How often are Great Ideas required?

Surely I don’t need to have great ideas in every meeting do I? Surely not in every one?

Well, er ... the truth is - yes you do.

If you want to spend your professional life attending meetings where nothing great ever happens, then guess what the outcome to your career will be?

Any meeting is a potential starting point for ideas and creativity.

Every meeting, no matter how small, can be improved - given added-value if you prefer.

A difference can be made anywhere.

There is no place where you can’t make a change for the better.

And if you consistently do this in your meetings then your meetings will be a success.

And then you’ll be a success.

Exercise 32:

Making a Difference is the difference between progress and mediocrity.

Always make a difference. Make this your life’s work.

What to do when you get it wrong

Well, it happens. Some days you just go barking up the wrong tree.

What do you do when the whole group goes in a completely different direction to what you’re suggesting?

Basically, you’ve got it wrong.

But even if you’re right and they’re all wrong, you’re not going to win. You can’t fight City Hall. So save your strength.

The worst thing you can do is to bluster or behave defensively. It will only make you look bad. Or pompous. Or like a weasel.

The best thing is to say something like:

Sorry ... beating the wrong drum.

Knock the table lightly then smile.

A few simple words like this gets you out of a hole without looking bad.

Nobody will think worse of you for admitting you were beating the wrong drum.

This phrase works like magic. Use when necessary.

Exercise 33:

If you do get it wrong, go lightly.

Practice smiling and not being embarrassed.

Don’t just do this at meetings. Do it whenever you’re wrong.

> Using a Flip Chart