Here’s a short clip from Steve McDermott’s talk at the London Business Forum.
How to be the greatest: Lessons from the life and times of Muhammad Ali
For more information and to see a great article on Steve’s talk by Ben Quarless please see the accompanying article alongside.
Muhammad Ali famously commented that he hated every minute of training, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion,” he said.
His ability to see things in the long-term, looking at the bigger picture rather than short-term accomplishments would help Ali become the most famous athlete of all time, the only man to become the three-time heavyweight champion of the world, who many simply refer to as ‘the greatest’.
But the path to greatness isn’t an overnight journey…
Imagine if you could create a brilliant first impression with everyone you met? Europe’s No1 Motivational speaker, Steve McDermott – a Fellow of the PSA (Professional Speakers Association) and founder of The Confident Club – shares a big McTip on how just by applying the four minute rule you can create the very best first impression and why it’s so important you do it all the time.
For example, in research done with juries after a trial, and with mock juries in experiments when asked the question, “When did you decide the defendant was either guilty or innocent?” it’s been discovered the answer was within four minutes. There is evidence to say it could even be as quick as seven to seventeen seconds of interaction with strangers before they form an opinion of us (then you’ve got up to four minutes to recover from a negative impression before it becomes lasting). In other words most people take one look at the defendant, before they’ve even had chance to open their mouth, and decide either guilty or innocent. Then the filters go up and all they hear for the rest of the trial is anything that proved them right in the first place.
• 2005 charity event “Five and a half go MAD up North” doing our impression of Queen. Front row left to right Paul McGee, 12 year old Finlay McDermott and myself. Second row Phil Hesketh and John Hotowka. And one of the few times he could be found at the back the much missed Clive Gott
So mate it’s exactly a year since you left us but I just wanted to take a moment to remind people of your legacy. You were known for your brilliant comic delivery and myself and the speaker friends above did get to wondering if you’d faked your own death just to see our faces when you returned! You were so outrageous I wouldn’t have put it passed you. But sadly I guess I won’t be seeing you today. But me and the lads will be having a drink in your honour tonight. I know you’d agree that humour if one way of helping deal with loss and what a loss. But I can hear you saying “Bloody Hell Steve stop talking bollocks and let’s get to the legacy stuff and will you put a smile on your face whilst you are at it”. By the way Clive our beloved Rhinos are still doing pretty good – World Champions no less. You’d be chuffed.
“Read how Steve McDermott’s savagely funny self-help book got me writing novels…” – Ben Wright (AKA @kjerros)
• Wow!! That sparked off some creative McThinking!
It’s amazing what you can discover about yourself on Twitter. (Thank you Ben for a great quote.) Following on, this ‘savagely funny’ line was a real unexpected bonus for motivational speaker and inspirational humorist Steve McDermott, soon to make its way onto all of Steve’s new marketing materials. Looking back this online success and offline transformation was achieved through choice not chance…
Steve McDermott speaking for Republic at Athena Theatre, Leicester.
Not one to make an entrance (!) Thursday 3rd November 2011 was a memorable day for motivational speaker Steve McDermott: One happy client (Republic), one of his favourite speaking venues (Athena Theatre), some great photos and one terrific audience…
Did you once believe in Father Christmas? Have you noticed how, when children believe in Father Christmas, it affects their behavior? Beliefs make you behave in a certain way and how you behave over time determines your results. When people believed the world was flat it didn’t half limited travel. Successful people share a set of helpful beliefs that enable them to achieve outstanding results. For example imagine you knew the beliefs of outstanding speakers and acted like those beliefs were also yours, and true for you, what would that do to the standard of your next presentation?
• Finlay McDermott (in braces) keeping the faith
Amid all the recent media attention on the public sector strikes and pensions there has been no mention of the other “P” word – PASSION.
The fact is most people hate their jobs, endlessly moan about the fact and can’t wait for retirement. What if you could be one of those rare individuals who are passionate about what you do? What difference would that make not just to you but to your colleagues, customers, family and friends?
3000 people rammed into the famous Blackpool Tower Ballroom for the Northern Soul Weekender 2011 including me and my 18 year old son Finlay. What a fantastic time we had. Now in the world of Northern Soul we have this saying “Keep the faith” and never have I seen it more in evidence than over that weekend…