Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajieving. This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellovledo.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast. It's episode three sixty one, and let me just hit you with a tough but honest question right out of the gate. What's your pitch and when's the last time you updated it? Whether you're selling a product, an idea, a strategy, or a vision, you are constantly in sales mode. Leadership is sales. You're selling trust, direction, belief and buy
in every single day. But too many leaders out there are still relying on the same tired pitch they were using five years ago, sometimes even longer. So let's unpack that. Back in the day, your pitch might have worked. Maybe it was clear, confident, in convincing, But just like your wardrobe, your pitch needs to change with the times. What work then may now be outdated, irrelevant, or worse ignored. If your message hasn't evolved, it's probably not connecting the way
that you think it is. And here's the truth. Your audience has changed. Attention spans are shorter, expectations are higher, skepticism is stronger, the workplace is more dynamic, and the workforce is more diverse. So your pitch can't just be about facts and figures anymore. It has to be real, honest, human, and most of all relevant. Let's say you're pitching a new strategy to your board of directors. You used to walk in with a ten slide PowerPoint and a printed binder,
but now you better walk in with impact. Your first two sentences should answer this, why now? And what's the value. If you can't answer that in under thirty seconds, you've lost your crowd. Or maybe you're trying to pitch your company's mission to a new recruit. Are you still saying we're like family or we're a leader in our industry? Stop it. That's background noise. Now what people want is authenticity. They want to hear what makes you different, not what
makes you blend in. Your new pitch better sound more like, here's how we invest in our people, here's how we treat each other, and here's what success looks like if you join us. And here are three tactical takeaways for updating your pitch. Number one audit it record yourself giving your usual pitch, play it back like you're the customer, recruit or board member. Be brutally honest. Would you be sold on it? Number two, cut the fluff. Eliminate every buzzword,
cliche or filler word. You don't need to be clever, You need to be clear, say it straight, and say it fast, and last, tell the truth. We're past the age of the polished brochure pitch. People want honesty. If there's a challenge, say it. If you're fixing something, explain how. If there's a win, share what it means to the team, not just the balance sheet. So leadership pitches don't only happen in meetings. They happen in elevators, during walking talks,
over coffee, or in one sentence emails. Every time you speak, you're pitching something, your credibility, your ideas, your direction. So ask yourself right now, what's your sales pitch? Is it sharp? Is it relevant? Would you buy what you're selling? And would your team? Because here's the deal. The best leaders I've ever met know how to adapt their message. They can read the room, change gears, and speak to the moment.
This has been the seven minute leadership podcast, and I thank you for listening.
For more Paul fell of Alito podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com