Mind Gym by Sebastian Bailey Read Free Book Online Page B

Sean’s audiences didn’t directly compliment his presentation style, they clearly valued the content of his presentations. Sean also accepted that in his company culture, compliments were rare, and when you did something well, most people assumed that you were just doing your job. The culture, however, also favored quickly pointing out when things went wrong. Had anyone ever told Sean he was a bad presenter? The answer was no, even though Sean had done eighteen different presentations.
    It turned out that the difficult questions Sean was so afraid of getting asked at these presentations came from representatives of the same department during every presentation. In fact, the reason Sean couldn’t answer the questions was because they weren’t relevant and they weren’t geared toward his area of responsibility. But because Sean believed that, as the presenter, he should be able to answer whatever question came his way (another false belief), he floundered and apologized, which made him appear less convincing.
    When scrutinized, Sean’s evidence that he was a poor presenter didn’t look quite so strong. Yet even though his arguments were dismissed due to largely false evidence, Sean maintained a pessimistic outlook on his situation and insisted that he was a horrible presenter. And it’s his perception that matters, not anyone else’s.
Step Three: Your Alternative Explanations
    If the evidence itself is not enough to disprove an argument, then the next step is to look for alternative explanations.
    Sean’s presentations were often about quite technical and complex subjects and were delivered to people from other parts of the organization, not to his immediate colleagues, who would have been more familiar with the content being discussed. As a result, the blank faces Sean saw were likely signs of deep concentration rather than disbelief or boredom.
    As for Sean’s boss interrupting him, maybe he wasn’t doing so because Sean was a poor presenter but because he wanted to take some of the credit for the content of the presentation for himself. When this was suggested to Sean, he immediately thought of other times when his boss had taken some of the glory for his work. And as far as Sean’s belief that he wasn’t a good presenter because he relied on his notes, many good presenters use them, especially when they are talking about complex subjects.
    The general assumptions behind Sean’s arguments needed to be considered. Quite often, when people see themselves as “failing” it’s due to a misguided definition of success. In this instance, the question was, What does a good presentation consist of? Some people (Sean included) think that it is about making people laugh, speaking fluently, and not using notes. Certainly, if you are a stand-up comedian this is true, but not necessarily if you are a presenter in business.
Step Four: Your Consequences
    By this stage, Sean was beginning to see that there might be another side to his argument. But what if he hadn’t considered changing his view? When both the evidence and the alternatives aren’t very convincing, the next question to ask is, What might be the consequences of my perceptions?
    In Sean’s case, what would be the consequences if his initial assumption—that he is not a good presenter—was true? Sean’s perception of his presentation skills was clear. As a “bad presenter,” he damaged his reputation each time he stood up to speak. As a result, he typically tried to stay out of the spotlight because he thought he was failing and wasn’t being considered for new roles or promotions. Also, senior roles in his company tended to require more presentations, so he steered clear of discussing those roles, because he assumed no one would even consider him. At just thirty-two years old, Sean had presumed he had hit a ceiling in his career.
    When pressed further about the consequences of being a bad presenter, Sean, it seemed, had exaggerated the effect. He