Michael Asbach

Three bricklayers are asked what they are doing. The first one responds, "I am laying bricks." The second says, "I am building a wall." The third replies, "I am constructing a cathedral." While all three are performing the same task, their perspectives on the work vary significantly, highlighting different levels of engagement and understanding of their purpose. This parable ties into finding purpose in our careers by emphasizing that the way we view our work can profoundly affect our motivation, satisfaction, and overall fulfillment. When we see our tasks as part of a larger, meaningful goal, we are more likely to find purpose and take greater pride in our work.

Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been” is a quote from hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. Often in business, we think about skills that are already developed. Our career environment is never static, nearly every will look back on a 35-40 year career and identify pivots, u-turns, and opportunities they did not predict. When we look to future proof our careers, it’s critical to assess our skills against where we believe our industry is headed. I believe one of the best ways to adapt to a changing environment is to identify a trend in your industry, assess what skills are needed to thrive in the area, then create a plan to develop skills that differentiate you from your peers.

Using data to tell a story helps the audience retain the key learning points. Sometimes you can craft a narrative around the data point itself (this result equates to X in the real world) but often it is helpful to pause and give a call out to the context of the data. For example, I like to always incorporate ranges for scales in my talks as I don't ever want to leave somebody behind who may not be familiar with the scale or range reported. I'll just pause and say "for those who may not be familiar with this scale, it ranges from...and this results falls within this range." By doing this, I am not watering down the scientific data, but I am providing an "on ramp" for people who may not be familiar with the data to meaningfully learn.

Think about rhetorical questions as a teaching tool that can help reinforce a point, provide a different perspective, or break up content that is hard to digest. Analogies, stories, and anecdotes that are accompanied by a rhetorical question can provide a point of emphasis. For example, If I am presenting to an audience on the importance of compounding interest in investing, I can break up the topic with a story about someone who started investing early in life versus someone who didn't start until later. I can finish the story by sharing the powerful results of compounding interest and ask "Is this a powerful motivator to invest early?" This is clearly a rhetorical question, but I am using it to reinforce the learning objective of my story

I give a lot of talks to healthcare providers and knowing your audience is critical as a presenter. So often, educators conflate complication with competence. We try to show how smart we are by giving a "high science" complicated lecture to "wow" our audience. For most audiences, simplicity is good. Know and understand your audience's knowledge base and identify real and achievable educational objective for the presentation.