Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead_. But Gutsy Girls Do - Kate White [98]
The first is to anticipate their objections and present them as your own. Sure you could wait for them to raise them and then sound brilliantly prepared as you counter, but that creates a you-versus-them situation. Don't let it get to that. Say something like “Now, of course, a major concern with this approach would be X, but as I investigated, I learned that it wasn't really a problem.”
The next is to whip out the visual aids. When I went to management consultant Judy Markus to learn how to give better presentations, she told me that her philosophy is to use visual tools any time you possibly can, even when you're pitching a small idea to your boss rather than giving a major presentation. The first time I tried this strategy with my boss I felt kind of silly, as if I'd asked him at lunch if he needed me to cut up his meat for him.
But I soon saw how effective it was. Most people, no matter how smart, aren't capable of hearing your idea and then mentally conjuring up how fabulous it will be. The more you can help them along with visuals, the better. I don't mean lots of tedious black-and-white overheads, but rather nifty, colorful charts and pictures.
The third thing you've got to do is seem fiercely passionate—and unfortunately, that can be hard to do when you're nervous. I've found that fear tends to sit on the pan of the brain that produces enthusiasm, resulting in a monotone delivery and no spark.
Just last year, I learned a fabulous new trick for letting your passion through. An ad agency was making a presentation to us at McCall's on a possible campaign to solicit subscribers. Several people at the agency gave background information and then the senior copywriter, Karen Mischke, stood up to present the actual idea. The concept was strong, but what really helped hook us was her delivery. It was so good, in fact, that I called her later and asked her what her secret was.
She said that someone once had taught her that when presenting an idea you should always try to share with the listener the “process” you'd been through in developing the idea. It not only relaxes you to do so, because it's like telling a story, but it also adds credibility—you've obviously done your research and considered all the angles.
In Mischke's case, she started off telling us that she was in many ways exactly like the women who would be getting the direct-mail campaign for McCall's. Her mother had read McCall's and she had assumed it was a magazine for older women. When she opened it she was surprised to discover that it was geared for women in their thirties and forties. She talked about the articles she liked and how she would use the advice in her own life.
Mischke laughingly told me that sharing the process was really what Melanie Griffith had done in one of the classic scenes in Working Girl. “Remember,” she said, “when Melanie's character, Tess, gets found out, but the head guy of Trask Industry gives her the chance to prove that the great idea was hers, not Sigourney Weaver's? Tess explains how she clipped a story from Fortune on how Trask was considering branching into broadcasting and then she saw the gossip columnist's story on the radio deejay and so she starts putting these ideas together in her mind until she thinks, What about Trask getting into radio? The guy is mesmerized listening to her and then thoroughly convinced. She took him through her thinking process and that made all the difference.”
HOW TO STAY COOL UNDER PRESSURE
You've set everything in motion and now you must wait for the results. Terrifying, isn't it?
When a good girl finally takes a risk, she is likely to project about the future, imagining the absolute worst that could happen. She might tell herself she's preparing for all possible outcomes and therefore it's a healthy exercise—but it's not.
Sandy Hill Pittman, an adventurer and mountaineer whose