Lead Like The Boss – Andy Freed

As a communicator, you need to be as focused on what you’re hearing and seeing as what you’re saying. When I’m presenting, I’m not just waiting for questions; I’m watching my audience’s eyes and facial expressions for signs that what I’m saying is landing. Feedback is as actionable in an audience of one as it is in an audience of one hundred.

Feedback doesn’t have to happen spontaneously. Sometimes it’s something you can build into an agenda. When we work with our clients on creating board agendas, our rule of thumb is “We need to get the participants talking in the first few minutes.” If we don’t, we risk participants shifting to “listen only” mode, followed quickly by “Listening while covertly looking at their phone” mode. Ask Questions Two-way communication isn’t just courteous; it’s essential to inspire action from your audience.

We’re closing in on the 90th anniversary of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, but the lessons of that book hold as true today as they did when he wrote it in 1936. A fundamental principle is “Talk in terms of the other person’s interests,” and Carnegie encourages the speaker to let the other person do most of the talking. This is a fundamental shift in the mindset of most speakers and leaders, that the most effective moments of persuasion are engaging the other party in conversation.

For example, job candidates are frequently coached to ask questions of the interviewer; dynamic conversation is more engaging than one that is one-way. Big Bird from Sesame Street is underrated as a leadership guru. He once said, “Asking questions is a good way to find out things.” But they must be the right questions. Your questions must evoke real feedback, not simple nods. “Does this make sense?” almost always produces nods from the audience—no one wants to be the first person to say, “No, I’m not following this at all,” for fear of being castigated as the only one not following along.

Instead, try questions like these: What questions do you have so far? This already assumes that the audience has questions, removing one key stumbling block. How would you explain this to a colleague? This allows you to check whether you’re building “multipliers” in the audience. How can I clarify what I just said? This makes the focus on improving your communication instead of their listening. Questions like these can be thought of as a “yellow light” moment for the presenter. Yellow traffic lights are funny—in parts of the world, they come on only before the red, but in others, they come on before the green, as well.

Failed Communication Is Failed Leadership PowerPoint Does Not a Meeting Make Self-Awareness, Time, and Practice Technology: Focus on the Music, Not the Instruments The Three Key Questions: Think, Feel, Do A Three-Legged Stool The Full Brain The Size of the Audience Doesn’t Matter Taking the Stage Chapter 2: Taking the Stage: Leadership Is a Performance Make It Worth It Distraction: The Enemy of Performance The Elements of Performance You Are Always “On” How to Perform at Your Best Taking the Stage Notes Chapter 3: Not Just Music: A Message Messaging: The Heart of It All The Elements of a Strong Central Message The Message Triangle How to Create a Central Message Driving It Home: Repetition Taking the Stage Note Chapter 4: Give Them the Mic: Audience Participation Shared Language Equals Shared Experience Overcoming Obstacles to Creating a Feedback Loop How to Solicit, Process, and Act on Audience Feedback Taking the Stage Chapter 5: Introducing New Material: Communicating Change Change Is Inevitable The Three Flavors of Change Intermission: Putting It All Together Getting Ahead of Change: Scanning the Environment How to Communicate Change Taking the Plunge Taking the Stage Notes Chapter 6: The Encore: How to Say Thank You The Impact of Appreciation How to Show Appreciation Taking the Stage Notes Chapter 7: Planning the Next Tour: Keep Up with the Times Create Longevity How to Evolve Your Leadership Taking the Stage Conclusion Acknowledgments About the Author Index End User License Agreement List of Tables Chapter 5 Table 5.1 Comparing proactive, reactive, and evolutionary change List of Illustrations Chapter 1 Figure 1.1 Photo of setlist from Barcelona, April 30, 2023.

Chapter 3 Figure 3.1 The formula for a message triangle. Figure 3.2 A sample message triangle for a college athletic facili… Figure 3.3 A sample message triangle for a hospital medical record… Figure 3.4 A meta message about message triangles. Figure 3.5 An AI message triangle. Chapter 6 Figure 6.1 The Boss thanks the band after a show, Montreal, 2024….

Figure 6.2 Frank and me at the TED conference. OceanofPDF.com ANDY FREED LEAD LIKE THE BOSS THE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FRAMEWORK TO ELEVATING YOUR LEADERSHIP OceanofPDF.com Copyright © 2026 by John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial intelligence technologies or similar technologies.

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Book Information

• Unique ID: 7a7bf55b25f9d3c8
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 18,395,878 bytes (17.544 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781394370559, 9781394370580, 9781394370573
• Pages: 167
• Language: English (en)

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• Total Words: 42,415
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