According to Warren Buffet, Honing this One Skill Can Improve Your Worth By 50% (Entrepreneur's Handbook) Flashcards
What changed Warren’s life?
Developing the confidence to speak in public.
What skill does Warren recommend young people focus on, to become worth 50% more than you are now (at least)?
Your communication skills, both written and verbal.
“If you can’t communicate and talk to other people and get across your ideas, you’re giving up your potential.”
Why is communication so crucial?
You can have all the brainpower in the world, but you also need to be able to transmit it.
What traits typically comes to mind when we think of successful people?
Grit, passion, persistence.
What are a few exercises that can help improve communication skills in day-to-day interactions?
- Developing a daily writing habit
- Watching popular speeches, and learning how to critique them
- Observing the strong communicators in your own life
- Record yourself every day talking into a camera for 3 minutes
- Reach out to one person a week whose work you admire
- Volunteer to teach whatever you can, wherever you can
What questions should you keep in mind when watching and dissecting the introduction of a speech?
- How did the speaker engage the audience in the introduction? Did their first sentence grab your attention?
- Did they lead with a personal story, or did they kick off the talk by making a shocking statement?
- What was it about their introduction that wanted you to keep watching? Was it because it was relatable? Or because it piqued your curiosity?
What questions should you keep in mind when watching and dissecting the body of a speech?
- Was the structure of their argument easy to follow (Note: The best speakers are often the best simplifiers)
- How often did they use their own stories to make an emotional connection with the audience?
- Which words/phrases did they use when moving point to point? Did you notice a change in their tone during these transitions?
- How often did they pause? Why do you think they chose these times to slow down?
- How often did they use metaphors, analogies, and symbolism, to add clarity and simplify complex thoughts and ideas?
What questions should you keep in mind when watching and dissecting the conclusion of a speech?
- Was their conclusion clear, concise, and memorable?
- Did they link it back to the story in the introduction, or simply drive home the main point of their thesis statement?
- If they ended with a call-to-action, did it insprei you to take it?
What questions should you keep in mind when dissecting the non-verbal communication of a speech?
- Did they do a good job of keeping eye contact with the audience throughout their talk?
- Were they standing or sitting up straight? Was their head held high, and their facial muscles relaxed and showing positive emotions?
- What were they doing with their hands throughout the talk? Were they being used to make gestures? Did you ever watch them fidgeting?
- Did they appear relaxed and in control start to finish? If they tripped up during their speech, how did they recover?
- How did their body language change when they really wanted to drive a point home?
- What about their clothes? Did they reflect their personality, and the tone of the talk?
When studying the confident communicators around you, what should you pay special attention to?
How they diffuse complex situations, and the words they use to explain complicated ideas.
Why is it important to proactively putting yourself in front of people you admire?
- Forces you to do your homework and prepare interesting questions
- Crash course in effective listening
- Speeds up your learning curve regarding how to ask engaging follow-up questions
- Improves both your verbal and written communication
