Jim Lukaszewski recorded these Expert Commentaries to share his knowledge and thoughts about important subjects and issues. They vary in length from five to 20 minutes. We know you'll find his discussions and explanations enlightening and personally and professionally helpful. Additional audio commentaries will be added to this Web site periodically.

Jim also recorded these audio commentaries to demonstrate a technique he uses for coaching, teaching, and speaking. By listening, you will hear how Jim makes them work, and more fully appreciate how this technique may help you and those you coach become better presenters.

Each audio commentary is based on a single Concept Block related to one of Jim's 12 areas of practice. A concept block is like a PowerPoint slide, it contains a limited number of points on a given topic. The concept block is a useful and powerful presentation construction component, and a key ingredient in effective, focused preparation. When used to coach executives, the concept block approach also offers some surprising and important benefits:

• The executive can rearrange the order of the talk literally on-the-spot.
• Additional concept blocks can be inserted quickly, even as the executive is waiting to be introduced or is having a conversation just before the presentation.
• Elements of any speech can be used in other venues, thereby accidentally allowing the executive to rehearse and practice different concepts at different times.
• Executives get to talk about what they know, want, need, and like. This leads to more personal comfort and message consistency, which supports how leaders actually lead.

An executive, often with great comfort, can be extemporaneous and interesting, and yet stay focused on key ideas and concepts. Using these “sound bites” helps confine comments and language to a specific script outline.

Simply put, working in concept blocks is a discipline to take major ideas, divide them into a limited number of sub-ideas, and then ask those you teach, coach, or counsel to talk about them out loud. It seems to be a workable, non-irritating, and confidence-building approach to executive development.

When accessing all audio files, please right click and select, "Save Target As" in order to save this file to a local location on your computer before listening.

Audio Expert Commentary #1: Convincing the Bosses to Communicate



Audio Expert Commentary #2: The Ethical Expectations of Leadership



Audio Expert Commentary #3: Obtaining Public Forgiveness



Audio Expert Commentary #4: Profiles in Jell-O^®: Behavior That Perpetuates Trouble