VIP47-ceo-advice.pdf

VIP LESSON 047 - CEO Advice

Dialog:

A: I have to give a sales presentation tomorrow on a new high tech product to a

bunch of people who are completely clueless about technology. I have no idea

how to reach them. Any advice?

B: Sure. If it’s really the case that it’s high tech stuff that this audience won’t

understand, then you’ll have to dumb it down a bit. Put it in a language that a

layman will understand.

A: It’s so hard to dumb it down because it’s a so technical.

B: You have no choice. If you don’t, the whole thing will go over their

heads . You also need to make sure you are respectful of your audience and

you aren’t using a condescending tone and being derogatory because of their

ignorance. You want to make the audience like you and feel a connection with

you.

Phrases and Vocabulary Used:

Reach : Sometimes reach means to “get in touch with”. In this context however

it means to make the audience or whoever understand you.

He has a really hard time reaching his 15 year old daughter. She seems to not

want to listen to what he has to say and he’s really unsure about how to handle

this situation.

If that’s the case : This set phrase means, “well, if that is really true, then…..”

If it’s really the case that you think your leg is broken, you should go to the

hospital right away to get it checked out. You don’t want this problem to get any

worse.

Dumb it down : If you have to “dumb something down” it means to make it

much simpler so that your audience will understand.

My dad knows nothing about computers, so if I want to talk to him about what I

do, I really have to dumb down what I’m saying so that he can understand what

I’m talking about.

Put it in a language : If you “put something in a language” that someone

understands, it means that you should explain it in a way that is clear to the

listener. It doesn’t actually mean to change the language.

She didn’t understand math until she found a really good teacher who was able

to explain it to her in a language she could understand.

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VIP LESSON 047 - CEO Advice

Layman : A “layman” is a person who doesn’t know much about a specific topic.

Most people are lay people about most topics.

A physics professor can use very sophisticated words when talking with his

colleagues, but he needs to use simpler terms if he wants a layman to be able to

follow the conversation.

The whole thing will go over their heads : If something goes over your head it

means that you heard it but you didn’t understand it at all.

I think he was pretending to understand what we were talking about last night but

I could see by the look in his eyes that the whole conversation went way over his

head.

Condescending tone : A “condescending tone” of voice is a way of speaking to

someone where they feel that you are looking down on them.

Derogatory : A “derogatory” remark is an expression of low opinion. If you say

something negative about someone’s new haircut or house you are making a

derogatory remark.

FULL PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

Back in the VIP room once again for lesson number 47. This is a really good

dialogue. It’s about…well the idea came from talking to a couple of our really

close friends who are these corporate guys. One of them is a CEO for a

company and he was asking us what we did and he kind of knew we were doing

some stuff on the Internet. But he didn’t really know what was happening, and

since he’s in Asia he was thinking that a lot of the people that work for him could

really benefit from the idea and he gave us some terms and phrases that he

wished some of his major employees who are non-native English speakers could

use, and we really started to write it down and take note of what he said and try

to make it useful for all of our listeners. Yeah, exactly before we were kind of

drinking buddies and really didn’t get into what we did, which is funny because

we’ve met quite a few times, but if you’re going out in a big group it’s easy just to

have kind of conversations that have nothing to do with work, especially with

people in corporate positions who work a lot and really don’t want to talk about

their jobs at that time. Absolutely, yeah who wants to talk about their job really

when you’re at the bar with your friends so we end up having these

conversations as if we’re all three years old or not three I guess, 12 years old in a

way, just talking about silly things, and finally we had kind of a useful

conversation on some level. Anyway, Add let’s jump into the dialogue and start

talking about what we should be talking about.

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VIP LESSON 047 - CEO Advice

A: I have to give a sales presentation tomorrow on a new high tech product to a

bunch of people who are completely clueless about technology. I have no idea

how to reach them. Any advice?

B: Sure. If it’s really the case that it’s high tech stuff that this audience won’t

understand, then you’ll have to dumb it down a bit. Put it in a language that a

layman will understand.

A: It’s so hard to dumb it down because it’s a so technical.

B: You have no choice. If you don’t, the whole thing will go over their

heads . You also need to make sure you are respectful of your audience and

you aren’t using a condescending tone and being derogatory because of their

ignorance. You want to make the audience like you and feel a connection with

you.

All right another great dialogue, because it’s a realistic dialogue and it was a fun

one between friends and you should probably pay attention if you want to

improve your career’s and your life, because we were talking with a bunch of

highly successful people and we’re not doing too bad ourselves so you might

want to listen up. That was pretty nice Add, I like that piece there. First term,

this is a good one “reach” and we know that sometimes reach means to get in

touch with or you could also say, reach for a glass of water, reach for a pen. But

in this context it means that you want to make the audience understand you.

That’s what it means to reach the audience, and I could say for example, he has

a really hard time reaching his 15-year-old daughter. She seems to not want to

listen to what he has to say and he’s really unsure about how to handle the

situation and that’s a very common situation with parents and kids that when they

get to these certain ages often they say the terrible teens I believe. I don’t have

any kids so I don’t really know, but I can imagine when I was a teenager it would

be very hard to deal with me and it’s hard for parents who want the best for their

kids to reach their children. They can’t relate to them. Exactly, yeah it’s hard

often for parents to relate or connect with their children. Often children will listen

to their parents. They know what they’re saying but they don’t really get it

because it’s…they can’t really relate to them. The parents don’t really know

what it’s like to be a teen for some reason. Even though they were at teen at

one point. Yeah, they seem to kind of forget for some reason and they

can’t…they have trouble reaching their kids, and anyway that’s what it means.

And “if that’s the case” that’s the next phrase here. It’s a set phrase that means,

well if that’s really true then you should do something, like, so if that’s really true

then bla bla bla, if that’s the case. So I could say, if it’s really the case that your

leg is broken, you should go to the hospital right away to get it checked out. You

don’t want this problem to get any worse. So I could say, you know, maybe you

are not sure about that. I don’t know, but if it’s really the case, if it’s really true,

then you should do something. Or if it’s really the case that you hate your job as

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VIP LESSON 047 - CEO Advice

much as you say you hate it, maybe you should consider getting a new job.

Exactly. So your friend is just really confirming that it is true. So don’t make a

decision based on something that isn’t true. So they’re basically just saying,

well if really that’s true, then you might as well change your opinion. Yeah, so

they’re just double checking that it’s true before they go ahead with their advice

of saying if that’s really the case then something. All right, next one Add, this is

the best one that the CEO guy really wanted us to explain to people and it’s a

great phrase. We use it a lot. I don’t know why I forgot to explain it before and

it’s “dumb it down” and it’s pretty funny if you have to dumb something down it

means you need to make it much simpler so that your audience will understand.

So I could say, my dad for example, knows nothing about computers. So if I want

to talk to him about what I do, I really have to dumb down what I’m saying so he

can understand what I’m talking about, and actually Add always if we’re having

the computer talk, since he’s the tech guy has to dumb down the conversation so

I know what he’s talking about and put it in some terms, use some language that

I can understand. Exactly, no one’s a specialist in everything so you have to

make it simpler for different audiences. Absolutely and if you’re joking around

with your friends and they seem to not be able to understand what you are

talking about, then you could say, hey do I have to dumb it down for you, I mean

are you retarded or something or you could make a joke about someone who’s

about to come in the room saying hey, this guy’s a little bit slow. When you talk

him about this you might need to remember to keep in mind that you’re going to

need to dumb it down a bit. Exactly or you might want to put it in a language

that they can understand. It’s the same idea here. If you put something in a

language that someone understands, it means that you should explain it in a way

that is clear to the listener. Of course, you’re still going to be talking in the same

language, but you’re going to be using different words in a different way of

describing what you’re talking about. You’re kind of dumbing it down or you’re

using words that you believe the listener will understand and it’s not the language

as Add said. You are not changing English or whatever for example. You’re just

changing the choice of words to make it simpler and more clear. So I could say,

she didn’t understand math until she found a really good teacher, who was able

to explain it to her in a language she can understand. So I guess her math

teacher in this case was able to use simple words that her brain seemed to relate

to, could understand. So he put it in a language, he explained it in a way that

she could understand. Exactly, and if you have to dumb down things and put it

in a language that people understand then you’re probably talking to a layman,

and a layman is a person who doesn’t know much about a specific topic and of

course most people are lay people about most topics. Exactly, yeah so if you’re

layman, it means you’re just the average person with regards to a certain topic.

So I could say for example, a physics professor is obviously very smart in his one

field at least or her field, whatever. I could say, a physics professor can use very

sophisticated words when talking with his colleagues but he needs to use simpler

terms, if he wants a layman to be able to follow the conversation. So a layman

is just in this case, somebody who does not really understand this high-level

physics stuff, and if the physics professor wants the lay person to understand,

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VIP LESSON 047 - CEO Advice

he’s going to need to dumb it down a bit and simplify the whole thing/ Exactly and

if he doesn’t simplify it, the whole thing will go “over their heads” and if something

goes over your head it means that you heard it but you didn’t really understand it

at all. It went over your head. Right, and we often say jokes, if somebody is

laughing at a joke and it seems like they didn’t really understand the joke, you

could say, did you really get that joke or did that just go over your head because

it seems that you’re laughing at the wrong times or for these weird reasons. It’s

so weird when people do that. Or I could say, I think he was pretending to

understand what we were talking about last night, but I could see by the look in

his eyes that the whole conversation went way over his head. So it was almost

like we were talking and he just didn’t understand it at all. Like, if you’re listening

to a language that you don’t know anything about, just the whole thing goes over

your head. You don’t even know if they’re talking about you. Right, and that

often happens to people and it pretty much happens to everyone in certain

circumstances. So make sure that you ask whoever you’re talking to or listening

to, to dumb down the conversation for you and don’t be embarrassed about it.

Yeah, there’s no point in trying to be proud and just allowing things to go over

your head and pretending that you really know, you’re never going to learn

anything. I know so many people who do this kind of stuff and it’s…they never

learn and it’s so funny. Everyone else knows that they’re doing that, but they

just don’t want to admit to it I suppose. And it’s very important for these

sensitive people that you don’t use a “condescending tone of voice” when you’re

speaking to them, and a condescending tone of voice is a way of speaking to

someone that they feel, they perceive that you are looking down upon them.

You feel that you’re smarter than they are and you’re really dumbing it down

because they’re an idiot. So if you are using a condescending tone, the listener

will have that feeling that you think you’re so smart and you think they are so

stupid and people hate when they’re in this situation. Some people have told

me that I have this voice. I hate hearing that because I don’t think that about

myself. But they say, why do you use this condescending tone and I think, oh

God, not again, do I really do that and anyway I do and I shouldn’t be doing that.

Right, often people take Andrew the wrong way and they think he has a

condescending tone because people are very sensitive if they think the other

person is making themselves sound too good or know it all’s as they like to say.

Very nice Add, you’re getting more and more mature by the day. I like to hear it

so I don’t have to work too much on my tone because I’ve been working on it for

my whole life, and it hasn’t gotten any better I don’t think and I often use a lot of

“derogatory remarks” which I really shouldn’t be using and…anyway a derogatory

remark is an expression of low opinion. So if you say something negative about

someone’s new haircut or their new house or something you’re making a

derogatory remark. You’re just commenting negatively on something. So if

you’re making these derogatory remarks in a condescending tone people are not

going to listen to you and they are not going to like you. I can promise you that,

so learn…I learned that one the hard way and I’m still kind of learning it so take

my advice, trust me. Well, hopefully we’re… everyone’s constantly learning here

and that lesson did not go over your head, and if it did, listen again and feel free

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