Speaking Up

Surviving Executive Presentations

Learn the Rules of the Executive Suite! If you are in middle management, to get anything done you must present your ideas to decision makers, and those presentations can be brutal. The stakes are high—one presentation can make or break a career—but the rules are utterly unclear. Tactics and techniques that work well with peers, subordinates, and immediate supervisors can actually work against you when presenting up the chain. Speaking Up is an indispensable resource for anyone who needs to know how to present to those at the highest levels. Psychologist and coach Frederick Gilbert offers revelatory insights into the minds of the men and women at the top—information that is crucial to understanding what they’re looking for from presenters. Based on ten years of research and hundreds of interviews, Speaking Up features extensive comments from executives explaining exactly what they want and don’t want in a presentation and includes nine chapters containing QR codes for free videos on the chapter topics. This is a must-read book for surviving high-stakes meetings. “I wish I had access to these insights when I was on the other side of the table. Now I will recommend this book to my entire management team.” —John Kispert, CEO, Spansion “Speaking Up is to presentations what the Boy Scout motto is to life: be prepared.” —Todd Lutwak, Partner, Andreessen Horowitz, and former Vice President of Seller Experience, eBay “Impressive in its breadth and yet very much ‘on point.’” —Don Eilers, Managing Director, Vanguard Ventures “Speaking Up has outstanding insights for successful presentations not only in the boardrooms of corporate America but also in the briefing rooms within the Department of Defense.” —Winston Copeland, Jr., President, WWC Consulting, and Rear Admiral, US Navy (Retired)