When you’re raising money, you’re telling a story. So who are some of the best stories and storytellers? Greek mythology, the Bible, and in modern times, George Lucas and the Wachowski siblings. Star Wars and the Matrix are both modeled on Joseph Campbell’s wildly influential book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In The...
[Continue Reading]Recent books: paleo, angel investing, mediation, and career acceleration
I read a few books over the last year that I thought were worth highlighting/recommending: The book that has had the most practical impact on my life was The Paleo Manifesto: Ancient Wisdom for Lifelong Health, by John Durant. This is a thoughtful analysis and explication of the “paleo” or “ancestral health” school of thought. The...
[Continue Reading]How To Add Powerful (and Legal) Stock Photos To Your Presentations
What do you remember better? Pictures or words? The evidence is clear: people have better recall for images than text. Including attractive images that dramatize your speaking points will significantly increase your efficacy as a speaker. Based on my experience in investment banking and strategy consulting, I’ve put together a 3-part series on how to...
[Continue Reading]How To Present So People will Hear
You probably have to make presentations, but does the audience hear what you’re saying? And do they believe it? Based on my experience in investment banking and strategy consulting, I’ve put together a 3-part series on how to prepare memos and presentations that people will read and believe. Part 1 was How to Write a Memo...
[Continue Reading]How to Write a Memo That People Will Actually Read
I spent many late nights as an investment banker and strategy consultant early in my career. My #1 learning from that experience (besides financial modeling) was how to communicate in an effective way, particularly with senior executives. As training now for my team at ff Venture Capital, I’ve written a three-part series on communications. And...
[Continue Reading]Best Practices in Writing Emails–Policy for a Multinational Corporation
Our new parent company, Evalueserve, is highly dependent on email for internal and external communications. They also hire every year hundreds of recent graduates (particularly in India, China, and Chile) who are usually not familiar with the protocols of business communication via email. The guidelines below, crafted by my Evalueserve colleague Ramakrishnan M., provide guidelines...
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