p>This doesn’t mean our business speech has to whir off on a philosophical tangent far removed f