I find public speaking difficult. No matter how much effort I put in behind the scenes ranging from drafting and re-drafting overheads to rehearsing the words during a walk. But I still get very nervous and my speech can end up like a Dalek on steroids !

YouTube is a good source for learning about public speaking from a wide range of excellent speakers( for examples see John Cleese on Creativity, TED Talks, and Brian Walden’s Talk on Heroes ), in particular the impressive way they “work the audience”. Recently, I stumbled across an unexpected source to study, a clip with the great bluesman BB King playing a gig in Sing Sing , one of New York’s state maximum security prison, and his performance followed the key elements of making a good public speech.

Conditions in New York state prisons had been deteriorating during the late sixties and early seventies reaching its lowest point in 1971 when there was a riot at Sing Sing ( Sing Sing got its name from the Native American tribe “Sinck Sinck” (or “Sint Sinck”), who the land was bought from in 1685) prison and 43 people were killed. Against this background David Hoffman in 1972, a film and documentary maker, had been working with prisoners in Sing Sing to make a documentary when he organized a Thanksgiving Day concert, which included BB King and Joan Baez. The following YouTube clip shows BB King starting his section of the concert with the song How Blue Can You Get:

You can’t fail to be drawn into the performance. So what can be learned ?

First know your audience, and why they are attending, in this case the gig ( or in our case a meeting, presentation, conference etc ). In other words what are their expectations. Of course in BB Kings’ case most of the audience didn’t want to be in prison; therefore turning up for the gig they would have been looking for entertainment to relieve the tedium.

Next is to catch the attention of the audience, and then hold it. BB starts his section with a few jokes that makes a link between himself and the audience. He then quietly plays a solo on his beloved guitar Lucille that settles the audience down and draws their attention to the stage. The song that he plays has a direct contact with the audience; it touches on life outside of prison. He then pulls the audience further into the performance, by play acting the role of the woman in the song.

The last point that can be taken from the video clip is to continue pulling the audience into the performance. The song builds up in three stages with a ‘punch line’ at each stage. This continues to draw in the audience step by step. Any comedian couldn’t have improved on the delivery of the final punch line, and the resulting audience reaction is a riot of cheering and laughter.

In summary: know your audience – why are they there and what is there expectations, grab their attention and hold onto it, and finally build up their interest until the final few lines are memorable. BB King had refined his showmanship over many years, which gives the final point. Although public speaking is difficult it is important to keep going; presenting different material to a wide range of audiences in different venues, and grow in confidence by learning from each event.

There is always a point during the discussion of an idea for a new product, or service, when the killer question comes up: “But will it make any money ?” Stumble at this point and an onslaught of questions will follow: “Who is gong to buy it ?”, “Why will they buy it ?”, and so on until the idea is riddled and gasping. So what can be done ? - Preparation !

Over years of facing a barrage of questions about ideas for new products I have gathered the following series of questions that have helped me to prepare for those tricky moments:

What pain are you solving for the customer ? – Ideas about solving a customer’s pain are often more robust than those that address less pressing desires, therefore clearly identify how your idea is going to help.

What is the phrase that pays ? – The discipline of describing an idea and its business potential in a short phrase strips away the peripheral aspects and distills it to its essence. Your idea could be sumarised into an The Elevator Pitch for when you need to sell your idea in less than a minute!

Does the idea already exist ? - Enter Google search ( or other search engines of your choice ) - check that the idea is not already a product. My experience is that for every 100 ideas that I have had then 99 are already either under development or are products being sold. If the product already exists don’t give up ! Can your idea be adapted to be better than what is currently out there ?

What has changed to give rise to the opportunity ? – You need to point to specific changes in the competitive, technical or regulatory environment to explain the origin of your idea for a product. You need to be driven more than a simple desire to be an entrepreneur !

What do others think of your idea ? - It is important to get feedback from as many people as possible. But be careful. The feedback needs to be honest and constructive. One approach is The Mom Test which is a good way to ask potential customers about an idea in a way that gets constructive feedback. Similarly when you are asked for feedback think carefully what is being asked and how you will reply. When I give feedback on an idea I use the The Sandwich Feedback Technique: what is good about the idea, what isn’t so good, and what can be done to make the it better.

How big is the market ? – It is difficult to forecast the market for a new product with any real precision. However back-of-the-envelope calculations can provide a rudimentary estimate of market size and provide a check on overblown ambitions. Also, check out the size of the market that you are trying to enter and look at other products that are already there - why is your idea going to gain market share ?

If the idea involves new technology can it be developed in a ‘garage’ ? – How much of the new technology comes under your control e.g. software development, packaging, hardware, processes etc. How are the development costs going to be kept down ? A useful approach to minimising startup costs is the
Lean Startupapproach, an in particular the Minimum Viable Product where key aspects of the idea are demonstrated and learnings are gathered for further development.

There are many more questions that will help develop your idea into a new product but the ones above should help you prepare for a heavy storm of killer questions, and if it survives, then it will be strengthen for the next step in its journey to a successful product.

In the opening scene of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the familiar characters are in position on the deck of the USS Enterprise: McCoy, Sulu, Uhura and Spock. All present except Kirk. There is a new captain in charge. Computer voices start to break out, controls are franticly and the ominous sight of Klingons start to fill the screens. The Enterprise is a sitting duck and they start to come in for the kill. All are doomed !

Suddenly a door swishes open and Kirk ( now an Admiral ) walks in to bring what we now realise is a training exercise to an end. As the film progresses hints are given that Kirk was the only person to have beat the simulated test. When he is facing what looks like his demise he is asked “How?”Kirk replied “I reprogrammed the simulation so that it was possible to rescue the ship”. He went on “I changed the condition of the test”. Kirk changed the rules of the game.

Back here on Earth, the history of business turns on people who have changed the rules. There are many rule changers and my list includes Henry Ford who developed the assembly line, which broke with the craft approach to production, and brought high value goods to the mass markets. The list would also include Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, which has radically changed the way that we shop, breaking with the tradition of the high street and bringing goods to our doorsteps. However, sometimes the most influential rule changers don’t require incredible advances in technology. In 1956 Malcolm McLean developed a large standardised box and created the shipping container which radically changed the transportation of goods around the world. Containerisation is still growing by 11% a year. Many more names could be added: Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Ray Kroc, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and so on ( I’m sure that you have your own list which could include Scientists, Engineers, Artists, Musicians …).

But what is the makeup of a rule changer ? They have some of the following characteristics:

• Intuition - have a sense of the wider business environment and the rules that are holding it together. They can identify which rules need to be changed to improve the market for their goods and services.
• Courage - an ability to stand up to the crowd and are not frightened to risk their own security to achieve their aims.
• Drive - filled with indestructible determination to achieve the changes that they went to make.

In Star Trek II, Kirk “received a commendation for original thinking” for reprogramming the training simulator so that he could beat the test. The people that change the rules of business have shown that they have the characteristics to ‘reprogram’ the business world. So what business rules are holding you back ? - how will you reprogram the rules so that you will succeed ?

Lack of leadership is the cry that goes up when a business starts to struggle or fails. It is cited as the single cause that has led to its downfall ( similar cries can be heard in public organisations: health and social care, police etc. ). But what is this panacea for all business ills ?

Business leadership is difficult to define. A quick search on the web shows that there are over 700 million hits for the word ‘leader’ which is halved to 350 million for ‘business leaders’. Web sites will describe a range of traits of a successful business leader: singular vision, powerfully passionate, fearlessness and most adjectives that suggests an other worldly being ! Throw into the mix Business School courses with titles such as: Leading change, Leading business in the future, Essential Leadership and so on, and it is clear that defining business leadership is like grasping a slippery bar of soap !

Of course the person at the top of a business is seen as a leader: the captain of the ship. They make the decisions about the future direction of the business and change tack through investments and re-organisations. But leadership can happen in any part of a business or organisation: production line team leaders, ward sisters, chief petty officers, football captains etc. all have their part to play in the leadership of a business.

The world is a messy place and it is no more less than in a business. Therefore a business has to live with uncertainty. This uncertainty permeates into the daily activities of its people: where will future orders come from ? - will they have a job after reorganisation ? - do I have a career ? and so on. The role of the leader is to make sense of the uncertainty and vocalise it in a way that clarifies and provides support to its people, and through their actions they reinforce the words that they are using.

Many examples can be put forward as good business leaders, but the person that stands out for me is Sir John Harvey-Jones . He first came to my attention on the TV series Troubleshooter with his larger than life character and straight talking ( favourite quote: “there are no bad troops, only bad leaders” ) where he gave advice to manufacturing companies. Also, his book Making It Happen: Reflections on Leadership remains one of the best books on Leadership, and his many articles and speeches ( for example see Turnarounds test imagination and courage ) give fascinating insight into business leadership.

However, it was a chance discussion that sealed my respect for Harvey-Jones. Many years ago I was in a businesses meeting that included three ex-apprentices from his old company ICI who had been made redundant during major reorganisations ( he had turned ICI from a loss making business to the first UK company to make £1 bn profit in 30 months ). I asked them how good was he really. The all answered in glowing terms that what I saw on the TV was what he was like and although his actions had made them redundant they still held him in high regard. Testament to his leadership skills !

Business leadership is difficult to define and yet it has a direct impact of the way that a business manages itself in an uncertain world. The uncertainty brings new demands and ultimately change. Against this uncertainty, business leaders have to spell out what needs to be done in clear and simple words that can reach all parts of the organisation. They have to give their people - who are the best at knowing about the work that they carry out - the responsibility to make the changes to meet the new demands. Finally, they need to behave in a way that reinforces the underlying values of the business which emphasises how a business conducts itself. If this can be achieved then business leadership may gain some respect rather than pointed to as the source of all problems.

Mathematics creates a dilemma: most people agree that it is an important skill to have for everyday living as well as the economic future of the country, but it is socially acceptable to be “absoulutely useless at maths”?

The state of mathematics in the UK bubbles to the top of the news headlines: Numeracy skills have got worse, not better and Asia tops biggest global school rankings. Experts opinion are sought on the state of mathematics; they give advice on what needs to be done. Journalists bounce the subject around: For Britain’s pupils, maths is even more pointless than Latin,and Maths isn’t the problem - the way it’s taught is. All of this is against a background of drip fed statistics: adult numeracy has dropped from 26% of the population in 2003 to 22% in 2011, and eight out of ten people don’t know what APR means let alone how to calculate it ( a sizeable minority think it’s short for April ). Government ministers respond with tweaks to the mathematics curriculum fully expecting a swift implementation. But the topic sinks back down to the lower depths of the public consciousness. Until the next survey sparks another heated debate.

The problem with developing skills in mathematics is failing to recognise that it is a language. A language that uses numbers, not German or French. And like most languages it is a skill that has to be practiced regularly. The language of mathematics consists of activities that involve additions, subtractions, multiplication and divisions which are used to quantify the amount of money in our banks, search for the best deals on the web and and count the number of days left before our next holiday. Like any other language, our skill in its use is linked to how important it is in our lives. Even equations with their strange appearance of \(x\) and \(y\)’s have an important role in our lives. When understood mathematical symbols can unlock a new set of skills that can have many applications, for example working out compound interest which is important in calculating the amount of money required for a happy retirement.

President Ronald Reagan once remarked “you persuade people through reason but motivate through emotion.” In the case of mathematics there are enough reasons to persuade people about its importance: managing household budgets, improved job opportunities, transferable skills, planning for the future, improved critical thinking and so on, but how can people be motivated to use mathematics?

Like learning any language the earlier it is started the better. It builds confidence and reduces the anxiety that many experience in later life. The early stages of mathematics requires a lot of practice: counting, multiplying, dividing, measuring, and so on, but this can be done by applying those skills to problems that affect everyday life. For example, managing pocket money, writing software to monitor local wildlife, building models to predict the impact of waste on the local environment around the school etc.

Another area is the impact of mathematics on the world that we live in. Mathematicians, and those who use mathematics, need to communicate to as wide an audience as possible about the benefits that mathematics can bring rather than discussing the latest solution to an equation. Also, those with mathematical skills need to make connections to other areas of society ( rather than on-going areas of academia, industry or governments ) and make new links e.g. health, social problems, etc. Breaking into new areas will create a pioneering spirit which could motivate others to join in.

In the public domain more effort is required to raise the profile of mathematics. Mathematics institutes and organisations reinforce academic achievement when they should be analysing the level of mathematics skill in the population - why don’t they walk around supermarkets and ask shoppers about using mathematics rather holding another survey amongst themselves? And where is the popular face of mathematics? Where is mathematics Brian Cox? If there was a popularity vote between Brian Cox and Marcus du Sautoy ( the closest equivalent to Brian Cox ) then I feel the Professor Cox would win by a mile! Those involved in mathematics should ask why that would be and then take what can be learned and apply to promoting mathematics.

Therefore the challenge, and plea, to mathematics teachers, authors, experts, governments and industry is to develop an understanding of the emotional aspects of mathematics and then tap into it to motivate its greater use, rather than wasting time and money on another survey. Maybe the next time a celebrity proudly claims that they are ‘rubbish at maths’ then the web will crash with the volume of clicks as people unfollow or unfriend them !