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Death to PowerPoint
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When I was a CEO, I loved it. I would prepare a presentation. Just enough to keep the Board informed, but not too much. You wanted to avoid uncomfortable questions. Then, during the meeting, depending on how things were going, I would go deeper… or not. Always keeping one eye on the clock. Meeting over. Board satisfied. Great lunch. Then back to work to do something productive. I loved the routine. And, above all, I loved knowing that I was essential. Because that PowerPoint was always incomplete without my briefing and my team’s explanations. However… Karma. When it was my turn to sit on the other side of the table, I could smell the bullshit from miles away. A hesitation here. Rushing through certain slides there. Then boring everyone to death with endless detail about something completely irrelevant. You know how it goes… At that point, not even “un buen jamón de bellota”, some acorn-fed Iberian ham from Monesterio—the best in the world, not that crap from Jabugo —could make me happy. So I started asking for memos. Complete memos. Memos that did not need the CEO to explain anything. They had to contain all the information required to make a decision on the spot. Or, at the very least, to form a very well-informed opinion about the CEO’s “ask.” That was when I killed PowerPoint. The bullshit generator par excellence. With a proper memo, you can have a robust, decent discussion for two hours. Looking at each other eyes. Not sit through the screening of a pointless movie designed simply to keep us occupied. As if we were children on holiday while our parents were trying to work from home. “Thank God for screens,” the CEO would say, playing the role of our father. No. Do not come to me with a PowerPoint and try to sell me something. I want to look you in the eye. And I want to crucify you if the memo is rubbish and leaves everything up in the air. If you want to make progress on anything in life, take my advice: Forget PowerPoint. Here are a few courses to help you focus. Use this information at your own risk. ​THE ROOM: 15 Great Lessons of a Successful PPP Project​ ​THE ROOM: The 15 Top Lessons of a PPP Project Nightmare​ ​THE ROOM: How to Break Into PPPs (Without the Bullshit)​ ​The ROOM: The ONLY way of doing a proper procurement process​ ​THE ROOM: Back-to-Back PPP Gap Analysis Explained​ ​THE ROOM: The Top 10 Errors That Kill Your PPP Deal​ ​THE ROOM: How to Deal with Frustrating Lenders' Approvals in PPPs.​ ​THE ROOM: THE ROOM: Minimum size for a PPP Project​ ​THE ROOM: Buildings in PPP - Discussions with an African colleague​ ​THE ROOM: Key Challenges and Solutions in PPP Highway Projects - 5 Clauses You Should Improve​ Or… of course, you can have them all… and many other interesting lessons in The Room. ​The Room​ PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day. PD 2: If somebody has sent you this email and you want to receive emails like this yourself, visit vicentevalencia.com PD 3: If you want unsubscribe, click the link below. |
Vicente Valencia
Weekly insights on how to perform when it matters | High-stakes decisions. Real situations. No BS. | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
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