Posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Episode #035: Ryan Avery, Author, Speaker Leader Champion: Succeed at Work through the Power of Public Speaking

by Jeff Brown

Have you ever witnessed someone else succeeding at something and thought to yourself, “I could do that?” Well, that’s the very same thought that entered Ryan Avery’s mind when he first saw a YouTube video of someone delivering the winning talk at the World Championships for public speaking.

At the age of 25, just 6 months after viewing that video, Ryan Avery became the youngest World Champion of Public Speaking in history; competing against more than 30,000 people from 116 countries to claim the 2012 World Championship title. Needless to say, his life hasn’t been the same since.

And if you’re wondering if the topic of public speaking sounds familiar, you’re right. It takes center stage for the second week in a row, and that’s no accident. Ryan has recently coauthored the book Speaker, Leader, Champion: Succeed at Work Through the Power of Public Speaking, featuring the prize-winning speeches of Toastmasters World Champions.

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Posted on Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Episode #034: Carmine Gallo, Author, Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds

by Jeff Brown

If you’re anything like me, you love learning about how the brain works and why we behave the way we do.

It’s one of the reasons why I love Carmine Gallo’s new book Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds so much. Carmine digs into much of the neuroscience behind how we respond to things like compelling stories, a speaker’s ability to convey passion, and his or her body language.

In doing so, he manages to uncover the nine secrets of all successful TED presentations.

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As Carmine argues,

Ideas are the currency of the twenty-first century, and the ability to communicate your ideas persuasively is the single greatest skill to achieving your dreams.”

Posted on Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Episode #033: Chris Ducker, Author, Virtual Freedom: How to Work with Virtual Staff to Buy More Time, Become More Productive, and Build Your Dream Business

by Jeff Brown

Until I met Chris Ducker, author of the new book Virtual Freedom: How to Work with Virtual Staff to Buy More Time, Become More Productive, and Build Your Dream Business and a widely-recognized Virtual Staff expert, I hadn’t thought about hiring a virtual assistant for myself.

It was then that Chris pointed out that, not only had I thought about it, but I had already utilized a virtual assistant more than once. Wait! What?!

He was right. While not what I traditionally think of as a virtual assistant, I had indeed hired virtual help through 99Designs to create the logo for the Read to Lead Podcast. Once I realized this, the idea of of hiring a virtual assistant – something that felt intimating in the past – now seemed like a no-brainer. Call it my “Duh” moment.

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Click here to subscribe to the ‘Read to Lead Podcast’ via iTunes

Hiring a designer through 99Designs, as I did back in June of last year, was an enormously pleasant experience. Not only that, but I saw so many more options and designs than I would have had a gone a more traditional route. Could hiring virtual staff be right for you and your business? Only you can answer that. I’d be willing to bet though that the answer is yes.

Jeff Goins recently shared having learned this lesson while teaching a course in front of a live studio audience as hundreds more watched online. It is a concept I teach my Podcaster Academy students and one I thought he summarized quite well.

Posted on Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Episode #032: Adam Bryant, New York Times Bestselling Author of Quick and Nimble

by Jeff Brown

New York Times bestselling author Adam Bryant and I seem to have a few things in common.

He’s spent a good portion of his career in media. I’ve spent my entire career in broadcasting. He interviews CEOs for his New York Times column. I interview authors for my podcast. He’s incredibly good-looking. I’m…well…okay. So, two-out-of-three ain’t bad, right?

In his latest book, Quick and Nimble: Lessons from Leading CEOs on How to Create a Culture of Innovation, Adam draws on interviews with more than two hundred CEOs to offer business leaders the wisdom and guidance to move an organization faster, to be quick and nimble, and to rekindle the whatever-it-takes collective spark of a start-up, all with the goal of innovating and thriving in a relentlessly challenging global economy.

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