By Tim Hayes www.timhayesconsulting.com A friend recently asked how I might go about training executives from India on making effective presentations to American audiences. My reply was simple, direct, and automatic – help them become as confident, comfortable, and in command of their material as possible, and most of all don’t try to turn […]
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Jackass in a Hailstorm
By Tim Hayes www.timhayesconsulting.com There are moments in the life of a professional communicator when you know the crap is coming. Those are the times that try men’s (and women’s) souls, not to mention their paychecks and retainer contracts. The public relations staff at Goldman Sachs know this, as earnings are about to […]
Stop, Forrest, Stop!
By Tim Hayes www.timhayesconsulting.com The classic film “Forrest Gump” features a funny scene where one portion of the student body at the University of Alabama holds up placards in the stands that read “RUN FORREST RUN” as the dim-witted but fleet-footed Gump rumbles downfield to score a touchdown, while the placards of another student […]
Steer to the Horizon
By Tim Hayes www.timhayesconsulting.com A guy I think the world of told me today he was throwing in the towel. The frustration had reached the tipping point. He’d had enough. A man can only stand so much. No mas, no mas. He’d played his last fantasy football game and was hanging up his pixilated […]
Man Up, Mr. President
By Tim Hayes www.timhayesconsulting.com The online question read: The President was a guest today on 4 out of the 5 Sunday news shows; the 4 that generally advocate for his Presidency / programs. He did not go on the more critical Fox News. If a goal was to reach-out beyond his base, shouldn’t […]
Red-Handed, Red-Faced? Ready to Lead
By Tim Hayes She was busted, and she knew it. I had her dead to rights. One of my daughters, maybe three years old at the time, with her hand literally in the cookie jar. So I removed the treat from her little fist, sat her on my fatherly lap, and asked if she […]
Poor Sports on Parade
By Tim Hayes They say sports reflect the society in which they flourish. If that’s correct, we’re in a sorry state these days, if the behavior of two phenomenal superstars this past weekend is any indication. On Friday evening the NBA inducted Michael Jordan into the Basketball Hall of Fame. No surprise there. […]
Your Baby Is Ugly
By Tim Hayes There’s an episode of “Seinfeld” where Jerry, Elaine and the gang head to the Hamptons to stay with some friends because they “gotta see the baby.” The problem, though, is that the poor little thing is the ugliest infant they’ve ever seen, but they obviously can’t say that to the parents. […]
The Delicate Art of the Eulogy
By Tim Hayes A great friend recently had the heavy honor of delivering the eulogy for a family member, and asked me for some guidance. My advice was brief and direct: “A eulogy is no time to scrimp on the superlatives,” and, “Pick a spot above people’s heads to focus on, or otherwise you […]
Chicken Little as Speechwriter?
By Tim Hayes An old boss once said to me, “The hardest thing in the world to change is someone’s mind.” And, as a professional communicator and speechwriter, I’ve come to see the wisdom in that notion. In business, communications plays to both sides of the human brain. You line up your facts into […]
I Like Facebook, HBU (how ‘bout you)?
By Tim Hayes As a newbie to Facebook, I’m in the process of learning not only how to navigate these new waters of Walls and Friending and feigning interest in people’s toenail painting appointments, but also how to communicate business opportunities to heretofore untapped markets. The universe of Twitter beckons as well, but my […]
One Reality, Two Truths
By Tim Hayes A recent story in the Business section of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette offered an overview of a study performed at Penn State University about the effect of “charismatic” language used by CEOs to influence analysts’ valuations of companies. The study concluded that higher levels of charismatic language – defined roughly as […]
You Can’t Fake Sincerity, and Only Fo...
By Tim Hayes On a sun-splashed June 12, 1987, the President of the United States stood at a microphone in front of the Brandenburg Gate in what was then known as West Berlin. His words that day shook the world. What few people realize is that Ronald Reagan’s prepared remarks that day only read, […]
In Praise of the Active Combatant
By Tim Hayes In today’s business world, CEOs can’t be spectators, but must be active combatants using effective communications as their most trusted tool. Leadership by example is the only way that organizations can find clarity, direction, inspiration, and the sheer will to fight their way out of the economic fix they’re in these […]
The CEO as Transformational Storytell...
By Tim Hayes Amid economic challenges like those at work today, companies need to transform themselves, adapting to survive and even move ahead. But given the volume of coverage and advisory-oriented information out there, surprisingly little attention is paid to the role of one important person – the CEO. What can this key leader do? […]
The Perfect American Speech
By Tim Hayes On this Independence Day, I’m thinking of the incredibly powerful and elegant words of the Declaration of Independence, naturally. But I’m also thinking of a document that I believe completed and elevated the thoughts of the Declaration as well as the Constitution – Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. To my mind, the perfect American speech. Only […]
The Joy of the Spoken Word
By Tim Hayes I recently participated in a panel discussion at George Washington University on speechwriting, and it quickly became one of those instances where you suddenly appreciate how much you enjoy something. My fellow presenters came from governmental agencies for the most part, whereas my experience has been in the world of business. It […]