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Recommended Resources – Winning Strategies for Power Presentations

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StrategyDriven Recommended ResourcesWinning Strategies for Power Presentations
by Jerry Weissman

About the Book

Winning Strategies for Power Presentations by Jerry Weissman is a vast collection of presentation best practices focused on gaining and retaining the audience’s attention and effectively conveying the message desired. Jerry takes his presentation lessons from history’s many great orators and presenters. These collections are grouped by topical area including:

  • The Art of Telling Your Story – 30 best practices
  • Graphics: How to Design PowerPoint Slides Effectively – 15 best practices
  • Delivery Skills: Actions Speak Louder Than Words – 12 best practices
  • How to Handle Tough Questions – 8 best practices
  • Special Presentations – 10 best practices

Benefits of Reading this Book

All professionals at every organizational level must effectively communicate in order to be successful for it is only through a well conveyed, received, and understood message that we influence others and shape the behaviors around us.

StrategyDriven Contributors like Winning Strategies for Power Presentations because for its thoroughness in addressing each aspect of public presentations. Jerry’s book is well researched and truly gathers the best presentation practices from renowned influencers throughout history. Within his book, we found numerous gems of wisdom, particularly regarding the language and syntax used by successful presenters, that will help us to take our presentation skills to the next level.

We had two criticisms of Jerry’s book. First, while the best practices are contained within well-structured collections there is no overarching process for ‘pulling it all together,’ to create and deliver a powerful presentation. Second, we would have liked to see more and more detailed illustrations of the points Jerry made in the Graphics section of the book; providing a visual example for the points being made.

Winning Strategies for Power Presentations provides readers with a thorough body of best practices needed to elevate their presentation development and delivery skills. Each recommendation is clear and concisely conveyed enabling the reader to quickly select and extract the specific insight needed. For its deep insight and actionable conveyance of how readers can improve a vital business skill, Winning Strategies for Power Presentations is a StrategyDriven recommended read.

Recommended Resources – The Boy Billionaire

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The Boy Billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg In His Own WordsThe Boy Billionaire: Mark Zuckerberg In His Own Words

edited by George Beahm

About the Book

The Boy Billionaire edited by George Beahm reveals Mark Zuckerberg’s core philosophies and approaches to building Facebook in a way no other author has been able to achieve… because these insights come directly from Mark Zuckerberg himself. George’s book systematically covers a wide range of topics from ‘Mission’ to ‘Process’ and ‘Vision’ to ‘Accountability’ and ‘Values’.

Throughout The Boy Billionaire, several central these are revealed:

  • identify the very few things that add value and focus on those
  • move quickly and don’t be afraid to make mistakes
  • empower people to connect, to control, and to take bold action

Benefits of Reading this Book

StrategyDriven Contributors like The Boy Billionaire because it reveals the intimate thoughts and beliefs of the man who is arguably created one of the world’s largest companies (albeit unintentionally) and who is also one of the world’s greatest social connectors. While Mark Zuckerberg didn’t set out to build a highly successful enterprise, his understanding of people’s inherent need to connect and ability to translate that need into a power online experience reveals important lessons for any business leader seeking to gain customers via the internet.

StrategyDriven Contributors appreciated the layout of The Boy Billionaire, the organization of quotes around meaningful topic areas, the dating of each quote, and Mark Zuckerberg’s life story timeline provided at the end of the book. We found that knowing the setting and circumstances of the Mark Zuckerberg’s quotes provided insightful context from which to interpret them. As such, we recommend first-time readers review the ‘Milestones’ timeline presented at the end of the book first and refer to it often when reading individual quotes.

The only drawback to The Boy Billionaire is that Mark Zuckerberg’s relative youthfulness and media shyness results in far more limited insight to his core beliefs than similar works on Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett.

For it’s intimate portrayal of an unintentional American entrepreneurial icon, The Boy Billionaire is a StrategyDriven recommended read.

Recommended Resource – Building Team Power

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Building Team Power: How to Unleash the Collaborative Genius of Teams for Increased Engagement, Productivity, and Results

by Thomas Kayser

About the Book

Building Team Power by Thomas Kayser examines the structural mechanisms and behavioral traits that combined to create highly collaborative teams. Thomas provides practical, detailed methods for leaders at every level of the organization to foster and enhance the collaboration between team members in six critical areas:

  • Mutual Trust
  • Decision-Making
  • Consensus Building
  • Conflict Management
  • Delegation Effectiveness
  • Team Problem Solving (two scenarios)

Benefits of Using this Book

StrategyDriven Contributors like Building Team Power for its immediately actionable insights into enhancing team collaboration at any level within an organization. We found Thomas’s methods to be deeply insightful, originating from sound academic principle and refined with real world experience during his thirty years at Xerox. Building Team Power is highly prescriptive, complete with process flows and charts that convey to the reader how to implement the team building methods.

If we had one critisism of Building Team Power, it would be that the procedure-like formatting of the methods provided would be impractical to implement in a team setting. That said, we believe the book would make an excellent tool to create management training courses and teamwork checklists and guides.

Building Team Power embodies many of the principles StrategyDriven recommends in building highly aligned and accountable organizations. Additionally, it mirrors many of our decision-making best practices. For these reasons, its academic foundation and real world refinement, and its implementability, Building Team Power is a StrategyDriven recommended read.