We made our Estonian version of 50 people 1 question – in full HD and with English subtitles (press “play” and then button “cc” on the Youtube player to enable subtitles).

We received many answers and left many people pondering. What would be your answer to the question “What inspires you to take action?”

BestJobs.ro interviewed me about creativity and motivation – here´s some of the insights.

Tell us about a project you were involved in and you really enjoyed.

Recently we had an international seminar with 130 young participants and we got all of them to build big models of 12 future villages out of everything that was available in nature and stuff we got from office supplies. We video-interviewed their presentations and used it as visionary input for county development organization´s strategy.

In the beginning it felt impossible to have it all organized, yet actually it was fantastic to see, how we got the team working and how this form of conversational activity opened young people to share their vision. Great success for the client and for the participants.

I just love when my clients stretch me, it makes me feel alive. How can you inspire your clients to positively stretch you more?

Can you please define “Inspiring Creativity Trainer”? Why is creativity important in leadership or entrepreneurship?

The way I see it:

1. Inspiring is about making the positive impact.
2. Creativity is about the ability to produce novel and useful solutions.
3. Trainer is about creating an environment where people can learn and grow.

So Inspiring Creativity Trainer is a person who creates an inspiring environment where people could tap their creative potential.

In leadership and entrepreneurship creativity enables you to connect resources and challenges to create opportunities. In entrepreneurship it enables you to create something great out of “nothing”. In leadership it enables you to connect the dreams of your team-members with the current assignments in hand.

Imagine having this belief:”Whatever happens, I will find a way out.” – what would you really do if you had this belief? That´s the value of creativity.

What qualities do you feel a successful manager should have?

In my opinion, the most important role of a manager is creating and keeping the big picture – systems thinking. By using this big picture one needs to figure out what needs to be done and manage talents of team-members to do it.

Good tool for keeping this big picture is for example mind mapping – it enables you to connect and categorize ideas and opportunities.

Who is your role model? What motivates you?

When I was on my second year at the university, studying economics, I took an academic relief for one year to figure out who I am and what I´m good at. I started working through all kinds of personal development materials and took courses in psychology. My favourite back then was Anthony Robbins, because he made important things simple.

Nowadays I only take some specific elements from great people. I have my list of “superheroes” – people who are really great in some specific things. I lend their brains for tackling problems by asking myself “How would x solve this situation?”.

My main motivator: curiosity and hunger for being better. Asking myself: “Can I get a little better today?” and getting the “Yes, I can!” answer.

How should one keep each member of the team involved and motivated?

Coaching. Asking the right questions to direct the team-member to figure out what they really want and how to get it from this project.

For example:

What do you want to be remembered by after finishing this project? How do you want to feel after finishing this task? What do you need to do to achieve this result? What is the first step you need to take today to get it going?

How do you decide which tasks take priority when organizing a complete
project?

I figure out what are the pre-conditions for right things to happen – usually there are some specific things that catalyze other processes. I ask myself how can I apply my best talents and strengths to start those pre-conditional processes.

If it is a project with volunteer team members, then I usually ask what is currently important in their work-life and which part of our project is related to their other activities. If it is full time employees, then I focus on their talents and strengths + areas they want to grow in.

To be honest, sometimes I simply do what I would love to do instead of doing the “right thing”. The funny thing is that sometimes doing what you love to do turns out to be the right thing. But not always.

How would you react if this was a job interview and we would tell you that you are you got the job as a manager of a team that lacks motivation?

I´d probably do as follows:

1. Figure out what is my personal passion about this business (clarifying the related pleasure and pain).
2. Through coaching I would clarify what do the team members really dream of (what they would like to feel and how they can get that feeling).
3. I ´d involve all members into conversation about creating a compelling vision of where we would want to be and how to get there (using for example world cafe method).
4. I´d use creative thinking to connect our dreams with the expected outcomes of the company (for example “forced connections ” creativity technique).

In other words – I´d create an environment where team-members connect things they´re good at, what they love to do and what the world needs. For mapping those 3 key elements for yourself find out more from a video instruction.

Be Better!

Meet Harald.

You can download a worksheet for writing down the things you´re good at, things you love and what the world needs. By combining these elements you will be able to develop the understanding of what your purpose is.

It’s never too late to be who you might have been.

George Eliot

Here´s some of the essential public speaking tips that helped me at the JCI World Public Speaking Championship in Budapest and will help you in situations where you need to prepare a great speech in short notice and own the stage by speaking with passion.

Apply them now and reap the benefits of becoming an outstanding speaker.

1. Prepare your speech - get the point

• Define your audience – who they are, what the are interested in, what would inspire them?
• Define your topic and get some initial ideas with brainstorming or other creativity techniques.
• Define your outcome – what do you want to achieve through your speech? What kind of action do the listeners need to take?
• Ask yourself “Am I passionate about this subject?”. If the answer is no, then skip this performance or create your passion for it, otherwise you´re just wasting other people´s time.
• Develop your initial ideas to concepts, find interesting quotes, alliterations and personal stories to spice up your content into a holistic experience.

Remember: There is one radio-station that everyone wants to hear – it´s called WIIFM – What´s In It For Me? Tune your message to that frequency and inspire your audience.

2. Prepare your presentation – make it stick

• Take your speech and make it 2 times shorter by throwing out everything that does not support your expected outcome. Use better words and expressions to pass your message to the audience. Clarify what are the specific things you want the audience to remember after the speech.
• Create a visual aid – a mindmap or illustrated story board with important keywords and visuals to help you remember. This will give you a big picture for your mind and help you remember the key things much more effectively than any regular script that is dull.
• Use your body to clarify your message – you can practise making the speech with muted voice, using only your body, hands, facial expressions and other aids to convey the message.
• Create an exciting beginning (a story for example) to attract attention and an effective ending (call to action) to be remembered by.
• If you intend to use PowerPoint, then get acquainted with this: Death by PowerPoint slideshow and Presentation Zen blog for effective visual presentations.

Remember: come prepared or learn to improvise like an actor. Better yet, do both, because over-preparing will drain the passion and spontaneity out from your speech. Focus on your message, not the script.

3. Tuning in – get into the right state

• If possible, then check out the room, stage and facilities in advance. Visualize yourself successfully performing in rich detail and with strong positive emotion. This will enhance your self-confidence.
• Ground your body to relax – visit the toilet and slide your hands over your face (this is something that actors do before going to stage, it releases their tension).
• Release your tensions and get enough oxygen – go outside and stretch yourself to get the life moving inside of you. Warm up your voice by speaking to someone in a passionate manner. You can also use a vine-bottle cork, stick it between your teeth and try to speak very clearly for a minute. After removing the cork you really do sound more clear.
• Do not eat nuts or chocolate just before the speech, because it will affect your throat. Instead drink optimal amount of water to keep the throat clear.
• Focus on positive aspects and success – if possible have some laugh in a fun conversation with a friend before the speech. The endorphine will give you a positive attitude. Whenever you see yourself concentrating on your fears, take your focus on breathing.

Get into the state of your ideal performer. Breathe, stand and develop the look of your ideal performer. Become the passionate performer.

4. Own the stage – keep the energy

• When going on a stage do some powertalk in your mind, saying for example “every day and every way I get better HEI!”.
• Take your position on stage, relax your shoulders, breathe deeply in and out, achieve the contact with the audience and THEN start your speech.
• Keep your eyecontact with the audience (don´t get lost in your materials or other aids), involve people by using questions and use pauses after saying the important stuff.

When getting on the stage, ask yourself “what for did I come here?”. Then do as the answer tells you to.

So what happened on the stage? Check out the secret spy video footage:

Inspiring speech “Global Impact Through Local Action” from Harald Lepisk on Vimeo.

This is the beginning. How far are you actually willing to go? If you wish to become a true master in public speaking, then get coaching and training. You can also invite me to bring power, passion and energy into your speech. Are you ready for that?