The Bullseye Principle

Introduction

In order to succeed, we must first believe we can.

—MICHAEL KORDA

Truth be told, we never intended to write the book you are now holding in your hands. After completing our first book, The Pin Drop Principle, we thought we had said everything we wanted to say on the subject of communication skills and becoming a more influential speaker. But in the years since its release, as we traveled the world training and coaching executives across various industries, something interesting started to happen. We began to notice distinct shifts in the way people were communicating with one another, how they were presenting information and new ways in which they were managing their teams. Communication in the corporate arena was changing and many of the old ways were no longer proving useful. One study found that people interact with their cell phones—touching, tapping, swiping—an average of 2,617 times a day.¹ Another study revealed that 67 percent of people felt that the meetings they attended at their job were generally a waste of time² and a third study found that 65 percent of workers wanted to receive more feedback from their managers because they were not getting what they needed.³ We suddenly realized it was time to revisit some of the concepts we had touched upon previously and explore them in greater detail, to further the conversation and continue to untangle the intricacies of human communication and the ways in which people interact with one another.

And then the ...