Transforming organisations

Twist and Shout

It is really interesting to study top performing people and how they got to the top. I had the privilege of listening to Cathy O’Dowd who was speaking at the Professional Speakers Association National Convention on Saturday in Birmingham.

Cathy is the first lady to have climbed Mount Everest from both sides. As a result of this achievement Cathy now speaks to business audiences around the world. But Cathy’s is no “didn’t we do well?” story. It is the real nuts and bolts of how do you convert a phenomenal lifetime experience into a 45 minute keynote that will captivate audiences around the world.

It is a story of constant adjustment. Something works for a while but it is not quite good enough so Cathy changes it. Audiences are looking for one thing, Cathy is delivering another, so she changes it. Some people hear the keynote and ask for in house company training, so Cathy tries it, but she decides that that is not where she wants to be. Sometime past Cathy had two keynotes, but then she distilled all her best material into one.

This lady now always starts her keynote with the same words and she finishes her keynote with the same words.

Isn’t this where we all are? Constantly planning, doing, evaluating and changing.

Let’s call it Twist and Shout.

posted by Tim @ 12:40 PM