Video Critique: Steve Jobs (Stanford Commencement, 2005) Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Because I give many presentations as part of my job I've read a number of books extolling Steve Job's style, and rightfully so. Here is an interesting critique.

Video Critique: Steve Jobs (Stanford Commencement, 2005) Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Winning Body Language Review

I've read a number of books on body language so when I started to read Winning Body Language I expected just more of the same. I was wrong. Mark Bowden, author of Winning Body Language, offers some different advice than the usual based on his own approach called the TruthPlane.

Bowden divides our body into different planes, each of which is best suited for different kinds of communication. For most presentations (and communication) Bowden recommends that our gestures stay in the TruthPlane, the horizontal plane extending from the navel.

If you can concentrate on sending out nonverbal messages that are easy for the receiver to interpret correctly – clearly coded, with congruent images and sound – then the audience’s brains stand a far greater chance of relaxing and getting your meaning in the way you intended.

The navel is indeed the control center of your physical balance and the center of your biological mechanism for coping with stress.

Placing your hands in the TruthPlane is the single most effective way for the business communicator to fight back effortlessly against the natural stress reaction and send out a clear signal to the audience that there is no problem.

While most of our gestures would occur in the TruthPlane Bowden also proposes other planes: PassionPlane at chest level for adding excitement, DisclosurePlane at the mouth level, ThoughtPlane (eye level) and EsctaticPlane (above the head).

All of these planes can be used at appropriate times while there is one plane, the GrotesquePlane (below waist level), where he says we should avoid placing our hands. Bowden claims this lowers energy. This contradicts advice I've seen in a couple other nooks which recommend dropping your hands to your sides when not gesturing. As a test I've paid attention to TV hosts who don't work behind a desk, politicians and actors. Many of them gesture mostly in the TruthPlane. I don't know if they were trained to do this or if they just do it subconsciously but my informal survey showed that many people use Bowden's TruthPlane.

He also suggests we use symmetrical gestures to make your message easier to process.

For a message that you send to stand the optimum chance of being interpreted correctly by the audience, it must be taken in coherently by both the left brain’s linguistic logic and the right brain’s nonverbal image processor. This means gesturing with more symmetry between the left side and the right side of the body.

Winning Body Language covers more than just giving presentations. It also talks about how to establish your territory in a room, how to break down barriers to communication and how to structure a presentation. While all of this information is good and useful I found the TruthPlane concept, the core of Winning Body Language, the part I apply the most. And that's the plane truth about the TruthPlane.

A Loser's Winning Moment by Jason Gay

I like this article on the Nadal-Djokovic Wimbledon final. After his introduction which says how easy it is to handle winning Gay says: "But do you really want to prove yourself, to be all-time and great? Learn to lose. Lose beautifully, with class and humility. Lose like Rafael Nadal."

Further on he says:

One of the great aspects of the Nadal-Federer era is that it demolished the myth that nice guys finish last. This isn't to say the rivals don't possess bountiful egos—they do—but there has been an encouraging layer of generosity and civility to the competition. It's a little pathetic how refreshing this is. Too often, antisocial behavior in sports is excused as a side effect of championship determination.

I agree. This was one of the things that bothered me when the Williams sisters were dominating woman's tennis. When they lost they often didn't give credit to the play of their opponent. I remember seeing at least one victory speech in which one of the Williams didn't even acknowledge their opponent. I have to say that this was several years ago. I was pleasantly surprised more recently when Serena graciously handled a loss.

I'm not saying we should like losing. I certainly am not happy when I lose a tennis match. But there is nothing to be gained by belittling your partner or concocting an excuse for losing. If my goal is to improve (which it is) it won't help my effort if I deny why I lost. I'm preventing learning important lessons that could help me play better. And I also do believe my opponent is a partner at least at the level of social sports which for most of us is what we're engaged in. We're not earning our living, landing endorsement deals or vying for trophies when we play sports with friends and colleagues. This is why I used the word "partner" earlier in this paragraph. We're testing each other, partly in order to grow and improve while also enjoying the battle. The fact that Nadal, Federer and others can handle losing as well as they do supports the sentiment expressed in the first quote from Gay.

Healthy Mind Platter

Siegel offers a somewhat different model than others. Other self-help authors talk about balancing different aspects of our external life: work, family, health, and etc. His turns the focus inwards towards what it takes to keep our brains healthy. Here is a summary from Siegel’s web site of the different dishes on the platter.

Focus Time: When we closely focus on tasks in a goal-oriented way, we take on challenges that make deep connections in the brain.

Play Time: When we allow ourselves to be spontaneous or creative, playfully enjoying novel experiences, we help make new connections in the brain.

Connecting Time: When we connect with other people, ideally in person, and when we take time to appreciate our connection to the natural world around us, we activate and reinforce the brain's relational circuitry.

Physical Time: When we move our bodies, especially aerobically, we strengthen the brain in many ways.

Time In: When we quietly reflect internally, focusing on sensations, images, feelings and thoughts, we help to better integrate the brain.

Down Time: When we are non-focused, without any specific goal, and let our mind wander or simply relax, we help the brain recharge.

Sleep Time: When we give the brain the rest it needs, we consolidate learning and recover from the experiences of the day.

Bounce, Clutch and Choke: Reviews

Why do some people perform well under pressure while others don’t? Why do some bounce back from adversity or come through in a clutch while others choke? That is the subject of three books, each of which tackles the subject from a different angle. Each author has different credentials as well.

The books are:

Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To by Sian Bielock

Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success by Matthew Syed

Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Other Don't by Paul Sullivan

Sian Bielock is a professor who conducts research in this field. Matthew Syed, the author of Bounce, writes for The Times of London, is a commentator for the BBC and was three time Commonwealth table tennis champion and a two-time Olympian. Syed can speak from direct experience about performing under pressure. Paul Sullivan writes “Wealth Matters” column for The New York Times. So you have someone whose career studies performance, someone who performing at the world class level of table tennis and a financial columnist. As you can imagine each one looks at this issue a bit different and each author finds different reasons why we come through in a clutch or choke.

Bielock concludes that practicing under pressure enhances performance, even cognitive performance. She tells us the ability to control our thoughts and images play a crucial role. Bielock lists several tips to help us prevent choking such as reaffirming our self-worth, meditating, pausing before acting and reinterpreting our reactions. As an example of this last tip she encourages us to reframe a reaction such as “I am freaking out” about facing a challenge to “I am pumped for this test!”

Bounce also talks about the importance of practice. Syed draws on the research of Anders Ericsson, psychologist at Florida State University, who coined the term “deliberate practice.” Ericsson noticed that world class performers practiced in a different way than others. “When most people practice, they focus on the things they can do effortlessly. Expert practice is different. It entails considerable, specific, and sustained efforts to do something you can’t do well – or even at all. Research across domains shows that it is only by working at what you can’t do that you turn into the expert you want to become.” Syed calls it purposeful practice. Why? “Because the practice sessions of aspiring champions have a specific and never-changing purpose: progress. World-class performance comes by striving for a target just out of reach, but with a vivid awareness of how the gap might be breached.”

This emphasis on purposeful or deliberate practice parallels Bielock’s recommendation to practice under pressure.

Bounce also ties in works I’ve reviewed here: Colvin’s Talent is Overrated, Coyle’s The Talent Code and Dweck’s Mindset.

Syed introduces another term as well: doublethink. Unlike many writers who urge us to focus only on the positive, Syed tells us we need both positive and negative thoughts. We need a positive focus to protect our self-belief while also noting our weaknesses that need to be improved.

He also explains how our brain has explicit and implicit systems. When we learn a new skill we operate on the explicit, conscious level. As we become proficient and develop mastery of a skill the brain hands over the performance to our implicit, subconscious system. It takes thousands of hours of purposeful practice to cement a skill into an unconscious mode. We choke when under the intense light of pressure we try to push the skill back into the explicit, inherently slower and more error prone system. As soon as we start to try to consciously control something we had automatized we run into trouble and can choke. Golfers call this a case of the "yips."

Sullivan’s Clutch draws some general conclusions by using examples of high performers in various fields. He believes people who choke share three traits: 1. They don’t take responsibility for choking, 2.They over think what they’re doing, and, 3. They fool themselves with overconfidence.

He then identifies five key traits of people who perform well: focus, discipline, adaptability, presence and being motivated by fear and desire. Sullivan’s last trait is similar to Syed’s recommendation to properly use both positive and negative thoughts.

So where does all of this leave us? Each book lays out somewhat different approaches. Are there common denominators? I think there are. While none of the ideas appeared in all three books there were several that popped up in two of them.

1. Practicing purposefully and under pressure.
2. Proper use of positive and negative thinking.
3. Being fully in the present while performing. This allows us to focus on the outcome instead of worrying about how we going to get to our goal. However we need to sharply focus on technique during purposeful practice. The combination of these ideas helps us avoid over thinking and overconfidence.
4. We need to be adaptable and use judgment when applying our principles.
5. When performing we can lessen the pressure by telling ourselves we’re not, say, serving for the winning game of the U.S. Open. We’re just serving any other game.

If forced to choose one of these books it would be a tough one but I’d lean towards Bielock’s Choke. I’d do so partly because her career is dedicated to learning why some people choke and why others don’t and because she offers more practical tips. Having said that any one of these books will help learn how to perform under pressure.

FIVE TIPS FOR (FINALLY) GETTING YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION RIGHT by Dan and Chip Heath

The Heath brothers apply the principles spelled out in their book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, to keeping New Year's Resolutions. Check out their latest newsletter.

The five tips are listed below. The newsletter expands on each tip.

1. Don't be ambitious.

2. Watch for bright spots.

3. Make simple tweaks in your environment.

4. Rely on planning, not willpower.

5. Publicize your resolution.

Choke: What The Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To - A review

Have you ever choked? Double faulted a key serve in a tennis match? Muffed an easy three-foot putt? Froze during an important presentation to a key client? If you like most people you could say yes to one of these answers. However, we know some people who don’t choke, who stay cool under the heat of pressure. Is there something they do differently than us? Do we do something different when we’re under pressure than we do when there is no pressure? This is what Sian Beilock, associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago, tries to answer in her book, Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To.

Beilock starts off by making a key distinction. “Choking is not simply poor performance, however. Choking is suboptimal performance. It’s when you – or an individual athlete, actor, musician, or student – perform worse than expected given what you are capable of doing.”

Like a number of recent books Choke relies on research on how the brain works using the latest imaging technology, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The fMRI can’t read what is happening within individual neurons and synapses. It measures blood flow which is related to brain activity and identifies which parts of the brain light up when we’re stressed as opposed to when we’re not.

Beilock explains that understanding how and why we choke relies on knowing how our procedural memory works which “is implicit or unconscious. … You can think of procedural memory as your cognitive toolbox that contains a recipe that, if followed, will produce a successful bike ride, golf putt, baseball swing, or fully operating cell phone.” When we take on a new skill we start off consciously learning the key motions. As we become more proficient the details of the mechanics of technique our brain hands off executing these techniques from the conscious to the unconscious or our procedural memory. As a result once we become proficient in a skill our performance actually declines if we usurp our procedural memory by consciously trying to control our action.

This is what happens when we choke. We start to think about the technique of our serve and double fault. Or we start thinking about the mechanics of putting only to push the putt wide when we normally would make easily when there is no pressure. Instead of letting our subconscious execute the shot or the putt we try to steer it consciously only to choke.

When we become too conscious of how we doing something we also use up our working-memory which “involves the ability to hold information in mind (and protect that information from disappearing) while doing something else at the same time.”

So what can we do to lower our chances of choking? Are there ways of keeping us engaged with our procedural memory and not sucking up the precious resources of our working-memory? Beilock provides research showing that practicing that adds pressure similar to what you’d experience during competition will help. “Practice can actually change the physical wiring of the brain to support exceptional performance.” This also shows that we’re not stuck with a set amount of working-memory. We can expand it with the right kind of practice.

Another tactic would be to reinterpret your body’s response to a tense situation. Instead of thinking “I don’t handle pressure well. I’m tight and might make a mistake” you would say to yourself “I’m excited about facing this challenge.”

Beilock offers some other tips as well. These include taking time before starting the activity to reaffirm your self-worth by taking a few minutes to write about your many interests and activities. Map out your complexities: draw a diagram of what makes you a multi-faceted person. Meditate. And perhaps the most counter-intuitive tip: write about your worries. You would think we should not focus on what worries us but Beilock’s research shows that writing out your worries actually helps to relieve them!

All of this is fine for athletics but what about preventing choking in business or other non-sport activities? Some of Beilock’s tips are the essentially the same: meditate, write down thoughts you want to avoid, focus on a three strong talking points and think about the journey, not the outcome.

For interviews work up “a few well-rehearsed sentences about why you are the right person for the job, this first impression can help set the tone for your interview and for what is taken away from the meeting. … Providing a schema for interpreting a meeting at the outset, then, can help guide others’ memory of you.” I’d say this approach also works for presentations.

Beilock admits that brain research is fairly young and that future research might reveal more strategies for dealing with choking. Nonetheless Choke offers some good suggestions to ensure we don’t choke.