Investor Relations Homerun

An oilfield services company planned to hold one of its analysts’ meetings at its research center. The VP of research was one of the speakers. Top management knew this individual was not a dynamic presenter. With more than a hundred analysts expected to be in attendance, the company needed a home run. So the VP was told someone else might have to deliver his remarks if his performance at the dress rehearsal wasn’t up to par. Ouch!

Prior to the rehearsal, Ken provided the exec with some coaching. During the rehearsal, some 100 employees at the research center served as the analyst audience. (Talk about pressure!)

The research exec’s dress rehearsal performance was a home run and he remained on the roster.

But there’s more: The event included a number of displays showing some of the new technology being developed to find and produce oil and gas. In his presentation, the research VP referenced hockey great Wayne Gretzky and reminded the audience of Gretzky’s famous quote: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.” The exec then went on to say that the developing technology on display would pay dividends down the road by addressing future challenges faced by oil and gas companies.

Ken thought the analogy was powerful, but recommended one other thing—that the company give a hockey puck with the company’s name and logo on it to each analyst. These hockey pucks probably ended up as paperweights – a constant reminder of the company’s forward-thinking approach to research. (Who says communication has to be boring?)

Turning Engineers into Effective Communicators

Here’s a comment and a question we sometimes get from clients and prospective clients: “We have engineers who can identify critically needed, capital-intensive projects, but can’t seem to communicate the rationale and details for those projects to plant or corporate management effectively. They have good ideas, but can’t sell them. Can you help them become better communicators?”

Our answer? “You bet we can.” And we have.

Stereotypes about engineers, like those about lawyers, are legendary. We’ve worked with enough engineers to know the accuracy of those stereotypes is questionable. That said, many engineers have a communication style that often works against them.

Ken has worked with technically trained professionals from industrial and high-tech companies and has shown them how to correct some of the most common communication problems, including: failing to connect with the audience, using jargon or technical language and being long-winded.

High-Stakes Presentation to the Department of Defense

When a defense contractor was summoned to Washington, D.C. to explain and defend its fees to the government for services provided, the company knew its presentation would be critical and sought outside help on short notice.

Ken, whose background includes a stint in the Reagan Administration, coached the executives – not just on the delivery of their presentation (especially the tone), but also convinced them to dramatically revise the content, including making significant deletions in the PowerPoint visuals.

Cultivating Executive Presence

This assignment called for “kid gloves.” Ken was asked to work with a newly named dean of a graduate school of management. The dean was an accomplished academic, a professor who held a PhD from a liberal, west coast, public institution. But he was now at a conservative, southern, private university and would need to dress, interact and communicate in a manner that would resonate with the local business community. Corporate funding and partnerships were at stake.   

Ken provided candid, constructive feedback during a coaching session, and developed a longer-term improvement plan for the dean to follow.

TelePrompter: When and How to Use It

Top executives at Japanese auto plants in the U.S. are frequently from Japan. Because English is not their native language, it’s understandable that these executives rely on a TelePrompter when they speak at large, employee meetings and other events. However, few executives – whether Japanese or American – know how to use this tool effectively. Ken has shown them the ropes.

And when an American executive takes over at the helm and uses this technology, Ken sometimes helps “wean” them off a tool they don’t really need.