Summary: Synopsis<br> Dr. Misner recently attended a workshop by <a href="http://www.alexmandossian.com/">Alex Mandossian</a>, who gave a workshop at the Transformational Leadership Council conference called “Discover Your Verb.” In this talk, Alex said that the one thing that distinguishes a great leader is movement.<br> Verbs increase your persuasion power. You’ll get more business if you use more verbs and fewer adverbs and adjectives. If you look at great thought leaders throughout history, they all have a characteristic verb.<br> <br> * Rene Descartes: Think<br> * Maria Montessori: Teach<br> * Walt Disney: Dream<br> * Ivan Misner: Inspire<br> <br> What’s your verb? What action characterizes you, not just in your business but in all aspects of your life? Leave your verb, and your reason for choosing it, in the comments.<br> Brought to you by the <a href="http://tiny.cc/NetworkingForSuccess">Networking for Success YouTube Channel</a>.<br> Complete Transcript of Episode 497 – <br> Priscilla:<br><br> Hello everybody and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube, featuring Dr. Ivan Miser and many other networking experts. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and the Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan. How are you and where are you today?<br> Ivan:<br><br> Hey. I am actually in Austin all month this month. It’s a miracle. I am in one place for a few weeks.<br> Priscilla:<br><br> That’s great. Can you explain this topic, Ivan?<br> Ivan:<br><br> Yes. It’s an unusual topic. What does knowing your verb have to do with getting more business? A month ago, I spent five days at my semi annual TLC – Transformational Leadership Council – event. It was in Mexico. I always come away with a lot from these conferences. I come away with some great nuggets of information.<br> TLC was started by Jack Canfield, who has become a really good friend. He is the co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul. At this conference, one of the presentations that gave me a lot of good nuggets was from another good friend of mine who is a member, Alex Mandossian. In his talk, he did a talk called, “Discover Your Verb”.<br> I thought it sounded little weird but his content is always so great. So I had to be there, and I am really glad I was. It was, in fact, quite amazing. He said, “The biggest lesson that I have learned over the years is the one thing that makes a great business person and a leader is movement, taking action. Albert Einstein once said that nothing happens until something moves. This is true in leadership and it is true in business because without movement change is not possible.”<br> Alex told the story of the legendary ad man, Leo Burnett from Chicago. He said that Burnett once put his staff to the task of analyzing 62 ads that failed to moved merchandise. He wanted to know why they failed so he asked for ideas on why they failed. In looking at them, the thought the they had too many adjectives like “extremely” or “very” because adjectives don’t move people. Instead, they if anything can spark skepticism in people’s minds.<br> It turns out that in fact, those ads- of the 12,758 words in the ads that they looked at – the 62 ads – 24.1% of them were adjectives. As many as 24.1% of the 12,000 words were adjectives like “extremely” and “very”. Alex said that in comparison, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address contains only 13% adjectives in the total word ration. Churchill’s “Blood, Sweat and Tears” speech had only 12% adjectives to word speech.<br> So if adjectives are the problem, he suggested or asked what is the solution?
