In today’s world its extremely important that you are a master of communication and presentations have become the de facto business communication tool. if you want to grow your business is 2010, one this you have to get better is in communicating your ideas, solutions and products better.

Below one of the best presentations ever given… Steve Jobs Apple Music Event 2001-The First Ever iPod Introduction presentation… its a must see!!!

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Bill Glazer teaching the 4 questions your headline needs to answer in order to be a GREAT headline.

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By: The New York Times/ Jennifer Walzer

I recently lost a longtime client, who was also a dear friend and valuable mentor, to prostate cancer. He was 52 years old and left behind his wife and two children. The other day I learned that another good friend was found to have skin cancer that had progressed to the point where he had to have glands removed. He was so busy running his company, he didn’t notice the moles that had started to look different. My friend is only 38 years old.

Like many entrepreneurs, I’m often too busy to breathe. I try not to put work ahead of friends or family, but I often end up with little time to take care of myself. When I started my business, I was in great shape from years of dance and regular exercise. As my business flourished, however, working out was replaced by simply working. And let’s not even think about the decline of my eating habits and sleep schedule. My business became my life.

After watching my close friends battle health issues and after dealing with a few of my own, I’m starting to look at things differently.

First, I realized that by not getting any exercise and not watching what I was eating, I was sapping myself of the energy I need to run my business. If you are like me (and I know I’m not alone here) you will get that energy artificially from coffee, Red Bull, sugar, candy or any other weapon of choice (my personal favorite is sugary gum and licorice along with hazelnut coffees and caramel apple ciders from Starbucks).

Next, regular checkups. There have been times when I felt I couldn’t afford two hours out of my day to see a doctor. I’ve canceled many appointments over the years because I felt I needed to go to that client meeting (and then it would take me months to get the doctor visit back on the calendar). Now I realize that I can’t afford NOT to go to those appointments.

Finally, I’m trying to listen to my body. As hard as it is, I know that when I’m feeling sick or run down, I need to try to rest for a day. If something persists, hurts, looks weird, or just doesn’t feel right, get it checked out. I know that sounds obvious, but so often we let things go. Now, I think about my friend who has skin cancer.

I turned 36 on Sept. 11, and I’ll be getting married in less than two months. I want to have the energy to continue running Backup My Info! for years to come. My fiancé, Brad, and I have started getting up together at 5:30 in the morning to go on our “workout dates.” I’ve started running and even participated in a few road races in Central Park. The difference in my energy level and the way that I feel has been incredible. Now, I’m only slightly tired from getting up early to run.

My team is in on it, too. One of my engineers has lost almost 50 pounds. Now, we try to make smart choices when we order our lunches or buy snacks to keep in the office. Not only does everyone look great, I have noticed that they are getting sick less often and are more enthusiastic and energetic.

Having my own business has some great perks but it’s also about making sacrifices. I just know that my health can’t be one of those sacrifices anymore.

Jennifer Walzer is founder and chief executive of Backup My Info!, which is based in New York. You can also follow her on Twitter: @BackupMyIn

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By: Harvard Busines Publishing/Bill Taylor

The Economist owes much of its popularity to its knack for challenging conventional wisdom. In a recent column, it applied its contrarian mindset to the question of what kinds of leaders make the best CEOs, making the case that what the world needs now are more “raging egomaniacs” and “tightly wound empire-builders” rather than the “faceless” and “anonymous” bosses running so many companies today — “bland and boring men and women who can hardly get themselves noticed at cocktail parties.”

The crux of The Economist’s argument relies on what’s known as the Great Man Theory of History. After trumpeting the virtues of business geniuses such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Lou Gerstner, and Jack Welch, it then generalizes from this handful of larger-than-life moguls: “The best ambassadors for business are the outsize figures who have changed the world and who feel no need to apologise for themselves or their calling.”

It’s an intriguing essay and a good read. It’s also a false choice — and a bad reading of history. For one thing, when it comes to larger-than-life CEOs, I can name as many scoundrels and failures as I can geniuses and world-changers. There’s a reason Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind titled their bestseller on the Enron disaster The Smartest Guys in the Room, and it goes beyond the criminality those deeply flawed executives displayed. That familiar phrase captures the mindset too many of us expect even our most honest leaders to display — the assumption that being “in charge” means having all the answers. In simpler times, fierce personal confidence, a sense of infallibility as a leader, might have been be a calling card of success. Today it is a warning sign of failure, whether from bad judgment, low morale among disillusioned colleagues, or sheer burnout from the pressures of always having to be right.

That’s not a case (and here’s the false choice) for aiming low or being dull. The best executives I’ve met understand that there is a vast difference between advancing big, exciting, important goals — aspiring to change the game in your field — and assuming that you know best how to achieve those goals. Sure, great leaders champion new ideas and disruptive points of view — they have vision. But that doesn’t mean they have to see the future on their own.

Just because you’re in charge doesn’t mean you have to have all the answers. Real business geniuses don’t pretend they know everything.

To be sure, it’s easier to divide leaders into either-or categories: risk-takers vs. bureaucrats, those with ambition vs. those with humility. Fortune just named Steve Jobs its CEO of the Decade — and while it’s hard to argue with the choice, it’s even harder to reproduce his talents. The problem with trumpeting the virtues of one-of-a-kind geniuses like Steve Jobs is that — duh — there is only one of them! Memo to The Economist: It’s not a good idea to urge CEOs to emulate leaders whose success is, almost by definition, impossible to copy.

Keith Sawyer, a creativity guru at Washington University in St. Louis, has literally written the book on where good ideas come from. In Group Genius, he explains how few leaders are prepared to recognize the messy and hard-to-manage truth about the real logic of business success. Many (perhaps most) executives subscribe to what Sawyer calls script-think — “the tendency to think that events are more predictable than they really are.” In fact, he says, “Innovation emerges from the bottom up, unpredictably and improvisationally, and it’s often only after the innovation has occurred that everyone realizes what’s happened. The paradox is that innovation can’t be planned, it can’t be predicted; it has to be allowed to emerge.”

Harriet Rubin, one of the great innovators in business-book publishing, and an accomplished author in her own right, uses different language to make a similar point about leadership and innovation. “Freedom is actually a bigger game than power,” she reminds executives who are eager to make their mark in the world. “Power is about what you can control. Freedom is about what you can unleash.”

The most effective leaders no longer want the job of solving their organization’s biggest problems or identifying its best opportunities on their own. Instead, they recognize that the most powerful ideas can come from the most unexpected places: the quiet genius buried deep inside the organization, the collective genius that surrounds the organization, the hidden genius of customers, suppliers, and other constituencies who would be eager to share what they know if only they were asked. For companies, and the CEOs at their helms, those are the smartest (and most sustainable) sources of greatness.

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By: Andy Liu

Have you been itching to leave your company for the past five years?  Do you have an idea that you’ve been passionate about but too lazy or chicken to get started?  Do you have a business now that is struggling to grow?  Have you been watching the late night commercials on how to get rich quick and maybe even bought a system or two?  Do you lack the confidence or knowledge to take the leap of faith and start your own dream company?  Then, you’ve come to the right place!  InspiredStartup will help you start and grow your company to as big as you can dream.

My name is Andy Liu and I’m the writer of InspiredStartup.  This is not about how to get rich quick nor is it an academic exercise in how to build a company.  This site is for people who dream and execute.  We’ll talk about how to start a business and how to grow it to the next level.  We’ll learn how to do hand-to-hand combat daily to build successful businesses together without the MBA mumbo-jumbo.  I want to see you succeed and to share your experiences here.  I want to learn from you.

My Story

As a kid, I learned the basics of entrepreneurship in my parents basement.  As soon as I would learn of guests coming over, I would find stuff around the house and put it up for sale.  I think my folks and the guests found it amusing, but I found out it wildly profitable since I never paid a cent and I made a lot of profit, it was fun and I was hooked!

At the age of 15, I started working at Godfather’s pizza.  I think that everyone should work at a restaurant at least once in their life – what an eye-opening experience as I learned about the good, bad, and ugly of running a restaurant business through the eyes of a cashier and pizza maker.  I think in one summer, I consumed on average a large pizza each day.  Those were the good ol’ days of being able to consume without worry of mushrooming…

Due to a variety of personal and family reasons, I started working full-time for AT&T at the age of 16 in the summer and then continued working for a variety of large companies including Boeing, Keane, Active Voice and other places including a failed startup while getting my bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering.   I learned quickly that I didn’t enjoy the engineering lifestyle and naively, I thought I learned enough from those experiences to jump into my first “real” startup with investors at the age of 23 while going to school for my MBA.  Nothing ever came real easy, but we were able to work hard hours to build a great, profitable company in 5 years and eventually sell the company.   

Beyond my professional pursuits, I am just as passionate about using entrepreneurship to solve the problem of extreme poverty (defined as those who make less than $2/day).   After traveling and volunteering in developing countries as often as I can, I’ve been moved by our personal responsibility to human dignity and bridging the inequality between the rich and the extreme poor.  I’ve partnered with other tech folks to build a technology center for an impoverished community in Central America.  We have a teacher and social worker on staff and have graduated several students and committed to a 5-year plan.  It’s been a total blast to see real progress and awe-inspiring to see students embrace entrepreneurship in their own pursuits and dreams.  I’m looking forward to sharing more inspirational stories here.  I also want to hear about your passions and thoughts in this area as I think we can as entrepreneurs change the world.          

About Me and Inspired Startup in a Nutshell

I’m a serial entrepreneur and angel investor.  I’m also a die-hard never-say-die Seattle sports fan. I’m now running a web company (BuddyTV.com) and sit on 4 boards as well as 2 non-profits and have invested in 13 companies (including one exit).  I feel very fortunate to have a great partner in my businesses and have been extremely lucky that despite my shortcomings, I’ve seen more successes than failures.  I could talk for hours with entrepreneurs about new ideas and I get energized hearing about other entrepreneurial successes.  We do not exist in a zero-sum world, where someone must fail in order for someone to win, if we can all help each other succeed, we’ll only be better for it!  Remember the saying, a rising tide raises all boats.  InspiredStartup is here to raise the tide for all entrepreneurs (including wanna-bes!).  If I can help you, let me know.

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By: Karen Cho

People who live abroad are more creative; and the more time they spend away from home, the more creative they become. That’s according to a recent study done by William Maddux, an assistant professor of organisational behavior at INSEAD.

Certain conditions, however, apply, says Maddux, who conducted the studies in collaboration with Adam Galinsky, a professor of management at Northwestern University.

For example, creativity is unlikely to spark for people travelling abroad for a short holiday. “We don’t find a positive correlation with travel abroad and creativity.” Maddux says it has to be at least a short stint abroad, but also adds that the quality of the experience matters as much as amount of time spent overseas.

“Not only does time matter – which can explain why living abroad matters and not travelling abroad – it’s also the psychological transformation that you might go through while you’re abroad.”

For instance, your creative levels can spike if you fully immerse yourself in local experiences, in particular, languages. “There’s a very strong, robust association between foreign language aptitude and creativity. So bi-lingual and tri-lingual people are more creative in general.  And I think that the language is part of the adaptation.”

“So you can imagine a person who goes to live abroad for a year, but hangs out mostly with expatriates, maybe from their own country – that person is not going to derive the same kind of creative benefit as those who try to adapt themselves to a new culture, learn the language, learn the customs and get really involved in changing who they are and how they behave.”

Age matters too because, according to Maddux, younger people have greater capacity to learn languages. “If you’re getting those cultural experiences at a young age, it’s going to have a stronger effect on subsequent creativity.”

Another of his studies reveals that even if you have long since returned from working abroad, you can tap into your creative reserves by mentally reactivating your experiences abroad.

Tabulating creativity

One of the standard psychological tests for measuring creativity is the Duncker Candle Task.

Subjects are presented with three objects: a box of tacks, a book of matches and a candle. They are asked to figure out how to affix the candle to the wall, so that when the candle is lit, the wax does not drip to the floor.

The creative, and also correct, solution is to empty the box of tacks, attach it to the wall using the tacks, and then place the candle inside. When the candle is lit, the wax drips into the box.

This is considered “creative” because you are using the box of tacks for a function for which it is not normally used – namely a candle holder.

In Maddux’s study, 60 per cent of those who had lived abroad solved the problem correctly. However, of those who did not leave the country, only 42 per cent came up with the right answer.

“So if you recall and write about having lived abroad, people who do this show more subsequent creativity within the next five or 10 minutes, compared to people who recall other experiences -  for example going to the supermarket, being in their hometown … When we reactivate the experiences, it does seem to cause increased creativity.”

Yet another positive correlation exists between entrepreneurship and creativity. “We’re finding the same correlation between time abroad and entrepreneurial activity … Entrepreneurs tend to have the experience of having been abroad as well.”  

Clearly, where creativity is concerned, the benefits of living abroad far outweigh those of staying put.

Maddux’s advice to companies interested in promoting creativity is to look for people who have these enriching experiences abroad. Conversely, they should also not skimp on offering international assignments, as these seem to be key for developing significant mental processes.

And while abroad, he emphasises that adaptability is key. “It’s not just enough to spend 18 hours in the office and then go home and sleep. If you want to get these kinds of (tangible) benefits from the international experience, it will help to get out into the culture and try to adapt yourself while you’re on these international assignments.”

While Maddux agrees that living abroad is “not the be all and end all of facilitating creativity”, it is, and will continue to be a major driver

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By: Seth Godin

The either-or world continues to decay, confronted by a shifting economy and the tools of the net.

It used to be easy to tell if someone was a journalist. Either you were or your weren’t. So giving special privileges to journalists was easy. Parking permits, press badges, first amendment protections… no problem, you’re a journalist. Everyone else? No way.

It used to be easy to tell if someone was an entrepreneur. Either you had a full-time job or you ran a business. So we could treat employees the same (health insurance, no moonlighting) and assume that the few that didn’t have jobs were full-time freelancers or entrepreneurs.

It used to be easy to figure out who did the buying at an organization. The purchasing department did. So we knew who to call on.

Now, of course, it’s all jumbled up. Everyone is a journalist, of course, but just a few do it for a living. Everyone is a freelancer, or, at the very least, always looking for the next gig. Everyone with a credit card can do the purchasing, they just expense it.

Society hates this. It means we need to make up new rules, FTC disclosures, legal principles, safety nets and more.

Marketers love this, because it means change and that means opportunity.

If the only reason you’re only wearing one hat is because you’ve always only worn one hat, that’s not a good reason.

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By: Carmine Gallo

Software-as-a-service pioneer and salesforce.com (CRM) co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff credits storytelling as one of the primary reasons for his company’s rapid success. “Communication is probably the most essential part of my job,” Benioff told me in an recent interview about his new book, Behind the Cloud. The book describes how salesforce went from idea to $1 billion company in less than a decade. Whether you own a small business, run a large company, or have a great idea for The Next Big Thing, consider these seven tips from Benioff about how to shape and articulate your vision.

Commit to transparent communication. Customer relationships take work, and a big part of that work is dedicating yourself to constant communication with customers and prospects, says Benioff. “We invited them to come in and see what we were working on. We asked them to test it, and we made changes based on what they said. Having this kind of inclusive communication—sharing and listening— from the beginning set the tone for our entire company.” According to Benioff, salesforce used this feedback to make fast changes—”intelligent reaction.”

Make friends with reporters and bloggers. Despite a very busy schedule, Benioff responded to my interview request immediately and met my deadline. “I never treat members of the media as adversaries; they are friends of the company,” says Benioff. His relationships with reporters and bloggers have been a “pivotal part” of his marketing strategy. “Journalists immediately think of me as a resource for a quote or comment because they know that I will be available to offer fresh insight and meet their deadlines.” Benioff says that social media has also turned customers into content creators. “The future of communicating with customers rests in engaging with them through every possible channel: phone, e-mail, chat, Web, and social networks. Customers are discussing a company’s products and brand in real time. Companies need to join the conversation.”

Tell classic stories. Most reporters don’t care about a tiny startup, and that’s why Benioff never positioned himself as such. He told a classic David-vs.-Goliath story. “We gave the media something different. We gave them something new. We always positioned ourselves as revolutionaries. We went after the largest competitor in the industry or the industry itself. We made our story about change. We were about something new and different that was good for customers, and good for the community. We talked about the future.” Although the media landscape is changing, Benioff believes there will always be a need for content. The delivery model might be changing, but exchanging and sharing stories and information remains as important as ever.

Make your own metaphors. According to Benioff, simple metaphors are a terrific way to communicate your message. “I spend a lot of time creating metaphors to explain what we do. For example, early on I explained what we did with the metaphor “salesforce.com is Amazon.com (AMZN) meets Siebel Systems.” Later when we launched AppExchange we called it “the eBay (EBAY) of enterprise software.” Anyone can create their own metaphors, says Benioff. “Just remember to test them before you put them out there. Try a few and run them by customers, analysts, and people in your network to make sure they work.”

Keep everyone aligned. It’s not enough for one person to be on message. Everyone has to speak from the same playbook. At salesforce, Benioff made sure staffers could effectively convey what they did and what they stood for in one sentence. They created a laminated “cheat sheet,” with one sentence on the front and benefits of the service on the back. Salesforce employees and partners were even provided training so they could all deliver the message effectively and consistently.

Encourage presentation skill development. Want a job at Salesforce? You’d better be a good presenter. Some candidates are required to give a presentation in addition to answering tough questions. “Presentation skills are key,” says Benioff. “People who work for you represent your brand. You want them to present themselves—and represent you—in a certain way. Whether employees realize it or not, everyone in a company interfaces with customers in one way or another, and their attitude will affect the brand. That’s why we work so hard to make sure we have the right people representing our brand, and that everyone is in alignment once they get here.”

Display confidence. Benioff believes in dreaming big. “I believed that all software would eventually be delivered in the cloud. I had to believe in it passionately and be ready to constantly defend it.” Inspiring communicators are passionate about their mission—they believe it to their core and speak with conviction.

According to Benioff, you must be passionate “and a little bit crazy” to follow your own ideas and do things differently. But in the end, he says, it’s worth it.

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By: Jason Cohen

We get so caught up in the daily life of running a business, it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees.

Not that you have a choice! You’re fighting fires, handling a pissed-off customer, rending your face over an emergency bug-fix, the website just went down, and the accountant is coming tomorrow and the books are in shambles.

All normal. But still every month or so it’s nice to take a step back and see whether you’re missing a chance to make a more meaningful change to your business.

Here’s some things you can do:

• View your website/product/service through the eyes of a new potential customer. *Do informal usability testing with a stranger. You’re too close to your own projects!
• Find a decision about your product or your behavior which is really due to ego rather than making life better for your employees or customers, or rather than seeking revenue. *There’s no shame in having a big ego and it’s natural to not want to admit mistakes or change your position on things, but sometimes it’s the right thing for everyone.
• Delegate activities you’re still doing yourself because “no one else can do them as well or as quickly,” but which don’t actually need to be done that well or quickly. *Delegation is hard, but healthy, and necessary if you expect to grow as a company and as a person.
• Do one thing to increase your company’s visibility on Twitter, blogs, Facebook – wherever.
• Identify one person who could really help get your company more exposure, and who might be personally motivated to do so. *Then spend real time trying to contact that person.
• Find one “number” in your business you know the least about (i.e. conversion rates, trial/sales rates, length of a trial, number of people who hit the home page and nothing more). Then spend time trying to learn more.
• Come up with one thing you could do that might increase conversion rates by 1%. Here “conversion” can mean any part of the funnel from home page hit to downloads to CRM opportunities to sales. *Usually conversion rates are in the 0.1% – 5% range, so just a single additional percent can result in a massive boost in revenue.
• Collect 10 pieces of empirical evidence about why your latest customers decided to give you money. *Use that to tune your website, ads, pitches, and marketing material to attract the next customers.
• Collect 10 pieces of empirical evidence about why people didn’t buy even when they were deep in your website or after they trialed your software. *The answer to more revenue lies with the folks who didn’t buy.
• Do one thing to prove to the world that you’re an expert in your field. *People like to buy from experts they trust.
• Identify one mundane, time-consuming tasks that you could outsource. *Even if it means spending money, it means you can spend your time on getting more revenue which will more than pay for the outsourcing.
• Quantify how much completely disposable cash you have in the company’s bank account. *Whether it’s $50 or $50,000, maybe you should brainstorm how to spend it to get more revenue.
• Defer something you’re working on now that really isn’t necessary to be done now. *Take a minute to reset your priorities. What’s really timely?
• Admit one thing you’re doing because of an assumption rather than because of hard evidence. *You have to make assumptions to live in the world, but it’s worth stepping back and challenging even the most basic ones.
• Identify anything you’re doing because of a “plan” rather than because of hard evidence. *There’s no glory in following a business plan. Do the right thing with information at hand today regardless of any “plan.”
• Identify choices that don’t “feel” like the right thing to do. *If it feels wrong, it is. Do what’s right instead of what makes most revenue; in the long run Karma does work in business.
• Change your home page to be more specific in describing how you help your customers. *General phrases and wishy-washy statements don’t excite people or win customers’ hearts.
• Give your customers something wonderful, for free. *A deal on a related product, a free book, even just a thoughtful article of interest to them — give them something for free to show you care and they’ll reward you ten-fold.
• Take one step to become more visible in communities related to your business. *On-line or off-line, how can you be a part of other social networks?
• Further differentiate yourself from competitors rather than just try to “kill” them. *Explaining the niche you unquestionably own is a better path to sales than trying to win every deal on every point.
• Congratulate yourself and your employees on the good aspects of the business. *We’re always battling problems instead of reveling in the good stuff; the good stuff is what makes business fun, and is kinda the whole point.
• Do something to invest in your customers’ experience after the sale. *We’re so caught up in getting new customers we sometimes forget how to keep them thrilled one year later.
• Take on a project that you could complete in under a week, and really ought to, but you’ve procrastinated because it sucks to have to do it.
• Remove 5 blogs from your feed reader because they’re not worth the time, and add 5 blogs that increase your chances of having a successful business.

I hope some of these ideas inspire you to reconsider your priorities and shift your behavior. Don’t let fire-fighting or your personality get in the way of healthy revenue growth!

What other tips do you have? Leave a comment and join the conversation!

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By: Seth Godin

Trolls

Lots of things about work are hard. Dealing with trolls is one of them. Trolls are critics who gain perverse pleasure in relentlessly tearing you and your ideas down. Here’s the thing(s):

1. trolls will always be trolling
2. critics rarely create
3. they live in a tiny echo chamber, ignored by everyone except the trolled and the other trolls
4. professionals (that’s you) get paid to ignore them. It’s part of your job.

“Can’t please everyone,” isn’t just an aphorism, it’s the secret of being remarkable.

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