Seems fairly straight forward doesn’t it.
The purpose of life is the pursuit of pleasure, and the quest for those objects and experiences that will make our life more enjoyable.
As I recently discovered while reading “The Consolations of Philosophy
” by Alain de Botton, this was exactly the philosophy held by Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher born on the island of Samos in 341 BC.
To summarise his philosophy in a single sentence, Epicurus believed that:
Pleasure is the beginning and the goal of a happy life.
What are the first images that spring to mind when you think of pleasure? You might think of a fast car, an opulent villa overlooking the ocean, or limitless money.
Imagine you had all three. Would you be happy? Maybe you would. However, it is possible to imagine that a fast car without a friend to show-it-off to would not make you happy, an opulent villa without the time to enjoy it would not make you happy, and limitless money accompanied by high levels of anxiety and no time to relax or contemplate the good life would also not make you happy.
Not every type of pleasure will lead to happiness (or be sufficient for happiness) in the same way that not every type of medicine will lead to good health.
If we assume that Epicurus is right, and that pleasure is indeed the goal of the happy life, then it would seem important to develop a clear understanding of the types of pleasure that will actually lead to happiness.
In his book, Alain de Botton outlines the three simple pleasures that we need to pursue and acquire if we are to enjoy a life of Epicurean happiness:
- Friendship;
- Freedom; and
- Thought.
Although sometimes difficult to acquire, it turns out that the three essential pleasures of life are goals that we can all afford to pursue.
Stand up and dance like nobody’s watching. We are watching though, everyone is, and that’s why being the initiator feels so scary. You are afraid of looking like a fool, we all are. So we wait and watch you dance.
Genuine passion is contagious, and as you dance freely and passionately one person sees the genius in what you are doing and has the courage to join you.
Simple dancing, nothing fancy. You dance because you love to dance and you embrace your friend in the dance. We continue to watch you dance, the two of you. It is still a novelty and still too early and much too risky to join you.
You dance openly and eagerly and another person is infected by the brilliance of what you are doing and comes to join you.
You dance wildly and keenly and as passionately as ever, the energy levels race higher, the tension grows, and the attraction of the dance becomes so compelling that people are wonderfully and inescapably drawn towards the dance. A few people begin to walk and others start to run.
The movement has started.
As we discovered in the previous post, an elevator pitch is a high-level overview of whatever it is that you are selling and is designed to just get the conversation started (Elevator Pitch Essentials, Chris O’Leary).
As a high level overview, an elevator pitch will need to be kept fairly short and to the point. The irony is that creating a short pitch is likely to be a fairly long process because you will have to decide what information your listeners need to hear and what are just details. To mis-quote Mark Twain:
I didn’t have time to write a short elevator pitch, so I wrote a long one instead.
There is a lot to think about when preparing an elevator pitch, so to speed up the process I have identified 12 tips for creating an effective pitch.
1. Structure and Content
- Be clear – you want people to understand. You need to explain your idea in a way that your mother would understand. You want your audience to do the least amount of work possible.
- Be concise – people are busy. Anecdotal evidence suggests that people’s attention starts to waiver after 30 seconds. An elevator pitch should be no longer than 60 seconds. Too much information will scare people away. Give them just enough information, and make them want to know more.
- Provide a solution – people want you to solve their problems. Focus specifically on the problem that you are solving for your audience. If you merely provide a shopping list of skills or services you may leave your audience thinking “So what? How does that help me?” After you have presented the problem, provide an outline of your solution.
- Tailor your pitch – different people have different problems. A pitch should address the specific concerns of your audience.
- Be credible – who are you? why are you qualified to provide your solution? Explain why you are able to identify and solve the problem.
- Give the big picture – the details are confusing. People are unlikely to understand your idea in the same way that you do, so the details will confuse or bore them. Give a high-level overview of your idea.
- Be unique – there are many ideas competing for attention. What makes your idea different?
- Set the hook – you need to generate interest. A hook is a statement designed to generate interest and make your audience want to know more. For example, “I am a consultant in the city” compared with “I am a McKinsey strategy consultant looking at the new media and high tech space. I’m currently looking at cloud computing and how it is changing the computer industry forever.” As a second example, borrowed from Anna Rose, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition has a very short elevator pitch: “The AYCC aims to build a generation wide movement to solve climate change before it is too late.” The last 5 words are the hook, “before it’s too late”!
- Call to action – what do you want? An elevator pitch is not designed the close the deal, it is designed to just get the conversation started. It would be a good idea however to decide what you would like to achieve out of the interaction. You can then give people an opportunity to help you by asking for what you want: a business card, honest feedback, a referral, legal advice, seed capital, an opportunity to give a full presentation.
2. Delivery
- Be prepared – people respond to confidence. First impressions are important and to deliver a strong performance you should practice and get feedback. Prepare answers to any tough questions that you may get in response to your pitch. You need to be comfortable enough to adapt to the conversation as it progresses.
- Be genuinely passionate – people tune out the ordinary. If you are genuinely passionate, people are likely to stop and listen. Investors normally expect passion from entrepreneurs as a pre-requisite, a good idea does not compensate for lack of passion.
- Have integrity – your story needs to ring true. You need to believe in your own story because the first step is to convince yourself, only then can you convince your audience. Avoid clichés and platitudes.
The Situation
You are an entrepreneur with a big idea for a new product. You stand to make millions, but investors are hard to find. You take a flight to Fiji for some well earned rest and as your take your seat on the plane you notice a man in a floral Hawaiian shirt sitting across the aisle from you, he is the world’s leading venture capitalist. What do you say?
You are a consultant wooing a major prospective client. If you are successful this will put you in the big time. Middle management plan to interview a dozen consultants, and won’t give you access to the CEO. Your chances of winning the contract are slim. As you step into the elevator to leave the building you notice that the only other person in the elevator is the company’s CEO. What do you say?
You are a university student seeking a job at a big consulting firm. You attend your school’s on-campus careers fair where you meet the head recruitment partner for the firm of your choice. What do you say?
The Problem
You have something valuable to offer: a big idea, a quality product, a superior service, a first-class education, extensive experience, niche skills, profound wisdom. In short, you hold the solution to someone else’s problem.
The problem is that, when you finally meet the person who can help you sell your solution, you have not prepared anything to say.
People are busy with their own affairs, and those people who are most likely to be able to help you are even busier. There are lots of ideas competing for attention, and people don’t understand what you have to offer. It is much easier for people to simply tune you out than to give you a chance to explain.
The Pitch
In order to overcome this problem, you need to prepare what you are going to say in advance. You need to create an “elevator pitch”.
An elevator pitch is a high-level overview of whatever it is that you are selling and is designed to just get the conversation started (Elevator Pitch Essentials, Chris O’Leary). It is a communication tool which you can use to quickly and clearly explain your idea with the aim of generating interest and helping you sell the idea.
Productivity is important. Every organisation wants to produce more with less.
The difficulty is though, that “productivity” is a nebulous term. Who is responsible for this “productivity” you speak of?
Assigning direct responsibility for productivity improvement to a specific individual or team makes it much more likely that initiatives to measure productivity and strategies for improving productivity will be undertaken.
Telstra’s recently released productivity report, which is based on a survey of 300 private sector and government enterprises, provides clear evidence to support this view. The graph below shows that there is a clear link between assigning personal responsibility for productivity improvement and the likelihood that steps will be taken to measure productivity and set a specific target.
Productivity, make it personal.
