A bee enjoying lunch.
Mentorship and
Modelling In Action
Pitching Your Idea When the Stakes are High: How to be a
Successful Millennial Entrepreneur -
Leerom Segal
Albert Einstein famously said, "You can't solve
today's problems with the same thinking
that created them." Truer words have never been
spoken. That’s why I’m so proud of the work
I saw at this year’s Clinton Global Initiative
University, which brought more than 1,200 college students from around the
world to the campus of UC Berkeley
to address major global challenges through “Commitments
to Action.”
While my expectation was that the majority of the
projects would be focused on technology-based philanthropy, there instead was a
vast range of creative solutions presented
to help solve urgent, critical
challenges for communities around the globe.
One student group had plans to organize coding workshops
for refugees,
while another was on a mission to create a self-sustaining
herb cooperative.
It was then that I was reminded of the Thomas Edison
quote:
"Vision without execution is just
hallucination."
CGI’s Commitment to Action model, combined with the
networking opportunities at their meetings, unleashes a lot of human potential
because participants are hungry to execute,
not just to talk.
As a member of CGI LEAD—a mentorship program that
pairs industry leaders
with entrepreneurial college students-- I was able to
participate in a session at CGI U
that challenged mentees to pitch their ideas to
mentors in one minute or less.
Just imagine you’re on Shark Tank, except instead of
standing in front of the ‘sharks,’
picture yourself sitting around a table of global leaders
and entrepreneurs.
It’s a different scene to be sure, but don’t
underestimate the surprise and challenge
of having to explain your mission in under a minute! It
was quite an experience sitting around
the table with our awesome mentees. And even though each
mentee presented his/her
own unique and brilliant ideas, we saw some very
common patterns that came from making presentations in a high-stress,
high-stakes environment.
We can all learn a few things from the lessons that
emerged:
Economize words,
speak slowly, and breathe
Like everyone, I'm guilty of speaking too quickly,
providing too much detail, and sometimes
even forgetting to breathe! It’s only natural. Stress,
anxiety, and passion tend to overtake
calmness and make it more difficult for your audience to
follow and absorb.
There’s a delicate balance between "rehearsed
spontaneity" and authenticity,
but to clearly articulate a problem statement and vision
in under a minute
requires a lot of practice of Less is More.
Perhaps that’s
why Mark Twain famously signed off his letters by apologizing
"Sorry this letter is so long, if I had a bit more
time, I would have made it shorter."
Why You & Why
Now?
In an effort to clearly articulate the solution, many of
the students neglected to explain
why they started their mission, why their
personal journeys equipped them with the right context, why now was
the right time, and so on...
Polish your
elevator pitch
It’s called an elevator pitch because sometimes you only
have two floors to ‘sell’ your idea.
So it’s critical that you sequence your points in a
manner that
(1) first engages the audience,
(2) sizes the problem,
(3) specifically explains your unique abilities or novel
approach, and then
(4) scopes your initial focus in a credible manner to
ensure people
lean into the balance of the pitch.
Start with
Proof & Positivity
Invariably, at every table, some mentees would begin by
sharing an audacious vision
without first establishing their beliefs and/or
accomplishments.
The most effective pitches however, began by highlighting
progress and continued momentum.
The key is to highlight some supporting data, such as a
trend, stat, or distinction about how you think about the problem or even build
on partnerships that will help you achieve your goals.
It was illuminating to hear the difference in impact of
an individual beginning positively,
sharing a metaphor for where they are on the journey,
and
then sharing the obstacles that remain.
Storytelling Wins
I was impressed by the approach taken by University of
Toronto student Ariel Sim, who has a CGI U commitment to use Google Maps to
improve community development opportunities
for underserved populations in Senegal. Ariel started her
presentation with a provocative question that engaged the audience by asking
for a show of hands. Full transparency:
Ariel is my mentee but in no way had we discussed her
idea or the pitch process in advance.
She naturally started by getting people's attention and
launched into an immersive storytelling experience. It was only when she broke
from the story to attempt a demo
that it proved more challenging to keep people’s
attention.
People don't want to see your app, they want to know you
and to understand your motivation.
Whether you’re a student or an experienced professional,
keep these tips in mind for your next pitch.
Your delivery could be the difference between executing
and hallucinating that big idea.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pitching-your-idea-when-stakes-high-how-successful-millennial-segal?trk=pulse-det-nav_art
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