i'm just waiting for the snow to come guys just waiting for the snow to come you know when it's just like a rainy day it's gray and it's gloomy outside and you kind of just want to sit around look outside the window and dream dream about things well today is not that day it's a mind-blowing monday intro [Music] what's up friends vibho chandel here and welcome to yet another mind-blowing monday it's so great to have you here and see all of your smiling faces and today it's a quick one we are talking about some super secret well maybe not so secret communication hack to help you get heard in a meeting full of senior and not so senior professionals where everyone is trying to get a piece of the floor to put their point across and shine there are time stamps available in case you want to skip to your favorite section let's get started at the most basic level there are two kinds of power in a company first is formal authority which you possess when you have several people reporting to you and you have the ability to well fire them second is influence when you are highly respected and people just want to listen to you that's influence as agile coaches and scrum masters for that matter you do not have a formal authority you can't fire you can't hire well in some cases you can but in most cases you can't you have no control on the budget you can't even buy sticky notes for your training sessions without getting it first approved but if the ceo senior executives managers and members of your team listen to your ideas and suggestions then my friend you have what we call the influence does your boss take notes when you speak do colleagues look at you for suggestions do they postpone meetings to accommodate you do they stop talking when you start speaking because they don't want to miss what you have to say do people take your ideas and suggestions seriously now there are many versions of influence out there but if you are lucky enough to experience what i just said then you have a special version of it called the gravitas a few weeks ago i created a video called how to create a personal brand for scrum masters where i outline gravitas very briefly link is in the description if you want to check it out gravitas is a latin word and romans defined it as a virtue much desired in a leader it literally means weight or gravity as in gravity or seriousness of some sort of discussion you know you lack gravitas when despite of having awesome ideas you do not get heard but if your colleague repeats the same idea everyone loves it [Applause] people dismiss your ideas or suggestions before you even finish talking you continuously get interrupted by others you are not given proper credit for your efforts and no one pauses and listens to your ideas i know it's not fair but it's true this brings us to the most important question of all how do you boost gravitas as with any other skill in the world gravitas takes time and practice but do not get disappointed if you need it urgently you can borrow it when you have a good idea but are having a hard time getting hurt in a room full of senior and junior colleagues you borrow gravitas from the elephant in the room here's a two-step hack about how to do it first you address the most senior person in the room by name and say bill i would like to share some relevant additional facts and ideas related to what you just said would it be okay if i share them next after getting the note from bell and before sharing what you have to share you start by paraphrasing or repeating what bill said earlier in the meeting and then you add your suggestion or idea to it here's why it works by asking and getting permission to speak from a senior executive you essentially make yourself an ally to a high gravitas personality in the room this means that the people in the room know that if they interrupt you they would not only interrupt you but bill as well also when you start by acknowledging and paraphrasing what bill said bill knows it is important and relevant because you are repeating what he just said this bridges the gap between bill's idea and yours and gets him interested in hearing you because your idea essentially builds upon and improves his own idea so when the elephant grants you the floor people think twice before asking you for the microphone so there you have it this is a quick hack to get yourself heard in a meeting where stakes are high but as with everything else with great power comes great responsibility so use it responsibly if you like this video then please do not forget to give it a thumbs up and also please do not forget to provide your valuable feedback in the comments see you in the next video