How to Influence Anyone, Anywhere, Every Time

PART IIDESIGN

From an interview with a middle manager in the fast‐moving consumer goods industry.

I'm embarrassed to acknowledge this, but in the past, my so‐called design was a slide deck with speaker notes linked to each slide. I would click through the slides and read the notes aloud. In my defence, I thought this was how it was supposed to be done. What I now realise is that effective design is done way before we even consider slides or visual aids. I now find I hardly ever use slides because my design is so on point, so clear, so compelling that the slides become a hindrance rather than of value.

The world’s greatest theatre experiences start with words on a page. Multibillion‐dollar blockbuster movies start with a script, a design, of the narrative and scenes. Iconic fashion is drawn first, by hand, onto sheets of paper.

Communication is no different. Design is fundamental to success. We are not simply dumping data, we are bringing meaning, value and illumination into the heads, hearts and gut of everyone who is listening to us in any and every communication context. Let's learn how.

The 12 steps (no alcohol involved)

In every communication situation, we follow a structure. Most of the time this is not consciously done; it's more or less copied from those who have gone before us.

We were talking to young banking graduates after one of our programs when one of them, Xiang, asked ‘Why are meetings run the way they are? Is there a best practice approach? I personally ...