Case Studies

Quality Metaphor

Jerry Davis, VP of Field Operations, used a metaphor based on a real event. Just before his All Hands Meeting presentation, there had been a near tragedy at an air show in Oregon. A wing walker had fallen from a bi-plane and hung helplessly from a guy wire under the plane. A quick-witted ground crew drove a pickup truck at full speed down the runway. With radio guidance from the ground, the pilot was able to position the plane just above the truck. They cut the wire allowing the wing walker to fall into the bed of the truck.

Jerry dramatically told this story and drew parallels to what his team does keeping equipment running in the field. His plea was for better design work up front. He said," I know that design work is not as sexy as heroic rescues in the middle of the night, but folks, I'm running out of pickup trucks."

They got the message. For months afterward, the pickup truck became the symbol for quality inside the company.

Personal Passion Metaphor

Ron Willis was a new VP in Sales and Marketing. He had to address the sales force who did not know him. His passion in life is golf. His father had been a golf pro. When we hit on golf as a metaphor for the message he wanted to get across, Ron' s energy soared.

He stood before the crowd with a golf bag that had just one club, the putter. He said, "In golf you won't get far with just one club. In sales, too, you need many tools to get the job done. For example, you will need the sales tools we provide for you," and he put a driver in the bag. "You will also need product training to be successful," and he put a five iron in the bag.

As Ron filled the bag with clubs, the audience got a very concrete idea about the sales tools they will need, and they loved the talk.

Personal Story

John Kispert, VP of Finance, had to address his first All Hands Meeting. Only a few of the 1,500 people in the room knew who he was, and he had to talk about the numbers for the quarter. He needed some way to get their attention and to get his message across.

He told the story of being a surfer when he was a kid on the New Jersey shore. He told how hard it was to get the right wave and how he had to be strategic and measure water temperature and speed, wind speed, water depth, etc. Then summarizing the numbers, he said, "We are in what surfers call 'the curl position.' If we are careful, we can have a good ride. But if we get careless, we could wipe out."

The audience loved it. His ten minute talk galvanized the room. He got an overall rating of 4.9 and the other executives who spoke that day got overall ratings of 4.1. People sent him emails about being surfers. At the next All Hands, the CEO introduced John as "the surfer dude." Today, he is the CFO of the company and in demand as a speaker.