Podcasts about meeting strategist

Kwame Christian is an attorney, mediator and the director of the American Negotiation Institute, which organizes workshops to help people navigate difficult conversations at work and at home. Kwame is also the host of the top ranked negotiation podcast Negotiate Anything, and the author of ‘Nobody will play with me, using compassionate curiosity to find confidence in conflict’. In our conversation, Kwame explains why he chooses to live in a constant state of conflict. We also discuss why women need their own negotiation podcast, how preparation can help to find confidence in conflict and why slowing down is critical to success in difficult conversations. Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 0:49 – How Kwame turned from an outcast into a pleaser, avoiding conflict at all cost 14:20 –Prescriptive vs. descriptive stereotypes and how it affects women in negotiations 32:37 – Preparing for difficult conversations through visualization 49:45 – Kwame's Compassionate Curiosity framework 1:04:31 – The role of power in difficult conversations and negotiations For more information, key quotes and links related to this episode, please go to the full show notes at www.meetingstrategist.org/kwame-christian About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more constructive. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

You can have the best idea in the world. But if you can’t get people to work with you, it will remain just that – a great idea. Simon Dowling is one of Australia’s leading thinkers on leadership, team dynamics and collaboration – and the author of ‘Work With Me: How to Get People to Buy Into Your Ideas’.  In our free-flowing conversation, Simon talks in great detail about the strategies, tactics and mindsets you need to get people to rally behind your ideas. We also discuss where most people including Simon (and me) go wrong, why you should embrace the black hole, how you can train your own buy-in muscle and what you can do to ensure that support for your ideas actually leads to change. Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 0:49 – Reflecting on the time when one of Simon’s clients found out about his double life  18:32 – The three questions to ask yourself when preparing for a (buy-in) conversation 22:27 – Influence by decree vs. influence through win me  37:56 – Negotiating with your kids 58:21 – The process of building buy-in: it starts with you 1:13:17 – Why you should shrink the change For more information and links related to this episode, please go to the full show notes at www.meetingstrategist.org/simon-dowling About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more constructive. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

Irene Sinteur and I talk about the science of empowerment, the role of power in team collaboration, how to take up the issue of autonomy with your manager and why working in self-steering teams doesn’t come naturally to us. If you want actionable tips on how to create better meetings, check out the article that Irene and I released together with this episode www.meetingstrategist.org/sinteur Irene is an expert in empowerment, autonomy and power dynamics in organizations. In 2018, she completed her PhD research on the role of power in autonomous groups. Irene and I are both deeply inspired by the work of the late Dutch social psychologist Mauk Mulder, who was a great friend and mentor of mine. Mauk is also the person who brought us together. Years ago, he mentioned Irene’s research to me and suggested that I really had to get in touch with her. Only recently, I rediscovered the note with Irene’s name on it, reached out to her via LinkedIn - and here we are recording an episode and writing blogs together. Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 3:41 – How to help dominant and non-dominant team members listen to each other 16:38 – “The only way to empower people is to really give them power” 20:45 – Why working in autonomous teams doesn’t come naturally to us 34:43 – For leaders, autonomy begins with letting go 44:08 – Decision-making in autonomous teams: seeking consent rather than consensus 50:00 – How to handle unproductive power differences in autonomous teams For more information and links related to this episode, please go to the full show notes at www.meetingstrategist.org/irene-sinteur About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more constructive. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

  This episode provides essential listening guidance and tools for leaders and lovers - or anyone who regularly finds himself in emotionally charged situations. Dan Oblinger is a hostage negotiator, author of ‘Life or Death Listening’, a keynote speaker on leadership, listening and negotiations and a father of five adopted children. In this extra-long episode, Dan breaks down how leaders, parents and lovers can harness the power of emotions to build trust and transform their relationships. We also discuss Dan’s first encounter with a jumper, how to rewire your listening brain and why leaders should ask more scary questions. For more information and links related to this episode, please go to the full show notes at www.meetingstrategist.org/dan-oblinger Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 6:54 – Why power and authority won’t get you anywhere in hostage negotiations 18:56 – How to listen to 3-year-olds: the power of personal connection 28:21 – Creating a collaborative corporate culture 37:50 – How Dan is able to shift the focus to other people in high-stakes situations 50:47 – Prefacing and other ways to ask better questions 1:10:12 – How to negotiate with someone if you don’t even get past the reception desk About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more constructive. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

My current series on power in meetings cannot be complete without this episode from Season 1. If you sell daily or occasionally and you want to feel more powerful, this is a must listen. Will Marshall is a self-employed management consultant and an executive and sales trainer at the International Institute for Humanization. In our conversation, he shares many anecdotes from his long career as a B2B sales rep and manager at corporations including Xerox.  Along the way, Will provides tips and strategies to ask better questions, gather valuable information about prospects from receptionists and use and interpret power in meetings. We also spent a lot of time talking about the mindset sales people need to deal with rejection, sell with confidence and walk away from multi-million-pound deals. Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 4:25 – Authorizers and influencers: using decision making units (DMUs) to determine where the power lies in organizations 18:33 – How to stay calm while dealing with dominant hostile personalities 33:30 –Why negotiators need to get into the other person’s head 44:29 – Always look for the positive: Del Boy, the salesman with natural ability 53:48 – The power I used when I convinced Will to join the podcast 1:02:00 – What external consultants should do when a client keeps hijacking project meetings For more detailed information about this episode and relevant links to people and resources, visit the show notes on www.meetingstrategist.org/will-marshall About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more productive and meaningful. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

My guest on this episode is Bob Pointer. After his retirement as a detective at the City of London Police, Bob specialized in helping professionals increase their conversational intelligence and transform their relationships utilizing science-based techniques.  On this episode, Bob breaks down the rules of effective communication and how leaders and other professionals can apply them in their conversations. We also talk about the role of power in creating a productive conversational climate, how human relationships are built and why trust is the center of everything. For more information and links related to this episode, please go to the full show notes at www.meetingstrategist.org/bob-pointer Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 3:07 – The art of not asking questions 20:22 – I, Us and We conversations 30:58 – Why sales people should stop selling 39:53 – Winston Churchill and the contextuality of productive power 44:04 – The pseudo-science of body language experts on the internet 53:24 – Why leaders have to be mindful about their conversations About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more constructive. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

In the second series of the Meeting Strategist podcast, I will explore a topic that most leaders dread talking about: power in meetings and conversations. In the coming episodes, I will talk with leaders from the investment and business world as well as communication experts, coaches and other extraordinary professionals about their experiences with power. The central question: how can leaders use their power more productively, starting with their everyday interactions and meetings? Recently, workshop facilitator Myriam Hadnes invited me onto her podcast ‘Workshops Work’. We talked about how I became interested in power, how power differences impede our conversations and what leaders can do to close the gap. I’m pleased to share this conversation to kick off my new series about power. All credit goes to Myriam for initiating the interview, asking great questions and allowing me to share the recording on this show. If you want to learn more about Myriam’s podcast and her work, please go to the full show notes with relevant links at www.meetingstrategist.org/marcel-van-de-hoef Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 5:09 – How I met power theorist Mauk Mulder and what I learned from him 15:12 – It’s not just hierarchy: introducing different power relationships 27:43 – Using Dale Carnegie’s human relations principles to handle power more effectively 32:37 – Putting a wall in between: reflecting on my ‘leadership style’ as an editor-in-chief about 15 years ago 42:04 – How to balance brainstorming and decision-making, so meetings finish on time and people still feel heard About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more constructive. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

One of the biggest challenges for modern-day leaders is to find and engage top talent. On this episode, executive coach and communication professional Julia Hart reflects on how leaders can neutralize their power and create a safe space for their youngest employees to speak up and give their best. Julia has worked in corporates including Philips, AkzoNobel and Liberty Global for more than 25 years. Last year she published her first book ‘Insider Secrets', which is packed with interesting insights and practical tips to help young professionals succeed in a corporate environment. This includes navigating office politics, dealing with your manager and, most importantly, dealing with yourself. For more information and links related to this episode, please go to the full show notes at www.meetingstrategist.org/julia-hart Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 6:31 – How young professionals, especially women, tend to give people a reason not to listen to them 20:30 – Using the meta mirror exercise to help young professionals look through someone else’s lenses and deal more effectively with power 26:31 – What leaders can do to take their power out of the room  32:46 – Julia reflecting on her experiences of powerplay in meetings and the long-term negative impact on an organization’s culture 41:17 – What coaches can do to neutralize their (expert) power   48:02 – How leaders can make the lives of young professionals easier  About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more constructive. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

In this episode, I talk to Marcel van de Hoef, a journalist, coach, and podcaster. Marcel hosts The Meeting Strategist podcast and helps leaders to transmit their mission through mass communication formats. Everything he does has to do with communication, so we talk about power structures in conversations and namely in meetings and workshops.   In the show, Marcel shares how he raises awareness of the impact of power differences to reduce ineffective effects on conversations. We also speak about journalism, leadership, and how to use power for role modelling. Don't miss the part when Marcel shared his experience being an editor in chief at age 22 and what he would do differently today. The conversation will inspire you to reduce unproductive power in workshops to make them work.   Click here to download the free 1-page summaryDon't miss the next show: Subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.Feeling inspired by the conversation in this episode? We can have our own - take a seat at my virtual table as part of a Mastermind Group. Questions and Answers[2:28] How did you get interested in the topic of power? What's your story?[12:01] How would you define “unproductive power differences”?[14:33] How can we avoid the negative impact of power differences?[16:05] So power differences are not necessarily tied to differences in a hierarchy?[18:00] In the context of professional gatherings, how can you make participants become aware of such power differences?[22:21] When you feel power differences, how can you get participants to share information without risking the safe space? [27:27] Do you have a trick that helps those in power to lower their guards in meetings or workshops?[33:01] What is the role of ego in power games?[35:51] What is the magic ingredient that distinguishes a good from a bad meeting?[38:18] How can you keep the balance between contributing, connecting and time boxing in a meeting with a tight agenda? [47:26] If a listener just woke up and missed the core part of the show, what do you want them to remember?Related links you may want to check out:Marcel's website, including his blog and podcast: www.meetingstrategist.orgMarcel's mentor Mauk Mulder http://maukmulder.nl/ (in Dutch) and an article in EnglishPriya Parker's book: The Art of GatheringCeleste Headlee on Coaching for Leaders Amy Edmondson's case study of the Chilean mine rescue Marcel's conversation with Oscar Trimboli on Deep Listening Dale Carnegie's book: How to win friends and influence peopleMarcel's short blog about Dale Carnegie's book Our sponsor Session Lab (affiliate link) Connect to Marcel:LinkedIn 

A few months ago, Marcel van de Hoef interviewed me on his podcast, The Meeting Strategist.  He created Meeting Strategist to help senior professionals across industries think more strategically about business conversations and improve their listening, questioning and meeting skills.  With his permission, I’ve shared that discussion on this week’s show.  You can learn more about his work at meetingstrategist.org. Our conversation starts with my background and covers my communications with Warren Buffett, characteristics of successful active managers, manager meeting structure, culture assessment, tools for effective listening, lessons I learned from David Swensen, and my preparation and conducting of podcast interviews. Please enjoy my thoughts on interviewing and manager meetings, with Marcel van de Hoef asking the questions. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides  

For the final episode of my pilot season, I return to the fascinating world of investing. My guest is Ted Seides. During his more than 25 years in finance, Ted has built unique expertise in the area of manager selection - picking investment funds that he believes can beat the market. He’s the author of “So You Want to Start a Hedge Fund”, and host of the Capital Allocators podcast, on which he interviews investors and others about the investment challenge and how to approach it. This episode provides inspiration for professionals who regularly find themselves assessing people and teams. You’ll learn why meetings are crucial in manager selection, how Ted prepares for these interviews and how his experience as a podcast host helps him as an investor. We also discuss Ted’s famous bet with Warren Buffett and what the Oracle of Omaha can teach us about communication. Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 9:35 – How Ted got in touch with Warren Buffet 17:00 – Communication lessons from the Oracle of Omaha 26:33 – What you can’t get from a piece of paper: the crucial importance of face-to-face meetings 30:34 – What to look and listen for when assessing an investment team’s culture 34:20 – Why ‘we gotcha’ doesn’t work when you find out unfavorable information about someone 47:18 – How Ted prepares for a podcast interview As said, this is the last episode of my pilot season. Please subscribe to my newsletter on www.meetingstrategist.org to get notified as soon as this series continues. You can find the full show notes with relevant links at www.meetingstrategist.org/ted-seides About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more constructive. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

My guest on this episode is criminal defense attorney David Rudolf. I’ve been wanting to interview David ever since I watched ‘The Staircase’ on Netflix. In this documentary series, David represents Michael Peterson, an American novelist whose wife was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their North Carolina mansion.  When watching the documentary, I was deeply impressed with David’s professional performance. Not only because of his legal expertise, but also because of his communication skills and his ability to connect with people – both in and outside the courtroom. Our conversation offers interesting ideas and lessons for professionals who regularly find themselves in high-stakes meetings. We discuss the questioning strategies David uses during cross examination and jury selection, why transparency is key in bad news conversations and how he's able to perform at his peak when the stakes couldn’t be higher. You’ll also learn how David gets buy-in from his clients for the crucial decisions in a case, which I think is useful for anyone managing or implementing change in organizations. Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 12:02 – “You can’t expect people to be completely honest with you the first time they meet you” 19:17 – Putting on a protective cape: the role of preparation in building confidence 24:44 – The structure David used as a young attorney when interviewing jurors 35:42 – Wiping down the blow poke: the importance of listening in court 40:30 – Behind the scenes of a challenging meeting in a potential death penalty case 53:40 – Selecting jurors: a personal click is more important than the profile 1:02:15 – Good fact, bad fact: how to tackle tunnel vision For more detailed information about this episode and relevant links to people and resources, visit the show notes on www.meetingstrategist.org/david-rudolf About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more constructive. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

Most people don't like to talk about power, because they consider it evil and associate it with abuse and the use of force. But power is a fact of life, especially in sales meetings. If you don’t understand it, you can lose a sale without ever knowing why. Will Marshall is a self-employed management consultant and an executive and sales trainer at the International Institute for Humanization. In our conversation, he shares many anecdotes from his long career as a B2B sales rep and manager at corporations including Xerox.  Along the way, Will provides tips and strategies to ask better questions, gather valuable information about prospects from receptionists and use and interpret power in meetings. We also spent a lot of time talking about the mindset sales people need to deal with rejection, sell with confidence and walk away from multi-million-pound deals. Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 4:25 – Authorizers and influencers: using decision making units (DMUs) to determine where the power lies in organizations 18:33 – How to stay calm while dealing with dominant hostile personalities 33:30 –Why negotiators need to get into the other person’s head 44:29 – Always look for the positive: Del Boy, the salesman with natural ability 53:48 – The power I used when I convinced Will to join the podcast 1:02:00 – What external consultants should do when a client keeps hijacking project meetings For more detailed information about this episode and relevant links to people and resources, visit the show notes on www.meetingstrategist.org/will-marshall About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more productive and meaningful. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

Oscar Trimboli still finds it uncomfortable to speak about listening, but I’m glad he has found a way to combine these two competing activities. Oscar is an executive coach and a listening expert based in Sydney, Australia. In this episode, he talks about the cost of poor listening for individuals and organizations and the importance for leaders to help people think and listen to what’s unsaid. This episode runs more than 90 minutes and is my longest to date, but we could easily have gone on for many more hours. One of the reasons why I enjoyed this conversation so much is because Oscar was extremely generous in sharing real-life examples of great listening. This includes the fascinating story of lung cancer oncologist Dr. Bronwyn King who used her curiosity to convince pension funds to sell off $8 billion in tobacco shares. Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 4:54 – Serena Williams, LEGO, Brexit and broken relationships: the benefit of deep listening and the costs of poor listening 11:06 – Eagles and snakes: how listening to the unsaid can make a world of difference 28:05 – The impact of power dynamics on listening 39:00 – Speed is great but it comes at a cost: options not explored or options not explained 53:08 – The importance of focus and deep breathing: what Oscar learned when training as a coach 1:11:55 – Getting in the right state of mind to listen (tips to apply before going into your next meeting) For more detailed information about this episode and relevant links to people and resources, visit the show notes on www.meetingstrategist.org/oscar-trimboli About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more productive and meaningful. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

My guest for this episode is Maarten Oldenhof. Maarten is the former CEO of Ajax, the iconic Amsterdam-based football club that dominated the game in the early 70s and mid 90s. In '95 they won the Champions League, the biggest prize in European club football. And in the years after, Ajax moved to a new stadium nearly triple the size of the original one and became the first and only Dutch club to go to the stock market. Maarten was CEO in this exciting time in club history. Some six months ago, Maarten started inviting all his LinkedIn contacts for coffee. As I noticed, Maarten likes to keep these meetings very open. He doesn’t prepare for them and they serve no specific purpose. In our conversation, we explore how these coffee meetings relate to his previous life as a CEO, his management style and the culture he tried to create as a leader. He also talks openly about the most challenging and important meetings throughout his career and what he would have done differently. This includes an emotionally charged meeting when his management team had colluded against him and the negotiation of a major player transfer at Ajax. Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 2:17 – Maarten’s philosophy behind inviting all his 7,000+ LinkedIn contacts for coffee   8:37 – How his first job made him realize that fact-based analysis isn't enough   17:52 – Creating a winning culture in which people feel free to share their expertise   20:42 – Why you need people in your management team who you can trust   25:57 – How a personal touch helped Maarten land his dream job at Ajax    32:48 – Canalizing emotions: how Ajax won support among club members for its plans to go to the stock market For more detailed information about this episode and relevant links to people and resources, visit the show notes on www.meetingstrategist.org/maarten-oldenhof About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more productive and meaningful. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

My guest for this episode is Spencer Waldron. Spencer is the Regional Director Europe of Prezi, the cloud-based presentation platform. A marketing veteran with more than 20 years of experience, he’s also a frequent speaker at business conferences across Europe on topics like storytelling and leadership communication. This episode is packed with the lessons that Spencer learned the hard way – by being on stage. How do you best prepare for talks, how do you handle your nerves when being in the spotlights and how do you create a story that people will actually listen to? To top it off, we also explore how you can use these lessons to make yourself heard in smaller settings like business meetings. Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 4:36 – Tips for steadying your nerves in the final 15 minutes before you go on stage   10:17 – Spencer’s recent technical meltdown in front of 500 people   13:01 – The Think-Do-Feel matrix: the start of his preparation process   26:27 – Getting ready for the big show   38:00 – Aristotle, Winston Churchill and Boris Johnson: the power of rhetoric   42:23 – Public speaking lessons that you can use in smaller settings like business meetings   56:29 – Spencer’s book tip and the power of 3s   For more detailed information about this episode and relevant links to people, books and other resources, visit the show notes on www.meetingstrategist.org/spencer-waldron About this podcast Welcome to Meeting Strategist! On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more productive and meaningful. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

In this first episode, Marcel van de Hoef interviews Joost de Graaf, a senior portfolio manager at Kempen Capital Management. Based in Amsterdam, Joost helps manage more than 3 billion euros at Kempen’s Global and European High Dividend funds. Reflecting on the hundreds of meetings he has had with company executives over the past 20 years, Joost talks about the human edge in investing, the predictive power of information gathered from meetings, the importance of what’s not being said and how to build rapport with powerful people.  Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps: 8:27 - The human edge in collecting and judging information, as more money is managed by algorithms 14:16 - Why business model disruption and the financial crisis have made it more important for investors to meet with management 23:50 - The importance of intangible information in sizing up a management team 34:13 - The winning mindset in meetings 47:38 - How to build a relationship with powerful - and sometimes difficult - personalities like Elon Musk  56:29 - Joost’s book tip and how meetings helped Marathon Asset Management identify problems at Anglo Irish Bank For more detailed information about this episode and relevant links to people, books and other resources, visit the show notes on www.meetingstrategist.org/podcast About this podcast Welcome to the debut episode of Meeting Strategist! On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more productive and meaningful. Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org