Things are different in the world of techs compared to the world of Executives. We have more time, more interest in a level of detail,more desire to chew the fat over a topic. Executives don’t have this luxury. In fact I was asked to speak in front of a group of Executive leaders recently, and was wondering what content to fill up an hour slot. Only a few days later, the talk sponsor told me I had 15 minutes to get it done. I was not only relieved, but surprised also. This changed my perception of what needed to be delivered fairly quickly.
Honestly, a short sharp 15 minute talk is straight to the point, and I like that. I don’t have to create filler, or waste too much time on an introduction. It does mean that I need to know what my audience wants to hear though.
As Techs, we love chewing the fat, debating technology or process. But to a different audience, we need to cater to their desire. Give them the distilled version of the topic. Take the best bits from 500 pages on Incident Response, and tell them what they need to know to allow them to make informed & strategic decisions. Get this right, hopefully they’ll ask me to come back . Get it wrong, and they may not say anything bad , but your perception within the business may change and you’ll remain doing what you’re doing. If this is what you want, then great. If you want to move into the upper echelons, command a higher salary and have more influence, then read the post from the start, and let it sink in. It’s about what your audience wants to know, not what you want to tell them. In keeping with the spirit of the post, I’m going to leave it here, and hope that this helps with your future discussions with members of management and Senior Leaders.