Giant Killer Executive Leadership Training

Leadership Development topics:

• The “Killing Giants” Executive Briefing Sometimes the executive team needs an off-site of their own – even if it’s just in the board room and it’s only for half a day. Getting the leadership team together for an intensive session on applying the key lessons in Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Giant in Your Industry (Portfolio, 2011) can help get everyone on the same page when it comes to emulating the right kinds of brands, leaders and mindsets that illustrate the “David versus Goliath” struggle we all face. Plus, in this more intimate and informal session, we can do something we can’t in a traditional keynote: we can slow down and discuss what each story, key takeaway and big idea means, reflecting back on the key priorities the company faces and ensuring we’re moving towards a specific action plan when leaving the room. Read More

  Sometimes the executive team needs an off-site of their own – even if it’s just in the board room and it’s only for half a day. Getting the leadership team together for an intensive session on applying the key lessons in Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Giant in Your Industry (Portfolio, 2011) can help get everyone on the same page when it comes to emulating the right kinds of brands, leaders and mindsets that illustrate the “David versus Goliath” struggle we all face. Plus, in this more intimate and informal session, we can do something we can’t in a traditional keynote: we can slow down and discuss what each story, key takeaway and big idea means, reflecting back on the key priorities the company faces and ensuring we’re moving towards a specific action plan when leaving the room.

  The Killing Giants Executive Briefing fits your schedule, your key priorities and your specific needs – regardless of where you are in your budgeting process or where our event falls in your fiscal calendar.

  Audience: the right audience for this intensive half-day briefing is your senior leadership team – from board members and executive staff to operating group chiefs.

  Key take-aways:

  • Understand how to Seize the Narrative and hijack the conversation in the marketplace to a place where giant killers know they can beat the giants they face.
  • Learn how to Change the Rules of the Game and proactively take advantage of shifts in the structures, interactions and perceptions of our market – before the giants do.
  • Master the art of Translating Ideas into Action by applying the lessons gathered from leaders who have successfully implemented “speed cultures” in their organizations to not just make decisions faster – but better, too.

  Killing Giants draws on learnings from some of the most effective business people in the world – from Silicon Valley to the townships of South Africa, representing industries from cosmetics and soft drinks to technology and software – as well as those from outside of traditional business circles, from war planners and Hollywood screenwriters to professional gamblers and hostage negotiators, distilling their experiences into 10 big ideas that students of business can apply to their organizations today.

• Storytelling & the Social Psychology of Influence: How Key Decision Triggers and Story Development Get Stakeholders to “Yes” at Work Storytelling at work is more complex than just spinning clever anecdotes. It’s about being able to effectively persuade an audience to your point of view. It requires a careful balance of telling a good story well with the psychological underpinnings of how we, as humans, communicate and make decisions under both social and time constraints. Read More

  Storytelling at work is more complex than just spinning clever anecdotes. It’s about being able to effectively persuade an audience to your point of view. It requires a careful balance of telling a good story well with the psychological underpinnings of how we, as humans, communicate and make decisions under both social and time constraints.

  Master the art and science of storytelling in the corporate setting and you stand a good chance of seeing your ideas get approved and funded. Miss the importance of the balance between these seemingly unrelated elements and you’ll likely spend a good deal of your time wondering why your proposals are so often rejected.

  By combining the archetypal structures of storytelling with the social psychology of interpersonal influence – and then viewing them both against the very real constraints of the modern workplace, which is its own unique medium – we can understand exactly when specific psychological decision triggers will move us to “yes” in the progression of a story. If we can master these principles, we can use them in a systematic, proactive manner.

  In this 1-day workshop, authors and consultants Stephen Denny and Dr. Paul Leinberger will lay out the foundation of how the social psychology of interpersonal influence intersects with archetypal story structure so that business people can communicate more effectively, more vividly and with greater impact – all with the clear goal of getting their audiences to “yes” that much faster.

  Denny and Leinberger will draw upon the best thinking in the social psychology fields to present an interpersonal influence framework that has been rigorously battle-tested in the field, while also drawing in the most important elements of storytelling. Synthesizing these two seemingly disparate fields of science and art, attendees will come away with a set of “thinking tools” that they can apply immediately to high stakes projects that, if approved, could transform both businesses as well as careers.

  Attendees will learn:

  • How to tap the right decision triggers in different phases of your story to get listeners to “yes” faster.
  • How to use these “decision triggers” on purpose, even if you’re naturally good at them and intuitively understand them.
  • How to weave the essential elements of story construction through your communications – your Power Point presentations, your discussions and your face to face pitches with key executives, peers and board members – so that you build momentum behind your ideas in vivid, evocative and repeatable processes.
  • How to avoid the most prevalent mistakes and “land mines” that executives make when pitching their ideas – and how to use “the journey” to their advantage.

  This leadership development session is geared for any senior executive, from VP and director to the C-suite, who recognizes the importance of being more persuasive in pitching big ideas to key stakeholders.