Before I can start to do any real research, I thought it’d be good to hear from a successful business person. After some searching, I found a Huffington Post article by Andrea Lekushoff, the founder and president of a company called Broad Reach, called “Want to Climb the Corporate Ladder? These Skills are a Leg Up.” I will give Lekushoff’s key points and summarize them.
Image made by me using MS Pain, uploaded to tinypic.com
It's so creative
1. “Listen and show interest in others”
Lekushoff states that being a good listener not only causes people to like you more, but also helps you to understand what other people are saying and in return helps you make a more persuasive argument or comment. “And when you communicate interest in your audience, they'll be more receptive to your message.” -Lekushoff
2. “Get to the point quickly and clearly”
In short, people will get bored and confused if you ramble (no one wants to sound like a babbling idiot, after all). Having good speaking skills helps a lot in not just the corporate everyone-wears-a-nice-suit businesses, but it would also help in having a job at McDonalds (seriously, who likes being confused at what the employee is saying at the drive through? I just want my Happy Meal). Overall, being a good speaker is very useful. Some tips Lekushoff gave was to 1.) be concise and make every word important, 2.) don’t talk about more than one issue at a time. It could confuse someone. 3.) Make sure to turn more complex points into simple terms to make them easy to remember.
3. “Tailor the way you talk to your audience”
This is where it’s important to realize whether you’re working at a McDonalds drive through or as a corporate leader at Microsoft. If you work at a drive through, the customer doesn’t want your suggestions unless they ask for it, they just want to order and get their meal. At Microsoft, being a corporate leader means you’ll have to give suggestions and ideas. Make sure you know what your audience wants.
- Welcome opposing ideas, clear confusion, and make a good impression
If someone disagrees with you, listen to them. It not only makes you look like a careful person, but also gives you an open mind. In addition, if someone is confused (make sure to look for nonverbal cues as well as verbal cues), make it a priority to clear up confusion. Lastly, be authentic and make a good impression. Use your own voice. Don’t try to be someone you are not. People respect leaders who not only aren’t afraid to reveal themselves, but also people who are open minded and clear confusion.
- “Follow through on your promises”
I hope I don’t need to explain this one too thoroughly. It’s very self-explanatory. Don’t just make a promise - follow through. It will show people that you are trustworthy.
From these six points, five of them have to do with speech and listening, which leads me to believe that earning a bigger salary (through promotions, in this case) has a lot to do with how well of a speaker one is. It might not be a bad idea to take a speech class or practice speaking in the mirror every day. For my next post, I will try to solve the following questions:
- Is speaking the key to a greater salary?
- Besides speaking, what other key skills are required for a bigger salary?
- Can someone without speaking skills make a greater salary as well?
I think this is more about how speaking skills can help you in business. There is no real connection between speaking and making money. I suggest you either change the title or talk more about how one can "turn words into money."
ReplyDeleteYour post made me realize that there is more to business then I first had thought. I like how you summarized the key points from the article you found.
ReplyDeleteI also like how you made your own picture using MS Paint.