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when you have a big project – remember the burger packages,
break it down and start tackling it, one tiny bit at a time.
Courage- courage is a door opener. What does it mean? People
associate courage with some heroic act that few people are
capable of. Yet as a business leader, courage is an essential part
of building a significant business. You may be brilliant and skillful
but if you lack courage, there are so many things that you will not
be able to accomplish. Let me share with you a moment that
helped me understand this insight and it taught me a great lesson
about courage. I was headhunted by an IT company early in my
career. This company helps institutions process their examination
using innovative technology. So, I joined the company and the
week after, we had to do a presentation in the presence of more
than 1000 teachers. The contract required us to show them the
functionality of our solutions. If they bought into the project, we
would be awarded a contract worth millions of pounds. The CEO
has so much belief in me that he gave me the assignment saying
to me ‘Go and blow them out of the water’ I had only one week to
prepare and I started my preparation immediately. To cut a long
story short, I walked into the hall and I saw the sea of heads with
background noise people just chatting away. I wasn’t new to public
speaking because I was the Public Relations Officer of our Student
Union. However, it was a different proposition; because it is so
much easier to whip students into a frenzy addressing their
concerns against school authorities. Contrast that to presenting to
seemingly hostile teachers looking to ask you difficult questions
about your proposition. More importantly, one wrong step may cost
your company millions of pounds. So, I walked into the room with
my shoulder back, head high, a smile on my face but inside there
was turmoil with my stomach doing gymnastics with nerves. I kept
saying to myself, you are excited and ready to go. The feeling of
excitement is not different from the feeling of nerves, but your mind
will interpret it based on how you describe it. Instead of saying you
are nervous, say you are excited. So, I turned on the PowerPoint,
it came up and went off! I called the technical team of the
conference room and they frantically tried to figure it out. That
wasn’t certainly in my plan, but I stayed calm. So, the Powerpoint
was back. The first 2 minutes is crucial when you do a high-
pressure presentation, I managed it very well that the presentation
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