愚公移山

愚公移山的故事，见《列子》《汤问》篇：“太行、王屋二山，方七百里，高万仞。本在冀州之 南，河阳之北。北山愚公者，年且九十，面山而居。惩山北之塞，出入之迂也，聚室而谋日：吾与汝毕力平险，指通豫南，达于汉阴，可乎？杂然相许。其妻献疑 日：以君之力，曾不能损魁父之丘，如太行王屋何？且焉置土石？杂日：投诸渤海之尾，隐土之北。遂率子孙荷担者三夫，叩石垦壤，箕畚运于渤海之尾。邻人京城 氏之孀妻，有遗男，始龀，跳往助之。寒暑易节，始一反焉。河曲智叟，笑而止之，日：甚矣，汝之不惠。以残年馀力，曾不能毁山之一毛，其如土石何？北山愚公 长息日：汝心之固，固不可彻，曾不若孀妻弱子。虽我之死，有子存焉；子又生孙，孙又生子；子又有子，子又有孙。子子孙孙，无穷匮也，而山不加增，何苦而不 平？河曲智叟亡以应。操蛇之神闻之，惧其不已也，告之于帝。帝感其诚，命夸娥氏二子负二山，一厝朔东，一厝雍南。自此，冀之南，汉之阴，无陇断焉。”

美国公民入籍100题

1.What is the supreme law of the land?

·The Constitution

问:什么是美国最高法律?

答:宪法.

2. What does the Constitution do?

·Sets up the government

问:什么是宪法的作用?

答:建立政府体系.

  3.The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the

   Constitution.  What are these words?

·We the People

问:《宪法》的前三个字说明人民自治的概念, 说出这三个字?

答:我们人民.

  4. What is an amendment?

   CHANG TO  Constitution 

问：什么叫修正案?

答：《宪法的》修正条款

5.What do we call the first ten amendments to te Constitution?

·The Bill of Rights 

问：什么是前十个修正案？在《宪法》中的。

答：人权法案。

 6.What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?***

·Speech

问：说出一个权力或自由，在第一修正案中的？

答：言论自由。

7. How many amendments does the Constitution have?

·27

问:有多少修正案，在宪法中？

  8.What did the Declaration of Independence do?

·Declared our independence (from Great Britain)

   U. S free from 

问:说出独立宣言的作用为何？

答：宣告美国脱离英国而独立。

9. What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?

·Life

·Liberty

问：说出两项权利----在<独立宣言>中的？

答：生存的权利。

    自由的权利。    

  10.What is freedom of religion?

·You can practice any religion, or not a religion.

问：什么是宗教自由？ 

答：你可信仰任何宗教，也可任何宗教都不信。

11.Wat is the economic system in the United States?***

·Market economy 也卡了密

问：什么样的经济制度---在美国？

答：市场经济。

12.What is the “rule of law”?

·Everyone must obey (follow) the law

问：法制是什么意思？

答：每个人必须遵守法律。

13.Name one branch（不乱吃） part of the government.***

·Congress

问：说出政府体制中的任何一个部分？

答：国会。

14.What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?扒窝

·Checks and balances 八林乐思

问：什么方法可防止政府变得权利太大？

答：制衡。

15.Who is in charge of the executive义可三得特 branch?

·The President

问：谁负责行政部门？

答：总统。

16.Who makes（美可思） federal laws?

·Congress

问：谁制定联邦法律？

答：国会。

 17.hat are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?***

·The Senate and House (of Representatives)

问：美国国会由哪两个部分组成？

答：参院及众院。 

18.How many U.S. Senators are there?

·100

问：有多少联邦参议员？

答：100位

  19.We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?

·  6

问：我们选联邦参议员多少年一次？

答：每六年.

20.Who is one of your state’s U.S. Senators?***

·Barbara Boxer

问:说出一个你所在州的联邦参议员？

答：芭芭拉 鲍克赛 

21.The House of Representatives has how many voting members?
·435
问：在众议院中有多少有投票权的议员？
22.We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years?
· 2
问：我们选众议员要多少年一次？
23.Name your U.S. Representative.
·Judy Chu
问：说出你选区众议员的名字？
答：赵美心
  24.Who does a U.S. Senator represent?
·All people of the state
问：联邦参议员代表何人？
答：你所在州的人民。
25.Why do some states have more Representatives than other states?
·(because) they have more people
问：为什么有些州的众议员比其他州多？
答：因为他们有众多的人口。
26.We elect a President for how many years?
· 4
问：我们选总统多少年一次？
27.In what month do we vote for President?***
·November
问：在那个月我们选总统？
答：11月。
28.What is the name of the President of the United States
now?***
·Barack Obama
问：谁是现任总统？
答：巴拉克 奥巴马。
29.What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?
·Joe Biden
问：谁是副总统?
答: 乔 拜登。  
30.If the President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
·The Vice President
问：如果总统不能服务，谁成为总统？
答：副总统。
31.If both the Present and the Vice President can no longer serve,   becomes President?
·The Speaker of the House
问：如果总统和副总统都不能服务，谁成为总统？
答：众议院议长。
32.Who is the Commander in Chief of the military?
·The President
问：谁是三军统帅？
答：总统。
33.Who signs bills to become laws?
·The President
问：谁签署法案成为法律？
答：总统。
34.Who vetoes bills?
·The President
问：谁否决法案？
答：总统。
35.What does the President’s Cabinet do?
·Advises the President
问：总统的内阁做什么事？
答：向总统提出建议。
36.What are two Cabinet-level positions?
·Secretary of State
·Secretary of Labor
问：说出两个内阁的部长级职位？
答：国务卿   劳工部长
37.What does the judicial branch do?
·Explains laws
问：司法部门做什么事？
答：解释法律。
38.What is the highest court in the United States?
·The Supreme Court
问：什么是最高的法院？
答：联邦最高法院.
39.How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
· (9)
问: 有多少大法官在联邦最高法院?
40.Who is the Chief Justice of the United States?
·John Roberts

41.Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?
·To print money
问：在我们的宪法下面，一些权力属于联邦政府，说出一项权力属于联邦政府的？
答：印钞票。
42.Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states.  What is one power of the states?
·Give a driver’s license
问：在我们的宪法下面，一些权力属于州政府，说出一项权力属于州政府的。
答：提供驾照。
43.Who is the Governor of your state?
·Arnold Schwarzenergger
问：谁是州长---你居住的州？
答：阿诺 斯瓦辛格。
44.What is the capital of your state?***
·Sacramento
问：哪里是首都---你居住的州？
答：沙加缅度。
45.What are the two major political parties in the United States?***
·Democratic and Republican。
问：说出两个主要政党？
答：民主党及共和党。
46.What is the political party of the President now?
·Democratic
问：说出属于什么政党---现任总统？
答：民主党。
47.What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?
·Nancy Pelosi
问：说出议长的名字---在国会众议院的？
答：南希 婆洛西
48.There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote.  Describe one of them.
·Citizens eighteen (18) and older (can vote)
问：有四个修正案在宪法中---关于谁可投票。试举一个。
答：公民18岁以上可投票。
49.What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?***
·Vote
问：说出一个责任---只有公民有的。
答：投票。
50.What is one right only for United States citizens?
·vote
问：说出一项权利----只有公民才有的？
答：投票权。
51What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?
·Freedom of speech
·Freedom of worship
问：说出两个权利----任何一个住在美国的人？
答：言论自由    
宗教信仰自由
52.What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?
·The United States
问：向什么表达忠诚---在我们宣誓效忠时？
答：美国。
53.What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen?
·Obey the laws of the United States
问：说出一个承诺---当你成为公民时？
答：遵守美国的法律。
54.How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?***
·(18) and older
问：多大年纪的公民可投票选总统？
答：18岁以上。

55.What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?
·Vote
·Run for office
问：说出两个方法---美国人参与民主政治的？
答：投票。
竞选公职。
56.When is the last day you can send in federal income tax    forms?***
·April 15
问：何时是最后一天你可寄出联邦所得税表？
答：4月15日
57.When must all men register for the Selective Service?
·At age eighteen (18)
问：何时---所有男人必须办理兵役登记？
答：18岁。
58.What is one reason colonists came to America?
·Freedom
问：说出一个理由----殖民者到美国来？
答：自由。
59.Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?
·American Indians
问：谁已住在美国---在欧州人来之前？
答：美国印第安人。
60.What group of people was taken to America and sold as slaves?
·People from Africa
问：那一群人被带到美国当奴隶卖？
答：来自非洲的人。
61.Why did the colonists fight the British?
·Because of high taxes
问：为什么殖民者与英国打仗？
答：因为高额税捐。
62.Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
·Thomas Jefferson
问：谁写的独立宣言？
答：托马斯 杰佛逊
63.When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
·July 4, 1776。
问：何时独立宣言通过的？
答：7月4日1776年
64.There were 13 original states. Name three.
·New York
·New Jersey  
·Maryland
问：有13 个殖民地----说出三个？
答：纽约   纽泽西   马里兰
65.What happened at the Constitutional Convention?
·The Constitution was written
问：什么事发生在制宪会议上？
答：拟定宪法。
66.When was the Constitution written?
·1787
问：何时宪法写成？
67.The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.
·John Jay
问：“联邦论”支持通过美国宪法---举出一个作者？
答：江姐。
68.What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?
·U.S. Diplomat
问：什么是班杰明  富兰克林著名的事？
答：美国外交官。
69.Who is the “Father of Our Country”?
·George Washington

问：谁是美国国父？
答：乔治 华盛顿
70.Who was the first President?***
·George Washington
问:谁是第一任总统？
答：乔治 华盛顿。
71.What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?
·Louisiana
问：什么领土是是美国从法国买的---在1803年？
答：路易斯安纳。
72.Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.
·Civil War
问：说出一个战争美国参与的---在1800年代？
答：南北战争。
73.Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.
·Civil War
问：说出一场战争---在南北之间的？
答：南北战争。
74.Name one problem that led to the Civil War.
·Slavery。
问：说出一个引发美国内战的问题？
答：奴隶制度。
75.What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did?***
·Freed the slaves
问：说出阿伯拉罕 林肯做的事情？
答：解放奴隶。
76.What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
·Freed the slaves
问：什么是解放宣言的用意？
答：解放奴隶。
77.What did Susan B. Anthony do?
·Fought for women’s rights
问：什么是苏三 B 安东尼做的事情？
答：为女权奋战。
78.Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.
·World War II
问：说出一场战争---美国在1900年代参与的？
答：2战
79.Who was President during World War I
·Woodrow Wilson?
问：谁是总统---在第一次世界大战？
答：乌得洛 威尔逊。
80.Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?
·Franklin Roosevelt
问：谁是总统----在第二次世界大战？
答：富兰克林 罗斯富。
81.Who did the United States fight in World War II?
·Japan，Germany and Italy
问：美国与谁打仗----在二战？
答: 日本  德国  意大利。
82.Before he was President, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?
·World War II
问：在当总统之前，艾森豪是个将军，什么战争他参加了？
答：二战。
83. During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?
·Communism
问：在二战期间，什么是最担心的？
答：共产主义.
84.What movement tried to end racial discrimination?
·Civil rights (movement).
问：哪个运功试图结束种族歧视？
答：民权运动.
85.What did Martin Luther King Jr. do?***
·Fought for civil rights.
问：什么是马丁 路德 金做的事？
答:为民权奋战。
86.What major event happened on September 11, 2001 in the United States?
·Terrorists attacked the United States
问：什么大事发生在“911”？
答：恐怖分子袭击美国。

 

87.Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.
·Cheyenne
问：说出一个印第安的部落？
答：晒盐。
88.Name of one the two longest rivers in the United States.
·Mississippi River
问：说出一条河流，两条最长的河流中的任何一条？
答：密西西比河。
89.What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?
·Pacific Ocean
问：什么海洋在美国的西岸？
答：
90.What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?
·Atlantic Ocean
问：什么海洋在美国的西岸？
答：
91.Name one U.S. territory.
·Guam
问：说说出一个美国的领地？
答：关岛。
92.Name one state that borders Canada.
·New York
问:说出一个州接邻加拿大？
答：纽约。
93Name one state the borders Mexico.
·California
问：说出一个州接邻墨西哥？
答: 加州。
94What is the capital of the United States?***
·Washington D.C.
问：说出美国的首都？
答：华盛顿D C.
95Where is the Statue of Liberty?***
·New York (Harbor)
问:那里是自由女神像？
答：纽约港。
96.Why does the flag have 13 stripes?
·Because there were 13 original colonies
问：为什么国旗上有13个条纹？
答：因为有13个原始的州。
97.Why does the flag have 50 stars?***
·Because there are 50 states
问：为什么国旗上有50个星星？
答：因为有50个州。
98.What is the name of the national anthem?
·The Star-Spangled Banner
问：美国国歌的名字？
答：灿烂的星条旗.
99.when do we celebrate Independence Day?***
· July 4
问：何时我们庆祝独立日？
答：7月4日
100.Name two national U.S. holidays.
·Labor Day。
·Thanksgiving Day。  
  问：说出2个美国假日？
  答：劳工节。感恩节。

Secrets of Being Promoted and Earning More Money

Have you ever wondered how some real idiots get promoted and you don't? I've spent over 27 years working in the corporate world, climbing the greasy pole and I saw it all. I discovered there are three types of people. The key to getting promoted and earning more money is to decide which one you are...
Firstly, we have...
The Showman
We all know this person. I can picture a person I used to know who was the epitome of this type of person. Over a few years, I watched this guy get promotion after promotion and I have to say I was amazed. I thought he must be some kind of genius; I couldn't understand his secret. All the senior managers loved him. Then, one day, he ended up as my boss. Working closely with him I quickly found out a lot about him and got to realize what made up 'The Showman'.
His key strength was that he was great ‘on stage’. He was very eloquent at talking about what he’d done, to people in high places. He spent all of his time carefully crafting his image. He made sure he was at the right meetings and said the right thing. As a consequence senior management loved him and he was promoted. The issue was he was promoted so quickly people didn’t realize the key weakness of the Showman. He never actually did anything! He had some great ideas, that were totally impracticable and he never ever implemented anything in his life! It was all talk. What he was good at doing was taking credit for anything his team did and pass it off as his own. As a result his team’s morale was awful. But he had a knack of surviving for a while... until he was promoted again, and so the cycle repeated itself.
We then have....
The Implementer
This person is the opposite of the Showman. During my long career I have had the pleasure of working with some great people who actually got their hands dirty and did things. They worked hard and implemented things. They made change happen. These people are great to have in your team. But their biggest problem was that nobody knew about all the great work they did as they didn’t like to tell people. They were embarrassed to promote themselves and explaining to people what they have achieved. They thought that if they did a good job, then they would be noticed. This, however, is often not the case and as a result, unfortunately, most of them don’t get noticed and the world passes them by. This is clearly unjust, but it is life.
Finally, we have....
Abe Lincoln
The reason I call these people Abe Lincoln is because they are honest, hardworking, they get things done and make change. But to be President they must also be good ‘on stage’.
Let me relate a story to illustrate this type of person. Back in the day, I used to work for Mars Confectionery as a salesman on the road. I would see my boss twice a month. Showing my age, this was before emails and mobile phones! I always remember my boss saying to me that he wanted me to send him a memo each week, (on carbonized paper!) called 'Look what I have done'. He explained that he wasn't working with me all the time and he wouldn't be able to see all the good things that I was doing. So he asked me to tell him.
So every week I wrote him a memo with the highlights of my week. Some he would write back about and congratulate me. Some he would forward onto his boss who would write to me and tell me what a good job I was doing. Each of these motivated me to do more and better work. As he knew the good work I was doing I then started to get promoted. As I continued on my career path I continued and promoted this strategy – do good work, and then tell people about it.
To me this is the secret of getting promoted. Too many good people think the world is a 'just and honest' place, and if they do a good job they will be recognized and get promoted. They are embarrassed to inform people of their achievements. They, wrongly, believe people will notice their good work. I know it's hard to say, but the reality is that doesn't always happen, and idiots like my old boss, the Showman type, who build their career like a stack of cards, get promoted and you don’t. In my opinion you have to tell people what a good job you are doing. I don’t mean by being brash, or in a way that is egocentric but instead by being honest like President Lincoln.
When I have been coaching the various teams I have had over the years on this I always use this analogy of a theater. I ask them to imagine a theater where the audience if full of people that can give them promotion or a pay rise. I explain in this theater there are people that work behind the front stage with the curtains drawn. They diligently work in the background, doing the lights, building the scenery, selling the tickets. These are the unsung heroes and the audience doesn't have a clue who they are. These people rarely get promoted.
Then there are the people who are like my old boss. They are great showmen. They love being at the front of the stage and telling important people about how great they are. On stage they have the curtains closed behind them. Their performance is great and everyone loves them. They take all the glory. Then someone important says, “Can we look behind the curtains at what you have actually been doing. Can we see evidence of the change? Can we see the measures that have changed?” When the curtain is finally drawn back there is nothing there. It was all built on sand and their words are just words – not actions.
The secret of getting a promotion is this: You have to do things and then tell people what you have done. It is absolutely fundamental that you do ‘things’ and make change. But then in an unpretentious way, in an appropriate manner for the situation, you need to tell people about what you have done. It's important that you do not do this in an egoistical manner and that you always recognize other people who have helped you. To get promoted and earn more money you must claim what is rightfully yours. Too many good people are overlooked because they are not good at articulating their worth.
Which are you – Showman, Implementer or Abe Lincoln?

If you liked this article, you might like the following blogs :

• Best Advice: Six Secrets to Success
• Understanding Motivation is Key
• Company Politics: Everyone is happy until you ask them to do something?

Colin Shaw is the founder and CEO of Beyond Philosophy, one of the world's first organizations devoted to customer experience. Colin is an international author of four best-selling books and an engaging key-note speaker. To read more from Colin on LinkedIn, connect with him by clicking the follow button above or below.
If you would like to follow Beyond Philosophy click here

Top 5 Ways To Make A Great First Impression

A first impression is like a headline. People are going to check you out and decide immediately if they are interested in knowing more—so it’s vital to make an impactful first impression at the start of every conversation. People often relate a first impression with a face-to-face meeting, yet initial impressions often precede in-person meetings. Every type of communication with someone new shapes his or her overall impression of you. Here’s how you make every first impression memorable—in person, on the phone, via video chat or in plain old writing…
1. In-person
Presentation is the key to a strong face to face first meeting. Everything from appearance, body language and how you speak will affect how you come across. You know how important it is to dress appropriately and be well-groomed, but do you sit up straight and keep from fidgeting? Do you make direct eye contact and exude confidence? All of these details will factor into your impression. How you handle conversations is extremely important. Balance being a good listener with being an engaging speaker, and most importantly, be interested in what the other person has to say!
People often confuse being professional with being boring or dry. Showcase your personality, just keep it appropriate. Whether it‘s a job interview or meeting a potential client, people are more impressed with vibrant personalities than flat and uninteresting ones.
2. Over the phone
If you are speaking to someone you’ve never met, the entire impression is contingent on your conversation skills. To begin, make sure that you are speaking in the right environment. If the phone call is scheduled, be sure to take it in a quiet place without any distractions. If you are being called at a specific time, don’t answer the phone with a hesitant or too-casual greeting. You already know who is calling, so answer authoritatively. If you’re making the call, always begin by asking the other person if it’s a good time to speak. Organization will help make your initial phone call a success. Have a list of questions and any other materials you need at the ready. Take notes on the call for later reference. Being prepared will allow you to speak confidently without “um’s” and “uh’s” derailing the conversation.
3. Through email
The subject line is often the most-neglected part of an email—don’t disregard its importance. Work on writing a subject line that is specific and personable. Ask yourself, “Would I want to open this message based on the subject line alone?” Tone is also critical. Be professional but personable. When reaching out to someone for the first time, you want the person to get a sense of who you are. Don’t use improper English or text message-style abbreviations. Read the message out loud to yourself before sending it to help you catch mistakes and let you hear how you are coming across.
4. Via video chat
Video chat first impressions combine the attributes of in-person, phone and email interactions. As with an in-person meeting, it is important to focus on your appearance when meeting virtually. You want to be well-organized and conduct the meeting from a quiet spot without distractions. Your setting will factor into how you come across. If you are sitting at a messy desk, you might give off the impression that you are disorganized. Look at your space from an outsider’s point of view before the chat begins. Technology can be fickle, so always check your connection, your speakers and your microphone before the video conference is scheduled to begin. Give yourself adequate time to fix any problems ahead of time so that you don’t have to struggle with it while the other party waits.
5. Follow-up
A proper follow-up is the final component of a first impression. Sending a thank you note or a follow-up email shows that you appreciated the person’s time and that you’re thinking about next steps.
The best first impression is about more than being memorable. You also want to show people that you remember them. It is two-sided, so the strongest impact relies on a mutual appreciation for the meeting. Be yourself, be kind and be ready to connect. Don’t forget, every impression counts.

How Great Leaders Communicate

You’ve just been promoted into one of your organization’s Big Jobs. Now you’ve got an impressive office, a hefty budget and vast expectations about how you will lead dozens or even thousands of people. Can you stick with the leadership style that brought you this far? Or do you need to recalibrate your approach, starting with the way you communicate?
Some fascinating rethinking is under way on exactly that topic. Scholars such as Harvard Business School’s Boris Groysberg argue that effective leadership no longer revolves around brilliant speeches and heroic exhortations. (We can call that the Fidel Castro approach – and it doesn’t work especially well in either government or mainstream business.) Instead, Groysberg and co-author Michael Slind argue in their 2012 book “Talk Inc.” that the higher you go in an organization, the more you must engage other people in conversations, rather than trying to shout them into submission.
I’m in favor of traveling 70% of the way down that road with Groysberg and Slind, without becoming so chatty that you lose the ability to stretch people’s horizons. Over the past 25 years, as a business-book author and writer for the likes of Forbes, Fast Company and The Wall Street Journal, I’ve seen a lot of corporate leaders in action. Here are seven ways that the best leaders increase their effectiveness by the ways they communicate.
1. Bring the vision to life. Anyone can write a mission statement, full of lofty words that sound good. But you aren’t communicating that vision unless you repeatedly signal how those values translate into concrete actions. What people learn from your routine decision-making matters far more than what you pack into your speeches.
A case in point: Jeff Bezos’s insistence that Amazon.com is “the most customer-centric company in the world.” Nice slogan. What does it really mean? Hang around the Amazon CEO for a while, and you will notice that he vetoes sassy ads that mock customers. He insists that mid-level meetings include one person serving solely as the customer advocate – with the power to veto actions that undermine customers’ interests. And when Amazon reorganizes departments, which it does fairly often, each regrouping is justified as a way of serving the customer better.
In the same spirit, bring your bedrock values into the daily workplace. Salute other people’s actions that reinforce what you prize. Call out conduct that doesn’t. And infuse these principles into other people’s thought patterns by referencing key values as decisions are being made.
2. Ask smart questions. In his new book, “To Sell Is Human,” best-selling author Daniel H. Pink cites studies showing that when you want to persuade someone, questions can be more powerful than statements. The reason: you engage another person’s heart and mind more strongly. You get him or her thinking about the ideal answer – and then all the steps necessary to get there. By being less dogmatic, you let people on your team build game plans that they believe in, rather than trapping them in a helpless state until you issue your next command.
While developing my most recent book, “The Rare Find,” I was impressed with the way that David Evans, the former head of the computer science department at the University of Utah, got great work out of his graduate students by asking simple but profound questions that pointed the way to revolutionary advances. He inspired the engineers who later built Pixar, Adobe and Netscape. Often that could be done simply by pointing at a big goal on the horizon and saying: “How would you get there?”
3. Take time to read the room. Once you’re in senior leadership, you will meet a lot of outsiders that you hardly know ... but whose support or forbearance is crucial to your company's success. Do 90% of the talking, and it’s tempting to think that you carried the day with Washington regulators, Chinese suppliers, that big customer in Dallas or the investigative reporter from New York. Guess what? If you don’t know what the other party really wanted, all that bluster was in vain.
Take a tip from Silicon Valley executive Meg Whitman, early in her career, when she was building eBay into a global e-commerce powerhouse. Some of her most important meetings were with eBay’s Power Sellers. These merchants booked huge amounts of business on the site, yet for a time they felt the company didn’t understand their frustrations with fees and service issues. Every few months, she would visit Power Sellers on their turf, looking for ways to fix their problems or at least offer sympathy. Her keen ear helped eBay stay ahead of its competitors.
Don’t fall prey to the belief that careful listening is only for the little people in the room. When you listen carefully, you win people’s trust – and that’s crucial to everything else you want to accomplish. There’s a maxim in the public speaking business: “The more your audience talks, the more they think they have learned from you.” Use that sly insight to your advantage.
4. Create a climate where things get done. In any organization, there's a huge gap between projects that are headed to the finish line, right now -- and ones that live indefinitely in limbo, hardly moving forward. Which do you prefer? If you're looking for results, make sure your employees and front-line managers are repeatedly aware of your top priorities. Help set interim mileposts. Get roadblocks out of the way. Walk through the areas where specific tasks are being done. Even a 10-minute visit by the boss conveys the clear and uplifting message: "This is important."
Be mindful of how many "top priorities" your organization can handle successfully. Better to win two big campaigns a year than to stumble in the midst of 20. I've seen ambitious but unfocused organizations end up with overcrowded agendas that create internal strife -- with the unpleasant consequences of missed deadlines, constant changes of directions and ugly battles for resources and recognition. The higher up you go in an organization, the more important it is for you to communicate key goals with clarity and brevity.
Tim Boyle, the CEO of Columbia Sportswear, is remarkably good at peeling away the clutter. I’ve chatted with him since 2005, and he keeps his business centered on three simple concepts: innovation, enhanced design and compelling marketing. Zoom in on each idea, and details abound. He’s a remarkably hard-working and well-read boss. Those core concepts, however, help ensure that Columbia’s 4,000 employees are pulling in the right direction.
5. Use stories to get your points across. When you’re at the top of an organization, you can seem pretty distant from the people on the front lines. Now you’re in a job where it may be impossible to schedule enough face time with everyone you’d like to influence. One of your best ways to compensate: sharing teaching anecdotes, so that even people who hardly know you will still feel they know your human, authentic side.
Nobody does this better than Warren Buffett, the 82-year-old chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. His conglomerate has $143 billion in annual revenue, with interests that range from insurance to energy, furniture and chocolate. But when you read Buffett's annual letters to shareholders, his dry wit and wise-uncle judgment come through on every page. Countless investors and managers who have never met him still feel that they know him – and like him.
You don’t need to be nearly as polished as Buffett to succeed in this domain. Just think how you would explain your week’s battles and goals to a neighbor, a spouse or a college roommate, and you’ll find the right tone.
6. Be mindful of what you don’t know. If your subordinates are any good at all, you often won’t know the fine-grain details as well as they do. Expect to be learning constantly on the job. Find ways that your in-house experts can quietly bring you up to speed on emerging issues that are catching your eye. You’ve got vital strengths that other people don’t, particularly in terms of experience, broad perspectives and judgment. As you work toward important decisions, make sure your remarks and conversations are opening the way for other people to keep augmenting your knowledge base.
Two of the most skillful learners I ever encountered are Sheryl Sandberg (the chief operating officer of Facebook), and Lou Gerstner, the former CEO of RJR Nabisco and then IBM. I traveled with Gerstner during his RJR era as part of a Wall Street Journal front-page profile. He was still mastering the company’s endless product line, but he got up to speed shrewdly, calling some meetings on a supermarket floor so he could walk the aisles as people talked, looking around to see whose brands dominated each category.
7. Make people feel they work for a winner. Can you single-handedly improve your organization’s morale – in ways that genuinely translate into better performance and innovation? That’s one of the great mysteries of leadership. Some executives try smothering their employees in perks. Others praise good work, hoping that it will lead to greater doings in the future. Still others scold slackers and kick out the weakest performers, believing that some situations call for toughness.
Any of those approaches can work; yet I’ve seen executives try all three and still come up short. A memorable insight here came from John Young, who was CEO of Hewlett Packard for many years during its prime. We chatted after his retirement, and he contended that what shapes morale the most is employees’ conviction that they are working for the best company in their field. Earn that honor, he said, and you gain a level of employee commitment that cash and perks alone can’t buy.
All the other six techniques in this article point toward this final priority. If you’re conveying a clear vision, asking good questions, setting the right priorities and so on, you’re creating that winners’ aura that is the ultimate reward for great leadership communication.
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