Michael wages war on business jargon
Michael Dodd
Australian broadcast journalist Michael Dodd, 53, is building his business as an international professional speaker and communications skills trainer from his home in Bovingdon. He’s a winner of the New Speaker of the Year award from the Academy for Chief Executives and has had speaking and training engagements on six continents.
Full name:
Michael Leslie Charles Dodd (middle names inherited from grandfathers)
Town where you live:
Bovingdon – coming via Sydney, Canberra, London and Berlin
What are your business qualifications?
BA in Communications from the University of Technology, Sydney (useful for business, but not specifically business-focused) followed by continuous learning from groups such as Northwood B2B and the Professional Speaking Association
Do you think business leadership can be taught or is it something that comes from a natural instinct?
There are three categories: natural business leaders, those with no aptitude, and the majority of us in between who seek to clamour up the learning curve.
What is the name of your main business and what does it do?
Michael Dodd Media Limited helps people become inspirational communicators – boosting their ability to get their message across through the media and face-to-face to small and large audiences.
What was the turnover of your main business in the last reporting period?
Too small, according to my accountant who suspects that it doesn’t charge enough (but with good growth potential when it comes to international professional speaking contracts)
Where would you like the business to be in 10 years’ time?
Doing more international professional speaking engagements – with a bigger support team to do the organising.
What positives can you extract from current economic conditions?
We need to focus on the fact that, loveable though the UK is (we blow-ins tend to be more fond of our host countries than the natives!), the market place for most things in the internet age is truly global.
What motivates you to get up in the morning and go to work?
There are people everywhere who need enhanced communications skills. There are business leaders who are strong on their core activity but who are terrified of making speeches or of collapsing in a quivering heap under cross-examination from Jeremy Paxman. There are frontline United Nations officials who I help in Africa who need to tackle humanitarian crises and simultaneously talk to CNN and the BBC to get the urgency of situations across to the outside world to attract support. Tackling the communications issues is for most of these people a learnable skill, but someone needs to get out of bed to help them.
What is the most important thing in life and why?
Life is rather like going on a really great training course. We’re here to learn, to give, to receive, to discover why we’re here and to transcend to a higher level. (I’m writing a novel about this if any literary agents reading.)
At what age do you aim to retire and what will you do after that point?
Retirement isn’t on my agenda. If you have something to give you should give it – in proportion to the energy you have at the time. It would be splendid to get to the point where you can give with little or no financial reward – and hats off to all those who’ve managed it. If you stop giving you stop growing.
What is the most important thing you learned at school?
I was fortunate that Toastmasters International came to my high school with the opportunity to learn to talk confidently without notes and connect in a lively, engaging manner with audiences. The skills imbibed there have been a lifetime gift which I seek to pass on to others.
What extra subject should be placed on the curriculum?
Verbal communications skills. When I’ve had the chance to take my sessions on Give Great Answers To Tough Questions to high school students they’ve felt liberated by the experience.
Have you ever had to sack someone on the spot and why?
I focus on keeping great people. I’m dependent on my suppliers such as my Hemel Hempstead-based technical guru and computer whizz Andrew Barratt, so I do everything I can to keep on the good side of such people. If I didn’t, there’d never be updates on the company website, no-one would hear about my open courses to boost communications skills and the ezine wouldn’t get in front of clients and prospects.
What percentage of your success is inspiration?
As my leading keynote speech is entitled Becoming An Inspirational Business Communicator, the aim is 100 per cent. When you’re seeking to help others become more inspirational, then even those perspiration moments should be uplifting.
What percentage of your success is perspiration?
The mental perspiration aspiration is 0 per cent. I do like to jog, cycle and walk through the Hertfordshire forests and countryside to think things through and sometimes things can get a bit sweaty.
What is your favourite piece of business jargon and why?
As someone who boosts clear communications skills, I run a constant war on business jargon. Great communicators are able to get their point across in simple everyday language that my 11-year-old will understand. David Attenborough and Bindi the Jungle Girl can explain in the simplest of terms what’s going on in a rainforest or a polar ice cap and inspirational business communicators need to do the same.
Where does your confidence come from?
Knowing that however challenging things might get, there are others in far worse situations (such as in Kinshassa and parts of Nairobi) – thereby giving every reason to be positive.
How do you ensure that people don’t go to sleep in meetings?
If there’s a danger of people falling asleep in a meeting that you’re running, it’s your fault. If you’re talking and they’re sleeping then you haven’t pitched your content sufficiently in the interests of those taking part. If you’re running the sleep-inducing meeting while someone else is talking, then they haven’t been briefed properly or interrupted with sufficient vigour.
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