An explain article

A few years ago we wanted to develop a far-reaching entrepreneurial vision for our company from the management of EXPLAIN. For this, we set up a special strategy retreat.

A week in the city of dreams, New York. On 32nd Street, at the top of the 39th floor, we dared to dream ourselves and went through an intense and extremely valuable process.

However, before we dealt with where we are going, it was first important for us to understand where we actually came from. Deeper still, we asked ourselves why we love what we do and what drives us in it. Answering this simple question challenged us. It was, so to speak,a journey into the innermost, into our core and we came to a very simple realization that I would now like to share.

In every communal human endeavor, it is about gaining other people, inspiring them, motivating them. Simply put:

It's about setting people in motion.

No matter what the goal is, be it Mount Everest or the moon. To set people in motion, leaders have been using the power of SPEECH for thousands of years. Some can do this better than others. President John F. Kennedy, for example, needed only 17 minutes and 48 seconds to convince the American nation in a radio address to send a man to the moon!

Speeches move and they can be further strengthened in their impact, that is exactly our core.

#01

We are convinced because the great ones have shown us. We saw how a Steve Jobs demonstrated to the world how APPLE reinvented the phone, or how former US Vice President Al Gore fought against global warming with his presentation.

#02

We are convinced because we have personally accompanied people who moved the public with their presentations. For example, North Korean human rights activist Hyeonseo Lee, who successfully urged the public to take action for the people of North Korea in her TEDX TALK in Berlin. Or Bob Carey, the photo artist in the pink tutu, known from the Telekom advertisement, who gained worldwide attention for his fundraising campaign against breast cancer with his TEDx Talk in Munich.

#03

But above all, we are convinced that great presentations move people because we have personally experienced it, from the CEO to the trainee.

To achieve this, we even created our own stage, the EXPLAIN STAGE. We sweated and trembled to share something personal and inspiring with the world there. By now, we know what it's like to present, what distinguishes successful presenting, and what great presentations can move.

Move markets.

Once again, it was Steve Jobs who showed us how to successfully showcase a brand with presentations. These presentations played a significant role in making Apple one of the most successful brands in the world.

Apple's product launches were not just events, but EXPERIENCES.

The audience experienced the CEO of a global corporation as a brand ambassador personally on stage in the spotlight. Presenting became more and more a matter for the boss. Nowadays, global corporations engage in battles of giants, with their CEOs at the forefront. For example, a Dieter Zetsche (Daimler) steps into the ring against Elon Musk (Tesla). Besides innovative products, they also present bare numbers with their company balance sheets on other occasions. For journalists and investors in financial markets, it's not just features that count, but also facts and the strategies behind the numbers. It's not just about the last fiscal year, but also the coming one, and above all, it's always about the future of the market and the future of the company. It's about solutions, about answers, it's about plausibility, credibility, and enthusiasm. "Global Leaders" in "Global Battles" determine the major weather conditions on the global stock markets.

Moving companies.

Every company needs people, whether it is researching a novel vaccine, developing intelligent software, or building the car of the future. Every company requires employees, and the best ones it can get. These employees need not only to be found but also to be nurtured and led. These employees, especially in times of full employment and Generation Y, ask essential questions of their employer beyond salary expectations:

Why? Employees need a drive and a reason why they should give their best. They want the "Reason Why." A vision. A motivation. A purpose!

How? Employees desire a mission statement and lived values. They want freedom to create and autonomy. They want transparency, insight, and participation.

Who? Employees prefer to work for visible and tangible individuals rather than for an anonymous company. They seek leaders who recognize them and by whom they are recognized and nurtured.

These questions demand answers with substance. And we think that a large part of this communication need can be covered with presentations. But presentations can be formative not just for the audience, but also for the speaker. Leaders can set themselves apart and be seen and recognized as such. As a leader, it is necessary to be able to express oneself well. Leaders are thereby challenged to not only express themselves adequately but also to formulate their ideas in advance or even to develop them in the first place.

That presenting is a strong leadership tool, we have learned intensively during the long-term collaboration with our customer adidas. The global brand with the three stripes hosts numerous large internal events annually. Adidas rents entire exhibition halls for this purpose and uses the latest high-end stage and projection technology. This is done "just" to present internally to employees. And that's exactly what's very important! By board members and brand managers regularly standing on stage in front of thousands of employees, a brand is brought to life, strategies communicated worldwide, and employees inspired. The frequent, intensive, and high-quality presentation culture of adidas is certainly a success factor for the company's development.

Even within our own company, we have been using presentations successfully and consistently as a leadership tool for many years. Employees present themselves to managers, managers present themselves to the CEO, and the CEO to the crew. In numerous sessions throughout the year, information is shared, training conducted, and enthusiasm generated. We have weekly, quarterly, and annual sessions. For this, we ourselves now rent expensive venues.

All this effort serves only one purpose, that communication succeeds.
We call it:

Leading by Presentations.

We think that the communication culture of companies is a success factor, and we believe that the presentation culture, that is, the way when, where, how, and who presents, is an essential component. The German economy faces great challenges now that Europe is more fragile than ever, digitalization is coming, and soon maybe even autonomously driving cars from Silicon Valley will roll on our roads. Through successful presenting, you can at least meet these challenges communicatively. That's something, isn't it?