How To Speak Like A Billion-Dollar CEO

Shubh Explains

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Transcript

00:00I've sat in boardrooms where billion-dollar decisions are made, and I've watched the

00:04leaders gain instant respect in two sentences and lose all credibility in one.

00:10These are the five communication skills the 1% elite use to sound like the most powerful

00:17person in the room.

00:18And number five, that's the one that changes everything.

00:21Skill number one is a tough one.

00:23Most people think explaining every detail makes them sound smarter.

00:27I was in a board meeting where the CFO loaded up a 60-slide deck to talk about companies'

00:35financial plans next year.

00:36And I asked him one question, what do you think the margins will be next year because

00:41of the new product launch?

00:43And he went into all kinds of details, scenarios, and product fit, and product mix, and market

00:49signals, and internal rate of returns, and caveats, and after he was done, I turned to

00:55the CEO, and I asked her the same question.

00:58And she thought for a second, and the answer, just three lines.

01:03Margins will be a third lower.

01:05We're investing in tech and marketing.

01:07One risk is the load on our services team, but we'll have a backup.

01:10Done.

01:12See the difference?

01:14Employees explain leaders make the call.

01:1770% of managers say that their meetings are unproductive or inefficient.

01:23And I'm sure you've been to those two-hour meetings.

01:27Why?

01:27Because nobody makes the call.

01:30We think showing our work makes us look smarter.

01:33It doesn't.

01:34It makes us look lost.

01:36If you were to communicate like a CEO, you have to change that mindset.

01:41The point here isn't that you shouldn't focus on numbers, details, and execution matters

01:47in every role.

01:49That's not what I'm saying.

01:50But when it comes to communicating those results, the headline comes first.

01:56Here's one framework that you can use.

01:58I call it the 3A Pyramid Principle.

02:02Answer first.

02:03State your conclusion upfront.

02:05Argument second.

02:07Back it up with two or three reasons.

02:09Now, categorize, summarize, keep it very short, keep it very tight, and add-ons last.

02:14Provide all the relevant details and data, but only when you're asked.

02:20If you're tempted to over-explain, think of your answer as a tweet.

02:24Keep it very short.

02:25280 characters max.

02:27After the three A's, stop and just let silence do the work.

02:32If the room wants more, they will ask.

02:35Number two.

02:35Most people do this all the time, and it quietly kills their executive presence.

02:40The worst part, they don't even realize it.

02:42I was coaching a VP of product who was passed over by the board for a chief product officer

02:49position.

02:49He was very smart and strategic, and he was confused.

02:53And so he asked me and I asked the board about how they had thought about him.

02:57The feedback I got from them was that the VP had lacked conviction in his vision.

03:03I knew the VP, and I knew that he definitely had conviction.

03:07He believed in the roadmap that he was building.

03:10I told him to deliver a presentation.

03:12The same roadmap presentation that he had delivered to the board.

03:15And then he started delivering, and there it was, in plain sight.

03:19He spoke in hedges.

03:22I think we should maybe try this.

03:25We might possibly consider that.

03:28His competence was drowning under a flood of filler words.

03:33Research shows that hesitant language makes an audience view you as less credible.

03:38Imagine if Martin Luther King had said, well, to be honest, I kind of have this dream.

03:46It would have never worked.

03:47His clarity gave his words the power he needed.

03:52We, unfortunately, live in a world where promotions go to the person who sounds like a leader.

03:58Not necessarily the one who's right for the role.

04:02Without clarity and authority, your teams will hesitate about you.

04:06Investors will worry about you, and customers, well, they'll just ignore you.

04:11So here's how you grow your authority.

04:13First, invest in it.

04:15Invest time to develop it.

04:17How? Prep like a pro.

04:19Every golfer, every rockstar, every politician rehearses before stepping on stage.

04:24Why shouldn't you?

04:25Second, record yourself.

04:27Count every, I think, um, maybe, to be honest, analyze why and when that happens.

04:35Third, do a filler detox.

04:38Pick one hedge and eliminate it just for a week, and then move on to the next one.

04:44And here's an extra step.

04:46Swap hedges for silence.

04:48Not sure what you're going to say?

04:50That's okay.

04:51Take a beat.

04:52Pause.

04:53Silence actually builds authority.

04:55Even when you are answering a question, think for three or four seconds.

05:00Construct the answer, and then speak.

05:02And more importantly, it'll make you become more thoughtful.

05:06Number three, the fastest way to lose a room isn't saying the wrong thing.

05:11It's looking like you don't even believe yourself.

05:14A long time ago, I was giving a presentation, and I was sitting on a chair, and there were

05:20a lot of senior execs around me, and I thought I was doing well.

05:24I thought I was pretty much on point.

05:26The presentation ended, and afterwards, I asked my boss for feedback.

05:31I said, how do you think I did?

05:33And he said, you know, your ideas were very strong, but you looked nervous as hell.

05:39And I was surprised, and I said, what do you mean?

05:41And he said, well, you were nodding like a bobblehead, bouncing your leg, fidgeting with

05:46a pencil, just looking at the presentation screen versus looking at the audience.

05:52Ouch.

05:53He was right.

05:54Because no matter how clear and solid your delivery is, research shows that more than half

06:00of people's perception about you comes from your body language.

06:04Princeton researchers found something even more astonishing, that people decide how competent

06:09you look in just 100 milliseconds.

06:11And you know, those split-second judgments have literally predicted election results.

06:16In 1960, Kennedy looked calm and composed on TV, and Nixon looked sweaty and shifty.

06:23Radio listeners thought Nixon won, but TV viewers gave it to Kennedy.

06:28In 1992, same thing happened.

06:30George H.W. Bush glanced at his watch during a debate.

06:34One tiny gesture that made the whole country feel he was disconnected.

06:39That he'd rather be somewhere else.

06:41And in 2000 election, Al Gore's size and eye rolls made him look arrogant, distant.

06:47While George W. Bush was relaxed.

06:50His posture was very cool.

06:51And it made him look like the guy people wanted to have beer with.

06:56So body language and leadership go hand in hand.

06:59Because body language can also win hearts and minds.

07:02That's why CEOs weaponize their posture, their pace, their pauses.

07:07Here's how you can emulate this in your own way.

07:11First, record yourself in your next meeting or presentation.

07:14Or just do it in front of a camera.

07:17How do you sound?

07:18How do you look?

07:19You know, when I did it, I was so shocked and surprised

07:23to see all the nervous habits that I didn't even realize I had.

07:28Second, slow your pace down just by 15 to 20 percent.

07:32Pause after big points.

07:34Sit, walk, move with intentionality.

07:38Challenge yourself to go through a casual conversation without fidgeting.

07:43And be totally present.

07:44And third, claim your space.

07:46Sit or stand comfortably.

07:49Use your physical presence to amplify what you're saying.

07:53Number four, facts pass through the brain.

07:55Talking stories go straight to the heart.

07:58I was talking to a senior executive who was the EVP at Hewlett-Packard for 30 years.

08:04He told me this story.

08:05He was delivering a speech at a convention to thousands of people.

08:09Lots of data.

08:10Lots of facts.

08:11Lots of metrics.

08:12And he was reading the teleprompter.

08:13Carly Fiorina, who was the CEO of HP at that point, was standing in the wings.

08:18Their eyes met for a second and the CEO smiled and she shook her head and pointed to her heart.

08:26And the EVP immediately understood.

08:29What she was saying was, don't just rely on facts or the prompter.

08:33Tell a story that touches people's hearts.

08:36Speak from your heart.

08:37Think about Steve Jobs.

08:38He could have walked on stage and said, we build a hardware device for audio with five gigs of RAM

08:46for your MP3 content.

08:48He didn't.

08:49Instead, he said, thousand songs in your pocket.

08:5320 years later, that's still what people remember.

08:55And this is not just about showmanship.

08:58Back in the 1960s, Stanford researchers ran a study.

09:02One group of students had to memorize random word lists.

09:05Another group got the same words, but wrapped in a story.

09:09The list group recalled only 13% of the words.

09:13The story group recalled 93%.

09:16Same words, different delivery.

09:18So if you rely only on facts, you risk becoming forgettable.

09:23So take these three steps to go from forgettable manager to unforgettable leader.

09:29First, build your three core stories.

09:32One about a struggle and one about a turning point.

09:36These are your repeatable storylines.

09:39Second, translate for the room.

09:41Boards want to focus on strategy.

09:43Team wants execution.

09:45Customers want value.

09:47Same story, three versions.

09:49Third, always anchor data in narrative.

09:52Don't just drop numbers.

09:54Make them more relatable.

09:55Don't just say Niagara Falls unleashes 634,000 gallons of water every second.

10:02Make it relatable.

10:04That would be like emptying one billion bathtubs over the edge every single minute.

10:08Well, now you have brought it home.

10:10Stories can engage, inspire, even ignite entire movements.

10:15But here's an important question.

10:18Are they really about you or about others?

10:22Because only one of them will create real change.

10:26Number five.

10:27And this is the one everything else depends on.

10:30You can master clarity, confidence, presence, and storytelling.

10:34But your leadership will collapse if you can't turn every win into a we

10:40and every loss into a me.

10:43I learned a tough lesson years ago in one of the most tender and wonderful moments of my career.

10:53I was leaving the company where I had served as an SVP.

10:58And I was going to another company where they had recruited me to my first C-level role.

11:04It was my last day and I sat down with one of my VPs.

11:08I asked him, what should I do differently in my next role?

11:12And he paused for a second because no one had asked him that question.

11:15And then suddenly tears started rolling down his face and his voice cracked a little.

11:22And he said, you're going to be a great leader.

11:25I just wish you had invested more time in me.

11:29That just broke me because he was right.

11:31I realized that I had been showing off more than showing up.

11:36I gave him a hug and said, I'll never forget what you've said.

11:41So Jason, if you ever see this, I still remember what you said.

11:46And I hope I have made you proud.

11:49That's the hardest adjustment in leadership.

11:52It's not about you.

11:54The best CEOs turn the spotlight away.

11:56Amateurs say, I did this.

11:59Leaders say, we're doing this.

12:01And when it fails, that's on me.

12:03A Gallup study found that when people receive high quality recognition,

12:08they are four times as likely to be engaged and more than 50% less likely to leave.

12:14President Truman put it best.

12:16It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

12:21That is the unwritten contract of leadership.

12:24When you absorb blame, you build trust.

12:28Trust is the one thing that matters the most at the top.

12:31When your team trusts you, they will move faster and rally when things get hard.

12:37And when they don't, any crisis can take you down in a day.

12:41And that's exactly what happened to the CEO of Lehman Brothers.

12:44When his company collapsed in 2008, he blamed hedge funds and regulators and the markets.

12:51Anyone but himself.

12:53He became the face of arrogance and failure.

12:55And his reputation never recovered.

12:58From today, flip the switch.

13:01Stop trying to be the most interesting person in the room.

13:04Be the most interested person in others.

13:08This week, flip another switch.

13:10The credit blame switch.

13:12In your next meeting, when something goes right, name names.

13:16Michelle, you crushed it.

13:18At least once a week, call out someone on your team publicly for their contributions.

13:22Keep it specific, authentic, and tied to impact.

13:27And this month, practice the ACE framework to give negative feedback effectively to others.

13:33Acknowledge the effort.

13:35Clarify the issue with precision.

13:37Expand the path forward with support.

13:40That will help you focus on others.

13:42Speaking like a CEO is not just about precise words or polished presence.

13:48It's about making everyone else believe they are succeeding.

13:52That builds trust.

13:55And trust communicates way more than any communication technique.

14:00If you liked this video, don't forget to subscribe and check out my recent video

14:05on how to progress faster than anyone else.

14:09Thank you, and I love you.

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