Life's a Pitch

In my one of my earlier posting, I have discussed about the importance of good communications and presentation skills in any jobs. Many brilliant ideas were not implemented simply because it was not communicated in the right way. I have also seen many good technical people who are poor in presentation skills and I really do sympathise with them. As such, I have found a good  book on making presentations or in advertising terms, pitching. This book by Stephen Bayley & Roger Mavity give guidance to anyone who requires to communicate their ideas to others (who doesn't?).

Some of the key points which I personally like are summarised below for your reading pleasure:

1) To pitch successfully, you have to understand that it's not about widening someone's knowledge base, it's about giving them a jolting power surge to their emotional electricity.

2) Great pitches are designed not as information but as storytelling.

3) Watching people working on pitches, I'm often struck by how easily they get obsessed with detail. Which, inevitably, means that they are not looking at the big picture - particularly whether there is a clear shape to their argument.

4) British army and their rubric for good communication - say what you're going to say, say it, say it again.

5) Don't concentrate on the data, concentrate on the problem.

6) When you construct your pitch, construct it as a story - not just any story, but a story of problem and resolution.

7) A good pitch starts with a crystal-clear exposition of the problem you are trying to solve. Then elaborate. The purpose of this stage is plain: it is to make your audience gut-wrenchingly, suicidally miserable about the scale of their problem.

Why? Because a doctor who cures a headache will be remembered for a moment, but a doctor who cures a cancer will be remembered for a lifetime.

8) The key to understanding pitching is to understand that it is the pitcher who is on trial, not the presentation (This is an interesting point. The Authors emphasizes the importance of the presenter and very often, people are judging the presenter on his confidence, body language, etc. more than the content of the presentation itself. Therefore, to present well, you have to present yourself well!)

9) Winners, like any other category of human being, come in all shapes and sizes. Yet, they do tend to have four things in common:

a) They set their sights high; they are ambitious.
b) They are pragmatic. Ambitious they may be, but they are not dreamers.
c) They concentrate on the big issues. They get others to do the detail.
d) They keep it simple.

(Do you have the above traits?)

10) When faced with a problem you'll achieve far more by getting on and doing something than by searching endlessly for perfection.

There is no truer dictum than 'a bad decision on Monday makes more money than a good decision on Friday'.

(I agree strongly with this point that we need to be decisive in our role as leaders. However, I also think that we must do some "acting" in front of client and pretends that we arrive at our decisions after careful considerations and covering all angles. This is because some people have the impression that fast decision making is rash and is not well-thought of. They need to read Malcolm Gladwell's Blink).

11) Part of the magic of reading a good book is that the reader brings his imagination into play, and so adds to the story. If your pitch works well, the same thing will happen. Your audience will get involved and start to add their own light and shade. That's when you know you've won.

12) When you write a pitch, be sure that you have a powerful idea at its core. Then be sure that the central idea is crystal clear to your audience - because if it's not vivid to them, it might as well not be there.

The Authors call it the 'cornerstone slide".

13) Be sure your pitch has a strong central idea. Be sure it is encapsulated well in one slide. Then use that cornerstone slide in your delivery to dramatize the simplicity and strength of your promise.

14) Have a summary; keep it clear; keep it simple. Above all, put it at the end of the pitch, where it keeps the power with you, the pitcher.

15) When people are asked to back a plan, in reality they are being asked to back the person behind the plan. That's why trust and confidence are so important. If the person asking the question is the kind of person which inspires confidence, he is likely to get the answer he wants. So the ability to radiate confidence is crucial. 

16) How can you radiate confidence? First, by not trying too hard. The clever pitcher finds ways of demonstrating that his previous work and his previous experience should encourage his audience to trust him for the future.

17) Confidence is also about dealing with your audience as if you are an equal, not a supplicant. So your tone and your body language must suggest that we are all looking at this problem as equals together.

18) The audience must always feel that you can live without them. There's nothing more sexy than a hint of hard-to-get, and there is nothing less sexy than being too eager to please.

19) Confidence is also tied up with simplicity. If you express yourself simply, it inspires confidence. The more complex the reassurances you give, the less reassuring you become.

20) Get the content of the presentation absolutely right first!

21) Confidence is infectious.

22) The one technique to avoid at any price is to present by giving everyone in the group a bound book of the presentation slides, and taking them through it page by page.

23) When you lose control you lose everything.

24) The question of speakers using notes. It's very simple: Don't.

25) If you want to make it feel long and tedious, there is no better way than to read out every word on a slide.

26) Never, ever read out the slides.

27) When someone asks you a question, look at them.

28) An interview is just like any other pitch - if you are going to be successful, you need to define very clearly what success looks like for that particular pitch.

29) All pitches need an element of reassurance and an element of excitement.

30) Numbers may be how you keep the score, but they aren't how you play the game. What drives business success is emotion: passion, greed, ambition, determination, courage.

31) If you can do it, then do it. If you can't do it, then learn how to do it. But don't put your trust in someone who tells others how to, but never has himself.

32) What constitutes a good CV?

a) First, make it short. Very short.
b) Second, think what the new job is, think what you have done, and find ways to link them.
c) Third, analyse your strengths and weaknesses, then find ways to overcome the weak points and emphasize the good.
d) Fourth, show your personality.
e) Fifth, don't say anything about your private life unless you can make it interesting.
f) Sixth, get a designer to help you make it look distinctive.
g) Lastly, don't be embarassed to include a photo of yourself.

33) Pitching is a theatre where the potency of emotions counts for far, far more than the aridity of statistics, information and analysis.

34) Cut away the fat and never forget that your audience want one big answer, not fifteen little ones.

35) The psychology of pitching:

a) The pitcher must deal with his audience's fear of loss and risk.
b) The pitcher must excite them (his audience).
c) It's about the removal of negatives and the creation of positives.

36) Understanding that the transfer of power in a pitch is a two-way street is massively important.

37) In relationships (with friends, new acquaintances, etc.), the key is to drop your ambition to be known as a good talker, and embrace the ambition of being known as a good listener instead.

38) On charismastic people: First, they aren't afraid to be different from the rest of us. And second, but very important, they look as if they are enjoying themselves.

39) People with charisma follow their own path. And they have fun doing it.

40) Passion matters!

41) Don't aim to get things done and not offend someone somewhere. You can't do both.

42) Basic disciplines of a good pitch:

a) Find a calm space to think in.
b) Remember that people's emotions count for more than logic.
c) Think through your proposition before you spell it out.
d) Articulate it in the simplest way.
e) Don't go for an unattainable perfect solution, go for what works.
f) Focus on what it means to them, not on what it means to you.

43) A gentleman, it used to be said, is someone who is never rude...unintentionally.

44) The best possible test for psychological health is the ability to get on with other people.

45) Emotions are twice as important as facts in the consumer's decision-making process.

46) On seduction, or, how to get to yes: Subtlety is more likely to bring results than a brutal approach. To disguise something is, in effect, to draw attention to it.

47) People who lack confidence are great votaries of the 'no' function in man: they are always ready with a reason why some suggested strategem is impossible, difficult or merely just uncomfortable.

48) People who lack confidence are terrified of being wrong. (I agree whole-heartedly. This is why you see successful people as positive people while many others are very negative. Everything seems impossible to them. We must train our thinking towards making it happen rather than seeing impossible obstacles all the time. Ability to perceive obstacles is good as long as we work towards overcoming them).

49) Everybody knows, after Disraeli, the confident person's motto: 'Never complain and never explain',...........'Your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.' Confident people never make excuses.

50) Eleanor Roosevelt: 'You must do the thing you think you cannot do'.

51) The confident person finds insecurity stimulating and opportunity exciting.

52) Charisma means brimful of confidence, the ability to win the assent of any audience. Or to win a pitch.

53) Poet Jean Lorrain: 'A bad reputation never did anyone any harm'. With respect, a little malice can be useful and enjoyable.

54) In a business culture if everybody thinks it's a good idea, then - whatever it is - it probably isn't.

55) Thomas Watson, founder of IBM: 'If you want to succeed, double your failure rate'.

56) You can also win an unfair advantage just by accumulating more ideas and information than the next man.

In summary: This is a good book on pitching (or making presentations and communications). I find it useful as I have seen many presentations which are cluttered and not well-structured. Audience simply lose interest after a few slides. The book highlights many important points to make a good presentation and it also made it clear that the presenter himself is also important (if not the most important). Therefore, in our journey through work and life, we must continuously improve our skills and bring confidence and joy to the people we meet. Doesn't the world looks brighter already with all the possibilities out there?

Good luck. And one more point, if you happen to meet the girl of your dreams, remember to make your pitch (not with a whiteboard, but with your conversations, charm, etc.) an interesting, exciting and most important a two-way process. Also, a little bit of mystery and subtlety will help. I know it works ;)

The Essays of Warren Buffet: Lessons for Investors and Managers

After the high of my first posting, sleeping is quite difficult. As such, would like to post my review on the book about the legendary Warren Buffet. The reason I picked this book is that the content is by Mr. Buffet himself and not interpreted by another person. That way, I hope to understand the principles practised by Warren Buffet himself and of course, to implement it in my investment and management duties.



Although the book is not that easy to read as it is a compilation of essays published by Warren Buffet in annual reports, letters to shareholders, etc., however, Lawrence Cunningham has done an excellent job in compiling the essays according to topics and aspiring investors and leaders will benefit from the insights of the legendary investor. Here, I would like to share some insights from reading the book:

1) If we have good long-term expectations, short-term price changes are meaningless for us except to the extent they offer us an opportunity to increase our ownership at an attractive price.

2) Major additional investment in a terrible industry usually is about as rewarding as struggling in quicksand.

3) The CEO who misleads others in public may eventually mislead himself in private.

4) Charlie and I (Warren Buffet) tend to be leery of companies run by CEOs who woo investors with fancy predictions.

5) Three suggestions for investors: First, beware of companies displaying weak accounting. Second, unintelligible footnotes usually indicate untrustworthy management. Finally, be suspicious of companies that trumpet earnings projections and growth expectations.

6) Managers that always promise to "make the numbers" will at some point be tempted to make up the numbers.

7) Many people who are smart, articulate and admired have no real understanding of business. That's no sin; they may shine elsewhere. But they don't belong on corporate boards.

8) David Ogilvy of Ogilvy & Mather: "If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But, if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants."

9) My (Warren Buffet) conclusion from my own experiences and from much observation of other businesses is that a good managerial record (measured by economic returns) is far more a function of what business boat you get into than it is of how effectively you row (though intelligence and effort help considerably, of course, in any business, good or bad). Should you find yourself in a chronically-leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.

10) Warren Buffet's old friend: "If you want to get a reputation as a good businessman, be sure to get into a good business."

11) It is better to be approximately right than precisely wrong.

12) As time goes on, I (Warren Buffet) get more and more convinced that the right method in investment is to put fairly large sums into enterprises which one thinks one knows something about and in the management of which one thoroughly believes. It is a mistake to think that one limits one's risk by spreading too much between enterprises about which one knows little and has no reason for special confidence. One's knowledge and experience are definitely limited and there are seldom more than two or three enterprises at any given time in which I personally feel myself entitled to put full confidence.

13) Most bosses rise to the top because they have excelled in an area such as marketing, production, engineering, administration or, sometimes, institutional politics. Once they become CEOs, they face new responsibilities. They now must make capital allocation decisions, a critical job that they may have never tackled and that is not easily mastered. (I like this point because I have seen many CEOs who are good in their field of expertise especially in technical fields such as engineering and they find themselves overwhelmed not because of their incompetence but because they loved their technical expertise so much that they are not willing to let go and run the risk of being labelled a businessman and not a good engineer, doctor, etc. Somehow, to be a good businessman implies someone with low moral values while a professional (e.g. doctor, accountant, engineer, etc.) is automatically deemed to be a person of strong ethical values. Anyway, I believe we can always be a good businessman with good ethics and social responsibility.)

14) We (Berkshire) select our marketable equity securities in much the way we would evaluate a business for acquisition in its entirety. We want the business to be one (a) that we can understand; (b) with favorable long-term prospects; (c) operated by honest and competent people; and (d) available at a very attractive price.

15) Growth benefits investors only when the business in point can invest at incremental returns that are enticing-in other words, only when each dollar used to finance the growth creates over a dollar of long-term market value.

16) An intelligent investor in common stocks will do better in the secondary market than he will do buying new issues.

17) Your goal as an investor should simply be to purchase, at a rational price, a part interest in an easily-understandable business whose earnings are virtually certain to be materially higher five, ten and twenty years from now.

18) If you aren't willing to own a stock for ten years, don't even think about owning it for ten minutes.

19) Many investors have had experiences (in stock market) ranging from mediocre to disastrous. There have been three primary causes: first, high costs, usually because investors traded excessively or spent far too much on investment management; second, portfolio decisions based on tips and fads rather than on thoughtful, quantified evaluation of businesses; and third, a start-and-stop approach to the market marked by untimely entries (after an advance has been long underway) and exits (after periods of stagnation or decline). Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies.

20) They (investors) should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful (the famous quote by Warren Buffet. In real life, it is quite difficult to implement it unless you are confident of your research and have carried out your homework. Of course, it is also important that you are not betting your entire life savings in a particular stock. That is not investing and is gambling (stating the obvious). My approach in implementing this principle of Warren Buffet is like saving money. I put aside a small sum (comfortable sum) and invest in companies which satisfies Warren Buffet's criteria and will tends to invest more when others are fearful and "cash-out" when others are greedy).

21) In a difficult business, no sooner is one problem solved than another surfaces - never is there just one cockroach in the kitchen.

22) When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.

23) Charlie and I (Warren Buffet) have not learned how to solve difficult business problems. What we have learned is to avoid them.

24) I (Warren Buffet) to go into business only with people whom I like, trust, and admire (This statement sounds simple but those who have gone through it will appreciate the wisdom behind it. I have witnessed how difficult it is if you do business with people whom you dont like, trust and admire. It will simply breaks down and the many hours which can be better spent will end up spending it on matters such as arguing, damage control, etc. I have seen partners suffering gastric and many other health problems simply because they cannot get along with another partner).

25) The most common cause of low prices is pessimism - sometimes pervasive, sometimes specific to a company or industry. We want to do business in such an environment, not because we like pessimism but because we like the prices it produces. It's optimism that is the enemy of the rational buyer.

26) A contrarian approach is just as foolish as a follow-the-crowd strategy. What's required is thinking rather than polling. Unfortunately, Bertrand Russell's observation about life in general applies with unusual force in the financial world: "Most men would rather die than think. Many do."

27) In an unregulated commodity business, a company must lower its costs to competitive levels or face extinction.

28) Charlie and I (Warren Buffet) are of one mind in how we feel about derivatives and the trading activities that go with them: We view them as time bombs, both for the parties that deal in them and the economic system.

29) Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.

30) When a problem exists, whether in personnel or in business operations, the time to act is now.

31) For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.

32)  If earnings have been unwisely retained, it is likely that managers too, have been unwisely retained.

33) A hyperactive stock market is the pick-pocket of enterprise.

34) "Fanaticism," said [Santayana], "consists of redoubling your effort when you've forgotten your aim".

35) Practice doesn't make perfect; practice makes permanent. And thereafter I revised my strategy and tried to buy good businesses at fair prices rather than fair businesses at good prices.

36) If something's not worth doing at all, it's not worth doing well.

37) Noah principle: predicting rain doesn't count, building arks does.

38) On Warren Buffet's opinion on investment bankers: Don't ask the barber whether you need a haircut.

39) The highest stock market prices relative to intrinsic business value are given to companies whose managers have demonstrated their unwillingness to issue shares at any time on terms unfavorable to the owners of the business.

40) A really good business generates far more money (at least after its early years) than it can use internally.

41) Our goal will be to acquire either part or all of businesses that we believe we understand, that have good, sustainable underlying economics, and that are run by managers whom we like, admire and trust.

42) In any case, why potential buyers even look at projections prepared by sellers baffles me. Charlie and I never give them a glance, ......

43) Dealmaking beats working. Dealmaking is exciting and fun, and working is grubby. Running anything is primarily an enoromous amount of grubby detail work...dealmaking is romantic, sexy. That's why you have deals that make no sense.

44) Only in the sales presentations of investment banks do earning move forever upward.

45) And if owners behave with little regard for their business and its people, their conduct will often contaminate attitudes and practices throughout the company.

46) In investing, just as in baseball, to put runs on the scoreboard one must watch the playing field, not the scoreboard.

47) We do not think so-called EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) is a meaningful measure of performance. Managements that dismiss the importance of depreciation - and emphasize "cash flow" or EBITDA - are apt to make faulty decisions, and you should keep that in mind as you make your own investment decisions.

48) A girl in a convertible is worth five in the phonebook.

49) Managers thinking about accounting issues should never forget one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite riddles: "How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg?" The answer: "Four, because calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg." It behooves managers to remember that Abe's right even if an auditor is willing to certify that the tail is a leg.

50) Tax paying investors will realize a far, far greater sum from a single investment that compounds internally at a given rate than from a succession of investments compounding at the same reate.

51) In a finite world, high growth rates must self-destruct.

52) We will continue to ignore political and economic forecasts, which are an expensive distraction for many investors and businessmen.

53) Fear is the foe of the faddist, but the friend of the fundamentalist.

54) Temperament is also important. Independent thinking, emotional stability, and a keen understanding of both human and institutional behavior is vital to long-term invesment success.

In summary:

It is a good book with valuable insights from Warren Buffet which I find sincere from his writings. He would not promise you the sky but will make sure that you are grounded in realities. However, this book is perhaps more for serious reading as it does not flow (as is expected as the content is extracted from various sources written by Warren Buffet) and for me, it requires considerable effort and discipline to finish reading the book. If you manage to do so, you will not regret it though.

Confidence during Meeting

This post is not related to any book review but I thought of sharing my experience of conducting yourself in a meeting and to gain others confidence.

Very often, especially meeting new people in a new job, you may have more difficulties in convincing new client that you are the best person for the job, especially if you look young. And that is what happens to me. You see, I myself is quite young to begin with and coupled with the fact that I am rather boyish looking, I often need to do a lot of preparatory works in order to convince the project team that my advice is for the best of the project.

In today's meeting with a world-renowned Architect, I realised the importance of speaking with confidence and to articulate your opinions to demonstrate that you have done your homework. I have realised that experienced people can usually sense uncertainties and they will pounce on that uncertainties (or fear) just like a hungry lion on an injured prey. Therefore, it is important to learn proper skills of communications, body language and of course, don't feel intimidated by someone's whose reputation and seniority exceed yours. If you know your job, then make your case confidently.

So, therefore, be confident and carry yourself with charisma and soon, they will know that you are the best.

Coming, I hope to complete my reading of the book by Stephen Bayley & Roger Mavity titled Life's a Pitch: How to sell yourself and your brilliant ideas. It should be relevant to all of you aspiring CEOs who at the moment may lack a bit of confidence speaking in front of a crowd or to a potential new client.

The 80/20 Individual

My first posting on books review:

The first time of anything is always exciting just like first love, first car, first job and many other things in life. As I was pondering which book review to post on my first blog, I have finally decided to post my opinion on "The 80/20 Individual" by Richard Koch. The choice is actually nothing particularly special as I believe it is more important to get started rather than trying to achieve perfection just like a girl choosing a dress for a night's out (hehe). At the end of the day, it is not the dress that makes the difference, it's your natural beauty and personality. We guys just won't notice what colour of your dress or whether it is knee length or slightly below or up. You would be worry if we notice that more than anything else. Anyway, let's get started.

As the title suggest, The 80/20 Individual is probably best summarised as a book that teaches us to prioritize and makes good use of our limited 24 hours a day. It highlights that the world is not 50/50 where effort and reward are not linearly related. Some of the important ideas which I have learned from the book are:

a) The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man (George Bernard Shaw). Richard Koch highlights the importance of being unreasonable (not being difficult but in his book, being creative).

b) To create, you must belong. If you work for a firm where you can't be yourself, you may create, but only against the grain. You could create much more someplace else.

c) The essence of being an 80/20 individual is to focus your life around a unique attribute of your personality - one that is of vital importance to you and that can provide what other people need or want in an appealing way.

d) You'll need other people: partners probably, supporters certainly. Your Olympian strength-the 20 percent-requires the 80 percent to be supplied by other people. You need a small team to be effective.

e) Nurture your team: If they are not equal partners with you, think of them as supporters,  not as employees. Your success must be their success as well-they must benefit from being part of your world, just as you benefit from them being part of yours.

f) Great ideas will stay with you only if you are the best possible vehicle for them. If you can't take the ideas and make better use of them than anybody else, fortune will desert you. Choose ideas that resonate with your most creative 20 percent, ideas that find their destiny in you.

g) A study by the Boston Consulting Group found that "typically, less than 10 percent of the total time devoted to any work in an organization is truly value-added. The rest is wasted because of unnecessary steps or unbalanced operations.

h) In consulting, the best way to compress time is extensive upfront planning. (Personal opinion: This sounds easy but those in the consulting line will probably encounter managers who just fire-fight problems when it appears. It just contributes to stress and poor quality of work. Managers don't like to plan as it may give perceptions to others that they are perhaps not as busy as others. Hey, they must be free since he has the time to plan while we don't even have the time to eat lunch, rite?. So, if you are confident enough, ignore what others are doing and do allocate some time for planning and be calm just like a still lake. After all, there is a reason why you are promoted and not the ones who barely have time to have lunch).

i) Making money is all about making the right decisions-and realizing when a decision is necessary.

j) Hiring talent is a much better deal than hiring mediocrity.

k) I (Richard Koch) hold the controversial view that you should hire only people whom you like and who like you. (Personal note: By the way, Warren Buffet also shares the same view on working with people that he likes).

l) The ideal number of partners falls between two and seven. With groups of more than seven, intimacy is lost and cliques begin to form.

m) An 80/20 individual inside someone else's corporation will typically produce returns for the corporation that are between 20 and 200 times his or her compensation.

n) The days when growth required investment in productive capacity are over. Today growth requires new ideas, new inspiration, new business models, variants of existing successful models, and new and better services. The essence of growth used to be physical-now it is intellectual.

o) Most everything I've done I've copied from someone else (Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart). (Personal note: Don't misinterpret, it means we must be innovative and apply existing successful ideas in new ways or new arena rather than spending unnecessary time trying out previously unsuccessful ideas-not an 80/20 individual!).

p) Success, not failure, most urgently requires change. Follow the path of natural selection-if it ain't broke, do fix it!

In summary, this is a good book for for aspiring individuals who will feel that they can take on the world after reading this book. It provides good examples on a how an individual can utilise his talents and fulfill his potentials. Very often, we lack the time to "demonstrate" our inherent talent just because we are lost in the day-top-day mundane tasks. How often that you came up with a great idea but just find it too difficult to carry it through or you felt that you simply don't have the time to do so. Well, this book aims to help unlock the potential in you by applying the principles of the 80/20 individual.

On a final note, while it is appealing to anyone that we perhaps can eliminate 80% of the tasks and only concentrate on the 20% which will covers 80% of the task, one must not forget that if you wish to improve the remaining 20%, you will probably need to put in extra 80% effort compared to the average joe. That is how hard it is to be the creme de la creme. Who says being a good manager or leader is easy. If it is easy, it would be boring.

Good luck and all the best.

Summary: Good book for aspiring individuals who hope to achieve more. Will feel motivated and if applied correctly (not deviantly) the principles in the book, you will find yourself managing your time and priorities better and unleashes the creative side of you.