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30 of the best ted talks on leadership that every great leader should watch – 2nd edition.

Last updated: 4 March 2020

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Love inspiring Ted Talks on leadership? So do we!

That’s why we put together this list of our  crème de la crème TED Talks on leadership.

So next time you’re needing a little boost, take a 20-minute break to listen to one of these and learn from some of the most forward-thinking and innovative experts to discover what’s given them their little-known edge.

1.  How Great Leaders Inspire Action , by Simon Sinek

With more than 29 million views , Simon Sinek is now on the A-List of leadership gurus, after he gave this incredible talk.

As Sinek himself says, “As it turns out, all the great inspiring leaders and organizations in the world, whether it’s Apple or Martin Luther King, Jr. or the Wright brothers, they all think, act and communicate the exact same way. And it’s the complete opposite to everyone else. All I did was codify it, and it’s probably the world’s simplest idea. I call it the Golden Circle.”

For Sinek, the difference between these inspirational leaders and everyone else is they start with “why,” which is the core concept of his Golden Circle . By asking why, how and what, you can set yourself on a trajectory of tremendous success that, statistically speaking, very few people attain.

2.  The Puzzle of Motivation , by Dan Pink

To be an effective leader, you need to know what makes people “tick,” and especially what motivates them in the workplace to give you their best. Interestingly enough, money only takes you so far.

In this compelling video –which has clocked over 13 million views – Pink (author of  Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us ) untangles the web of motivation in a way that makes sense for leaders. Here’s a hint : traditional rewards aren’t always as motivating as we think.

3.  Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders , by Sheryl Sandberg

Sandberg left Google to become Facebook’s COO in 2008. In this video, she looks at why so few women make it to the C-suite, and offers up three important pieces of advice to women who want to buck the trend and get there. The key, in Sandberg’s view, is ensuring women remain in the workforce.

As it turns out, having more women remain in the workforce has other positive benefits on society and households, such as equal earning and equal responsibility between partners. As Sandberg notes, households that demonstrate this equality also have half the divorce rate.

4.  The Difference Between Winning and Succeeding , by John Wooden

To be a successful leader, what better place to start than by defining exactly what you mean by success? The man affectionately known as “Coach” redefines success to be much more than merely winning. Coach James Wooden explains this difference with profound simplicity, and urges everyone to pursue the best in themselves. The Coach’s 17-minute talk is uplifting as much as it is inspiring.

5.  What Makes us Feel Good About Our Work ? By Dan Ariely

Dan Ariely is a behavioral economist who has gained a deeper understanding of human motivation than most economists could ever hope for. He even designed experiments that would help solve the mystery of motivation, which is what this video is all about.

As it turns out, money isn’t the only thing that motivates us to work. It isn’t exactly joy, either. The real motivation for going to work every day is to make constant progress and lead a life of purpose . Strong leaders care about the bottom line, but are about much more than that. They have a sense of purpose, and get out of bed every single day to fulfill it.

6.  Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe , by Simon Sinek

Simon Sinek’s material is so good that he’s the only one to appear twice on this list. You know building trust among your followers is important, but actually doing it is another thing entirely.

Sinek’s video on the topic will take your understanding of trust to a whole new level. After all, humans are emotional species who struggle with insecurities and vulnerabilities. A good leader brings his or her employees into a circle of trust. This is especially important in today’s economy, where jobs are destroyed as fast as they are created. Leaders have a responsibility to make their workers feel safe.

7.  Dare to Disagree , by Margaret Heffernan

When it comes to forming your dream team, the last thing you should do is surround yourself with what Heffernan calls “echo chambers” who only tell you what they think you want to hear. Mastering the art of disagreement is essential to effective leadership. Leaders must also be willing to cope with others disagreeing with them. Only through disagreement are ideas challenged.

Hefferman outlines a rubric for avoiding echo chambers and allowing ourselves to experience what she calls constructive conflict.

“So what does that kind of constructive conflict require? Well, first of all, it requires that we find people who are very different from ourselves. That means we have to resist the neurobiological drive, which means that we really prefer people mostly like ourselves, and it means we have to seek out people with different backgrounds, different disciplines, different ways of thinking and different experience, and find ways to engage with them. That requires a lot of patience and a lot of energy.”

8.  Lead Like The Great Conductors , by Itay Talgam

You’ve no doubt heard leadership described through the metaphor of conducting an orchestra. Itay Talgam operationalizes that metaphor by sharing what leaders can learn from 6 different 20th-century conductors. Don’t worry, this TED Talk requires no formal background (or interest) in the symphony.

Talgam describes the “magical moment” when a conductor turns chaos into blissful music. It’s a very small gesture, “not very pomp, not very sophisticated.” And suddenly, out of the chaos, noise becomes music.

9.  As Work Gets More Complex, Six Rules to Simplify , by Yves Morieux

Everyone knows that a staggering number of people are disengaged from their work. Yves Morieux argues that our reaction to the unfathomable complexity of modern work has a lot to do with that disengagement. Traditional organizational management certainly doesn’t help, either. His antidote includes 6 refreshing ways to engage in what he calls “smart simplicity.” The first rule is understand what your colleagues actually do. This is especially important for business leaders if they wish to simply the workplace and boost employee engagement.

10.  What It Takes To Be A Great Leader , by Roselinde Torres

Roselinde Torres has developed a deep understanding of what makes leaders effective. She poses 3 laser-like questions that will spur your own thinking on what it takes to be a great leader.

In a world filled with executive leadership programs and expensive seminars, Torres argues the best way to learn leadership might be right under your nose. Torres’ 9-minute talk is candid and to the point.

11.  A Life of Purpose , by Rick Warren

His book, Purpose-Driven Life, has sold more than 30 million copies. The church he pastors, Saddleback Church, has more than 22,000 members. Clearly, Rick Warren understands a few things about leadership.

This video is an intimate presentation of his own thoughts and crises around leadership. For anyone who’s ever looked at their existence and said, “There’s got to be more to life than this” will certainly find solace in Warren’s 21-minute talk.

12.  Listen, Learn… Then Lead , by Stanley McChrystal

Stanley McChrystal is a 4-star general who spent decades in the military. What he gleaned about leadership that can build a shared sense of purpose among an incredibly diverse set of followers boils down to how well you listen and learn, as well as how you position failure.

McChrystal’s view of leadership can be summarized with the following quote:

“[A] leader isn’t good because they’re right; they’re good because they’re willing to learn and to trust. This isn’t easy stuff.”

13.  Got a Wicked Problem to Solve? First, Tell me How you Make Toast , by Tom Wujec

Making toast is simple, right? But what happens when someone asks you to draw how you make toast? Suddenly things get interesting, and complicated.

This simple exercise reveals much about leading solutions to complex problems. Tom Wujec invites listeners to run the exercise themselves while explaining what he’s learned from observing thousands of people draw toast. From this talk, leaders will learn some important truths about how to handle real-world challenges .

14.  Everyday Leadership , by Drew Dudley

Drew Dudley’s whole approach is to make sure everyone understands how to bring out the leader within. Too many people think great leadership is reserved for extraordinary people.

His humorous take will remind you of all the little things leaders do each day. Leadership may be self-taught, but certainly isn’t reserved to a special segment of society. Dudley reminds us that leadership is an everyday act that should be celebrated.

15.  Tribal Leadership , by David Logan

It’s easy to think that as a species we have evolved far beyond the days of tribalism, but management consultant David Logan argues that effective leaders understand the 5 kinds of tribes that still crop up naturally in nearly any setting. Logan’s talk takes you through the 5 tribes, or stages, beginning with “Life sucks” and ending with “Life is great.”

16. Learning From Leadership’s Missing Manual , by Fields Wicker-Miurin

If you missed the opening line of this article, Fields Wicker-Miurin will remind you that leadership is self-taught. People who are looking for the holy grail leadership manual will wait forever in vain.

Leadership comes from within , but that shouldn’t stop you from developing the qualities that people admire in a great leader. Instead of looking for a how-to manual, learn the inspiring story of a local leader in your community. They’re not as far away or elusive as you might think.

17. How To Make Work-Life Balance Work , by Nigel Marsh

Leaders may be workaholics, but they also value work-life balance. That’s Nigel Marsh’s main thrust in this 2010 talk. Marsh shows you how to share a balance lifestyle between family, personal time and productivity. He also drops some inspiration from his books Fit, Fifty, and Fired Up and Overworked and Underlaid (yes, he has a great sense of humor).

Achieving an ideal work-life balance may seem like a jigsaw puzzle, but isn’t nearly as hard as our productivity-obsessed culture makes it out to be. Through small changes, you can have a big impact on work, relationships and life in general.

18. The Key To Success? Grit , by Angela Lee Duckworth

Successful consultant-turned-teacher Angela Lee Duckworth reminds us that success requires hard work and grit. While this is nothing we don’t know, why are these characteristics so difficult to apply? As Duckworth says, “as much as talent counts, effort counts twice.”

Duckworth’s quick talk is an essential listen for anyone getting suckered into taking shortcuts. As it turns out, all the old adages about success and hard work are true.

19. The Secret Structure Of Great Talks , by Nancy Duarte

The ability to move others through motivational speech is one of the greatest qualities of a true leader. Author and CEO Nancy Duarte gets it, and that’s why she developed this 18-minute talk to help aspiring leaders take their presentation skills to the next level.

Duarte dissects the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Steve Jobs to uncover the essential qualities of a great presentation. If leadership is your passion, be prepared to spend a lot of time talking in front of people.

20. How To Start A Movement , by Derek Sivers

Don’t let the name of this short TED Talk fool you – Derek Sivers isn’t calling for revolution or political anarchy. Using interesting footage, Sivers shows you how surprisingly easy it is to start a movement. As they say, it takes two to tango. That’s all that’s needed for leaders to inspire a movement.

21. Got A Meeting? Take A Walk , by Nilofer Merchant

“Sitting has become the smoking of our generation.” – Nilofer Merchant

In her TED Talk, business innovator Nilofer Merchant offers a simple message about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle . Leaders spend a lot of time in meetings. Merchant suggests you turn your next one-on-one meeting into a “walking meeting.” Not only do you hit two birds with one stone – by meeting and elevating your heart rate – the simple act of walking allows your ideas to flow much better than they otherwise would sitting in a cramped office.

22. The Leaders Who Ruined Africa, And The Generation Who Can Fix It , Fred Swaniker

Africa has struggled to live up to its development goals, and its leaders are to blame, says TED Fellow and founder of the African Leadership Network Fred Swaniker.

Having lived throughout Africa, Swaniker highlights the vital role true leaders play in building a society, and what can happen in their absence. Swaniker’s description of the next great African leaders is anybody who wants to make a difference in their society, especially where strong institutions are lacking.

23. The Happy Secret To Better Work , by Shawn Achor

It’s generally assumed we have to work to be happy, but what if we have it backwards? That’s the argument psychologist and CEO Shawn Achor makes in this 2012 talk. Achor says we need to be happy independently of work , and only then will we be able to increase productivity and success in the workplace.

Searching for happiness in the workplace can be a deep rabbit hole that often leads to less happiness overall. This is an important message for leaders, who seek to inspire other people in their line of work. It just so happens that developing happiness outside the 9-5 hours is the most important for our health and success.

24. How to Fix a Broken School? Lead Fearlessly, Love Hard , by Linda Cliatt-Wayman

You don’t have to be a teacher to appreciate Linda Cliatt-Wayman’s inspirational talk about her time as principal at a failing school in Philadelphia. It didn’t take long for her to realize that leadership was more than just “laying down the law.” We won’t spoil it for you, but let’s just say she managed to turn around her struggling school. There were 3 key principles that helped her get there.

25. Trial, Error and the God Complex , by Tim Harford

If the title of Tim Harford’s TED Talk doesn’t pique your interest, nothing will. Harford, an economics writer who studies complex systems, talks about the importance of trial and error in achieving success. Except he doesn’t just “talk” about it, but presents the findings of his studies on complex systems.

As the title suggests, Harford’s talk centres on the concept of a God complex – refusing to admit the possibility of being wrong regardless of the complexity of the situation – and the importance of trial and error in achieving better results.  Go down the list, virtually every successful business leader used trial and error to perfect their craft.

26. The Surprising Habits Of Original Thinkers , by Adam Grant

“The greatest originals are the ones who fail the most, because they’re the ones who try the most.” – Adam Grant

Suffice it to say, all aspiring leaders want to be recognized for their creativity and originality. While creativity often lies within, psychologist Adam Grant studies the lives of “originals” – thinkers whose ideas transform the world. Over the course of 15 minutes, Grant explains the unexpected habits of original thinkers, and their fearlessness in the face of failure.

Fear of failure is one of the biggest inhibitors to success in all of life’s endeavors. While never easy, leaders must learn to overcome that fear. Studying the habits of original thinkers will teach aspiring leaders they “need a lot of bad ideas in order to get a few good ones.”

27. Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are , by Amy Cuddy

Four years and more than 38 million views later, Amy Cuddy’s powerful TED Talk has resonated with many aspiring leaders. As a social psychologist, Cuddy explains how “power posing” – showcasing a posture of confidence even when you don’t feel confident – can affect your brain chemistry and move you to positive action.

While some of the findings presented in the study are controversial among social scientists, Cuddy’s talk is a great reminder of the importance of projecting confidence in every situation . Whether that holds up to tests of academic rigor are less important.

28. How to Get Your Ideas To Spread , by Seth Godin

If you think the answer to Seth Godin’s talk is “social media,” try again. This TED Talk took place back in 2007, a few years before social media became as ubiquitous as it is today. As a leader, getting your ideas to spread requires more than just a Twitter handle. Godin, himself an author and marketing guru, explains the importance of standing out, and why even the craziest ideas can become the most successful ones.

29. Secrets Of Success In 8 Words, 3 Minutes , by Richard St. John

Analyst and bestselling author, Richard St. John, managed to condense 7 years of interviews into an unforgettable 3-minute presentation about what it takes to be truly successful. Believe us, nobody is as cognizant of your time as St. John. This 3-minute talk is normally presented as a 2-hour presentation to high school students.

30. Why We Do What We Do , by Tony Robbins

No list of inspiring TED Talks is complete without Tony Robbins, the globally renowned life success coach who has spent decades helping people achieve their dreams. Robbins shattered many preconceived notions about his work a mere 36 seconds into his presentation.

“I’m not here to motivate you, you don’t need that, obviously. Often that’s what people think I do, and it’s the furthest thing from it. What happens, though, is people say to me, ‘I don’t need any motivation.’ But that’s not what I do. I’m the ‘why’ guy. I want to know why you do what you do.”

He then goes into detail explaining the “invisible forces” that make us do the things we do. He also high-fives Al Gore in the front row. With more than 18 million views, Robbins’ TED appearance is one of the most popular.

There you have it. More than 8 hours of pure leadership inspiration to help turn you into the type of leader others admire, respect and want to follow.

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25 Best Free Leadership PowerPoint PPT Presentation Templates to Download 2024

As a business leader, it's pretty certain you're going to have to do a leadership PowerPoint presentation. In fact, you'll probably have to present regularly. Presenting effectively is a must-have leadership skill. So, it's important to learn how to make your presentations compelling. 

One key aspect of that is the visual design of your slides. Of course, not everyone's a whiz at designing presentation slides from scratch, but luckily, you don't have to be. Using premium PowerPoint templates for a leadership presentation is a good way to make sure that your presentation is professional.

In this guide, I'll share some of the best leadership PowerPoint templates , paid and free, to help you get—and keep—your audience's attention.

Best Premium PowerPoint Templates for Leadership Presentations on Envato Elements (With Unlimited Use)

If you're looking for premium leadership PowerPoint presentation templates to help you impress your audience, Envato Elements has a great offer you won't want to miss. Download as many premium leadership presentation PPT slides as you want, all for one low price.   

Here are some of the benefits of using premium leadership PPT templates for your presentations. 

First, a professional design can give your presentations that wow factor that makes your audience sit up and take notice. That's precisely the effect you want to achieve when presenting. 

And don't underestimate the impact of the professional design you'll get. It'll help your presentation look coherent . Plus, using professional leadership PowerPoint templates can save you time. That's useful if you've got a lot of presentations to create, or if slide design isn't your favorite task. 

So, it's a good idea to check out the premium leadership PowerPoint presentation templates on Envato Elements. Here's how you find them. 

Visit Envato Elements and select Presentation Templates next to the search box. Type leadership into the search box. You'll have dozens of premium leadership PowerPoint templates to choose from. Check out the previews till you find the one you want. 

When you've found a template select it, click Download , and start customizing. I'll share some tips on customizing a leadership PowerPoint presentation later in this guide. 

Envato Elements is a great choice if you're creating leadership PPT presentations regularly. But if you want leadership presentation PPT slides for one-off use, check out the PowerPoint templates for leadership presentations available from GraphicRiver.

5 Great Premium Leadership PowerPoint Templates from Envato Elements and GraphicRiver

To help you get started, here are some attractive premium  leadership PowerPoint presentation templates from Envato Elements and GraphicRiver: 

1. MOUVE - Elegant PowerPoint Template

Mouve is a minimalist, professional leadership PPT template. It'll help you communicate your points clearly and effectively. It includes 50 different slides as well as icons for customization. Plus, it's easy to edit. 

2. Speaker Up - Google Slides Template

Sometimes simple PowerPoint templates for leadership presentations work the best. At other times you want variety. SpeakerUp has three color schemes, 12 variations and 360 different slides in total. This professional theme is easy to edit and can be used in both Google Slides and PowerPoint. 

3. Balance - PowerPoint Template

If you're looking for examples of PowerPoint presentations on leadership, Balance is a full-featured starting point. Fully editable, and including icons and mockups, this leadership PowerPoint theme included more than 145 slides. 

4. Leadership

This collection of leadership presentation PPT slides will get your presentation off to a great start. It's easy to change fonts, themes, and colors to customize your presentation just the way you like it. All elements are simple to edit via the drag and drop interface.

5. Dinamika – Creative Business PowerPoint Template

Dinamika is a colorful leadership PPT template set. It includes 36 slides with customizable and resizeable graphics. This is an excellent choice for a creative presentation with lots of images. 

25 Top Free Leadership PowerPoint PPT Templates to Download for 2024 Presentations

There's no doubt that premium leadership presentation PPT slides offer an advantage in terms of design and flexibility. Plus, they save you time because you don't have to worry about fiddly design details.

But before you look for free leadership PowerPoint templates on the web, check out Envato Elements' freebies first. You'll get to try out free PowerPoint presentations on leadership while benefiting from premium design. 

Here's how it works:

• Every month Envato Elements offers 12 different hand-selected files, (fonts, presentations, videos, and more). Create a free account to download this month's free premium files now. 
• Or try Envato Market for free. They offer seven handpicked monthly freebies. Log in with your Envato Market account to get this month's handpicked premium freebies . 

But if your budget is tight, sometimes free leadership templates for presentations are what you can manage. To help you out, we've found some great leadership PowerPoint templates free to download on the web:

1. Bright Business Presentation

This is one of many free leadership PowerPoint templates on the Microsoft Office site. It's got a simple and businesslike design. 

2. Academic Presentation

This is another free leadership PowerPoint template from Microsoft. Though it's got an academic theme, the elegant design will work well in leadership settings.

3. Green Pitch Deck

If you need to make a pitch, this useful theme is another of the leadership PowerPoint templates free to download. It's an attractive way to showcase company information. Change the color scheme if necessary.

4. Training Presentation

This leadership PowerPoint template has a simple design and includes 14 slides. This is a good starting point for a leadership training presentation. 

5. Employee Training Presentation

This free leadership PowerPoint theme is suitable if you want to keep your presentation short and sweet. It's got just nine slides and is set up for delivering training courses.

6. Marshmallow

Looking for some inspiration for free? Presentations on leadership using templates are also an option. Marshmallow has a cool color scheme that's sure to appeal to your audience. 

7. Business Plan Presentation Template

This leadership PPT template is available in an attractive, muted color scheme. It'll give your presentations a professional look. 

8. Corporate Free PowerPoint

Here are templates for free PowerPoint presentations on leadership. This modern design is easy to edit, includes vector graphics, and has 10 slides. 

9. Business Consulting

Business Consulting is a free leadership PowerPoint theme. It uses a businesslike blue, white and black color scheme to create attractive slides. 

10. Business Company

This is one of several leadership PowerPoint templates free to download. It includes 16 easy to edit slides and has an understated color scheme. 

11. Investor Pro

When choosing PowerPoint templates for leadership presentation sometimes it can help to match it to your intended use. This theme is intended for investor presentations. It includes 16 relevant slide designs. 

12. Free Annual Report PowerPoint Template

If you're looking to create an annual report quickly (we've got annual report tips, too), then check out this free leadership PPT template. It includes 16 attractive slides. 

13. ProjectX Free Business PowerPoint Template

Here's another of many leadership PowerPoint templates that are free to download. ProjectX has a simple, attractive design suitable for many uses. It includes 16 slides.  

14. Free Corporate PowerPoint Template

Looking for more free PowerPoint presentations on leadership? This one has a muted color scheme and includes slides relating to common business topics. 

15. Free Corporate Company Presentation Template

Here's another of the free leadership templates. The slide set includes templates for quotes, financials and more.

16. Free Business Presentation Template

This blue-grey presentation template is suitable for a wide range of presentations. It's preset with the basic slides you need and will also work in Google Slides. 

17. Free Go-To-Market Strategy PowerPoint Template

For examples of PowerPoint presentations on leadership, check out this go-to-market template. It gives you an outline of what you need for this kind of presentation. It's also free.

18. Start Up Corporation PowerPoint Template

Launching a startup? Then this is a great template to use for a leadership presentation. It's minimalist yet colorful and will get attention.

19. Business Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template

This pitch deck template has an attractive and unusual design. It's a great example of a PowerPoint presentation on leadership for you to follow.

20. Investor Business PowerPoint Template

This leadership presentation PPT template uses serif fonts to achieve a crisp and formal look. At the same time, the minimalist design keeps it looking modern and attractive.

21. Cute Confetti

If fun is one of your leadership qualities, this PPT download is the way to go. The mixture of confetti and pastel keeps it cheerful.

22. Concentric Blue

This PowerPoint theme has a modern design and blue color scheme. It includes 25 slides, as well as icons and a world map.

23. Medical Illustrated

Here's a different kind of free leadership PPT presentation theme. This one is intended for medical presentations and the slides include relevant illustrations. 

24. Bassett

This is a well-designed theme for your next leadership PowerPoint presentation. It includes a variety of slide designs. Edit it using either PowerPoint or Google Slides. 

This is a professional theme, perfect for your next leadership presentation. It includes a range of slide designs. Edit it in either PowerPoint or Google Slides.

How to Quickly Make Great Leadership PowerPoint Presentations

Once you've downloaded your free leadership templates, the next step is to customize them to meet your needs. Here are some tips to get you started. I'll be using the premium  Hexagon PowerPoint template . 

Let's get started:

1. Edit Your Slide Title and Subtitles

I'm going to use the title slide for this. Open the presentation and go to the title slide. Double-click to select the slide title and replace it with your chosen text. Follow the same procedure to edit subtitles.

2. Add Text to Slides

Use a similar procedure to edit body text. Double-click within a text box to select all the text, then replace it by typing your own. You can also paste in pre-prepared text. 

3. Add or Resize Images

Click the onscreen image placeholder to import an image from your computer. You can also resize any image by grabbing the handles of the image placeholder and dragging them till you get the size you want.

4. Remove Unwanted Elements

On any slide, click to select an image or text box you want to remove. Then use the Delete key on your keyboard to remove it. 

5. Remove Extra Slides

At the end of the customization process, there may be a few slides you don't need. Select these in PowerPoint's slide navigator and use the Cut command to remove them.

5 Tips for a More Effective Leadership Presentation

You need your leadership PPT to engage your audience. Here are some tips to help you create a great leadership presentation:

1. Use Minimal Design

When making your leadership PPT presentation it's important to keep the information on slide minimal. You want your audience to focus on you and not be reading the slide. Having a minimal design also works because the design doesn’t make the slide overcrowded. An overcrowded slide can cause the audience to be distracted.

2. Choose the Right Font

Using the right font in your leadership PPT is important. You want the font to match the theme of your leadership PPT. You also need your font to be easily read by everyone who may see your presentation. Some fancy fonts can be hard to read.

To learn more about which fonts work well in presentations, study this tutorial:

3. Use Infographics and Graphs

Infographics are a great tool to use in your leadership presentation. Infographics use graphics to show data and other information. Infographics are also a great way to engage your audience and help them to retain information. 

4. Align Your Objects

Whether you’re creating your own leadership presentation or customizing a template, make sure objects and text are aligned. If text and objects aren’t aligned, it can look unprofessional and sloppy.

This tutorial will show you how to align objects:

5. Use High Quality Visuals

There are many types of visuals such as:

• infographics

If you've got these elements in your leadership PPT it's important that that they're high quality. If your visuals are low quality, it can look unprofessional or like you don't care.

Envato Elements is a good source for high quality images and infographics . They also have video templates that you can customize and add to your presentation. 

5 Leadership Presentation Design Trends for 2024

If you're giving a leadership PPT presentation, you want it to be up to date. A boring and dated look could make a bad impression.

Here are some popular leadership presentation design trends:

1. Muted Colors

Previously bright vibrant colors were on trend, but now muted colors are taking over. Muted colors are more calming and give an authentic and natural feel. Muted colors work well with both light and dark font making it easier to design your slides.

2. Geometric Shapes

Geometric shapes in the design of leadership presentations is the newest trend. Geometric shapes give a nostalgic and retro feel to your presentation. Geometric shapes also make fun and unique backgrounds.

 3. Animated Slides

Animated slides keeps your audience’s attention on your leadership presentation. Adding animation to a slide can make information and that slide more exciting. Animated slides are impressive and will impress your audience.

4. Alternate Between Color Slides and White Slides

Alternating colors on the slides keeps them visually interesting for the audience. You could use your company brand colors and alternate between them to reenforce your brand recognition. The color change between slides could also signal a topic change in your presentation.

5. Gradient Colors

A gradient color pattern is where one color gradually fades into another color. Gradient colors are a great way to add interest to your slides without going over the top. Gradient colors can be used as the background of your slides or for  objects on the slide.

Discover More Awesome Microsoft PowerPoint Template Designs

We've shared some attractive templates with you, paid and free. To see even more, check out the articles below:

Learn More About Making Great PowerPoint Presentations in 2024

To learn more about creating leadership PowerPoint presentations, read our in-depth PowerPoint tutorial guide. Or check out the tutorials below:

Common Microsoft PowerPoint Questions Answered (FAQs)

Whether you're just starting with Microsoft PowerPoint or have been using it a while, it's normal to have some questions. Here are common questions answered about Microsoft PowerPoint:

1. What's the Difference Between Object Animations and Animated Transitions?

Object animations are objects such as text or shapes going in motion on a slide. Animated transitions are animations that play when you move from one side to the next. To learn how to add animation to your leadership slides in PowerPoint, study this tutorial: 

2. Can I Reduce My PowerPoint File Size?

Do you need to send your leadership PPT presentation to your coworkers but are worried that it won’t fit in an email? Don’t worry. You can reduce the file size. For information about how to reduce your PowerPoint file size down check out this tutorial: 

3. How Do I Share a Leadership PPT Presentation in a Zoom meeting?

Figuring out a new software or learning how to use the software in a new way can be tricky. These days, learning how to give a presentation over Zoom is really useful knowledge to have. Here's a tutorial to help you out: 

4. How Do I Make a Chart or Graph for My Leadership PPT?

Charts and graphs can be great tools to show data in your presentation. Seeing charts and graphs engages your audience more than a list of numbers. Here's a tutorial on how to make charts and graphs in PowerPoint: 

5. How Do I Make the Leadership Slides in my PowerPoint More Interesting?

Having a boring leadership PPT presentation can mean that your presentation is forgettable. Interesting slides keep your audience engaged throughout your presentation. And they make it more memorable. Here are some tips on how to make your presentation design more interesting: 

Create Your Next Leadership PowerPoint Presentation Today

You've seen some appealing PowerPoint templates for leadership presentations, including some free leadership PowerPoint templates. As you decide which templates to use, remember that premium templates offer some advantages over free templates on the web. 

Check out the leadership PowerPoint templates available from Envato Elements. You can also try leadership PowerPoint templates on GraphicRiver. It offers dozens of leadership presentation PPT slides for you to try. 

Why not create your leadership PowerPoint presentation today? Download your favorite leadership PPT template and get started.

Editorial Note : This post has been updated with contributions from Sarah Joy . Sarah is a freelance instructor for Envato Tuts+.

• A Complete Guide on Leadership Presentations

Introduction to Leadership Presentations

Key components of leadership presentations

Aayush Jain

Establishing a clear, inspiring vision that aligns with organizational goals.

Introduction to Vision in Leadership Training Topics Presentations

The foundation of any effective leadership presentation lies in establishing a clear, inspiring vision that resonates deeply with the organization's broader goals. This vision serves as a guiding star for the strategic direction of core function of the company and motivates the team to achieve collective objectives. By articulating a well-defined vision, leaders encapsulate the essence of the organization's future, making it an indispensable component of all leadership training and communication.

Background and Importance of Vision Alignment

A compelling vision in leadership presentations goes beyond mere words—it is an articulation of where the organization sees itself in the future and its core values and purpose. Historically, companies that have excelled—think of Apple, Google, or Microsoft—have had leaders who presented their visions with clarity and passion, aligning shared vision seamlessly with their organizational goals. This alignment ensures that every member of the leadership team well understands their role in the larger context of the company’s aspirations.

Real-World Examples and Practical Applications

Consider how Steve Jobs revitalized Apple with his clear vision of delivering exceptional and aesthetically pleasing products to consumers. His presentations were not just updates on technology but compelling visions of what technology could be, which galvanized the company towards innovation. Similarly, leadership presentations can use powerful storytelling to project future successes, drawing on both the company's historical achievements and future potential, making the vision tangible and actionable.

External References and Validation

Research underscores the importance of a well-articulated vision. According to a Harvard Business Review study, companies with leaders who effectively communicate their visions see a 19% higher success rate in achieving their strategic goals compared to those that do not. Furthermore, statistics from a Gallup poll highlight that organizations whose employees understand their vision outperform competitors by 33% on average in terms of profitability.

Developing a Coherent Narrative that Resonates with Different Leadership Styles

Introduction to Narrative Development in Leadership Presentations

A coherent narrative is the backbone of any impactful leadership presentation. It transforms abstract visions and strategies into relatable stories that captivate and engage the audience. Developing a narrative that resonates with leadership themes involves carefully crafting a story that connects the leader’s goals with the aspirations of the organization and its people, making it not only persuasive but also memorable.

Background on the Power of Storytelling in Leadership

The art of storytelling in leadership is as old as leadership itself. Historical leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Winston Churchill utilized powerful narratives to inspire action and bring about change. In the business context, a well-constructed narrative helps to bridge the gap between the strategic objectives smart goals of the leadership and the daily experiences of the employees, making the leadership's message more accessible and impactful.

Illustrations Through Case Studies and Trends

Modern corporate leaders like Satya Nadella of Microsoft emphasize empathy and transformation in their narratives, aligning them with the themes of inclusive growth and innovation. Nadella’s leadership presentations often include personal anecdotes and broader industry trends, which highlight the importance of technology in solving real-world problems, thus effectively reinforcing Microsoft’s leadership themes.

Citing External Sources and Statistical Evidence

Supporting the effectiveness of narrative coherence, a Nielsen study reveals that narratives that include a personal or emotional component can enhance audience retention by up to 70%. Moreover, data from the Forbes Coaches Council suggests that presentations with a strong narrative and clear alignment with leadership themes lead to a 50% better long-term retention of the presented leadership strategies and goals by the audience.

Incorporating Interactive Elements to Foster Engagement and Participation

Introduction to Interactive Leadership Presentations

Incorporating interactive elements into leadership presentations effective meetings is a dynamic way to enhance engagement and foster active participation from the audience. This approach transforms a traditional presentation or meeting into a two-way dialogue, encouraging feedback, questions, and collaboration, which can significantly enrich the learning and communication process.

Background on the Importance of Interactivity

Interactivity in presentations is rooted in educational theory, which highlights active learning as a key component for retention and understanding of new ideas. Interactive elements such as Q&A sessions, live polls, and group discussions not only make the session more engaging but also allow the presenter to gauge the audience's understanding and adjust and present the message accordingly.

Real-World Examples and Current Developments

Companies like Google and IBM use interactive leadership presentations to great effect. For instance, during internal leadership training seminars, Google often employs real-time digital tools to allow participants to submit questions anonymously, vote on topics of interest, and provide instant feedback to the speakers. This level of interactivity ensures that the presentations are tailored in real-time to meet the needs and interests of the audience.

External References and Supporting Data

A study by the Wharton School of Business found that presentations featuring interactive elements like live polling and real-time feedback saw a 50% increase in audience engagement compared to traditional presentation formats. Furthermore, according to a report by Harvard Business Publishing, interactive presentations are 25% more likely to inspire people leave a lasting impact on the audience, significantly improving the uptake of leadership messages.

Utilizing Effective Pacing to Maintain Audience Interest and Focus

Introduction to Pacing in Leadership Presentations

Effective pacing is crucial in maintaining the audience's interest and focus throughout a leadership presentation. It involves the strategic modulation of speed and timing to deliver content in a way that keeps the audience engaged without overwhelming them. Mastering this aspect can significantly enhance the impact of a presentation.

Background on the Significance of Pacing

The concept of pacing in communication stems from cognitive load theory, which suggests that people have limited capacity for processing information at one time. By adjusting the pacing, presenters can manage the cognitive load, ensuring that the audience can absorb and reflect on the information being presented. This is particularly important in complex leadership topics where the density of information can be quite high.

Illustrative Examples and Practical Application

Consider the renowned TED Talks, where speakers are known for their exceptional command over pacing. They often employ pauses, vary their speaking rate, and strategically place the emphasis to highlight key points, which helps in keeping the audience captivated. Similarly, in a corporate setting, leaders might pace their delivery by interspersing detailed explanations with stories or lighter anecdotes to maintain a balance that keeps the audience attentive and engaged.

Supporting Evidence from External Sources

Research by Stanford University highlights that presentations delivered with optimal pacing result in better comprehension and retention rates among audiences. The study suggests that a moderate pace, coupled with regular intervals for reflection and discussion, can enhance audience engagement by up to 40%. Moreover, feedback from annual corporate surveys often points to pacing as a critical factor in the effectiveness of executive presentations, underscoring its importance in leadership communication.

Choosing Relevant Data to Support the Leadership Message

Introduction to Data Selection in Leadership Presentations

Selecting relevant data is fundamental in substantiating the leadership message during a presentation. The right data not only provides evidence to support claims but also enhances credibility and persuades stakeholders by grounding abstract ideas in concrete terms. Carefully curated statistics, benchmarks, and case studies can transform a good presentation into a compelling and authoritative one.

Background on the Importance of Data in Leadership

In the realm of leadership, data serves as the backbone of decision-making and strategy presentation. Historical leaders have often used data to guide directions and justify initiatives. In the modern business environment, data-driven decision-making underpins most successful enterprises, making the inclusion of relevant data in leadership presentations essential for aligning team leaders, members and stakeholders with the organization's strategic objectives.

Real-World Examples and Current Trends

Tech giants like Amazon and Salesforce exemplify the effective use of data in leadership presentations. Amazon's leadership is known for integrating complex data sets about consumer behavior and market trends to justify strategic decisions during major presentations. Salesforce, similarly, uses performance metrics and customer success stories to highlight the impact of its cloud solutions in various industries, thereby reinforcing the strength and adaptability of its offerings.

External References and Statistical Validation

According to a survey by Forbes Insights, 74% of businesses feel that they are still not making the most of the data available to them in decision-making processes. This underutilization underscores the opportunity for leadership to leverage data more effectively in presentations. Additionally, a study from MIT Sloan Management Review suggests that organizations that rate highly in data literacy report a 5-10% greater process efficiency and cost savings, demonstrating the tangible benefits of integrating relevant data into leadership communications.

Designing Visuals that Reinforce and Clarify Key Points

Introduction to Visual Design in Leadership Presentations

Effective visual design is pivotal in enhancing the clarity and impact of key points in leadership presentations. Visuals such as graphs, charts, infographics, and slides not only attract attention but also aid in the comprehension and retention of information, making them essential tools for any leader aiming to communicate effectively.

Background on the Importance of Visual Aids

The human brain processes visual information much faster than text, which is why visuals are so powerful in presentations. They can simplify complex information, highlight relationships between data sets, and provide a memorable snapshot of the narrative. Historically, visuals have been used in everything from military strategies to corporate boardrooms to drive points home with clarity and precision.

Practical Applications and Real-World Examples

Consider the impact of visuals in Apple's product launches. The use of high-quality images, sleek product designs, and clear, concise charts to demonstrate product features and market comparisons plays a crucial role in the presentation's success. Similarly, TED Talks often utilize visually engaging slides that complement the speaker’s narrative, enhancing the audience’s understanding and engagement.

Citing External Sources and Evidence

Research by the Wharton School of Business indicates that presentations using visual aids are 43% more persuasive than those without. Moreover, a study published in the Journal of Educational Psychology found that students who were taught with the aid of well-designed visuals performed significantly better on transfer tasks than those who received text-only instruction. These findings underscore the importance of integrating effective visuals into leadership presentations to reinforce and clarify key messages.

Emphasizing Authenticity to Enhance Speaker Credibility

Introduction to Authenticity in Leadership Presentations

Authenticity in leadership presentations is essential for enhancing speaker credibility and building trust with the audience. A true leader, who presents authentically conveys transparency, aligns their words with actions, and demonstrates genuine commitment to the organization's values and goals, fostering a deeper connection with the audience.

Background on the Significance of Authenticity

The value of authenticity has been recognized across various fields, from politics to business, where authentic leaders are often seen as more approachable and trustworthy. Authenticity involves being true to one’s self, understanding one's strengths and weaknesses, and communicating in a way that is consistent with one’s beliefs and values.

Leaders like Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, have been praised for their authentic leadership style. Nadella’s focus on empathy and personal growth as core values within Microsoft has transformed the company culture and reinvigorated its global image. His presentations often include personal anecdotes and reflections that emphasize these values, making his messages not only more relatable but also more credible.

According to a survey by the Harvard Business Review, authenticity is one of the top qualities that promote trust in a leader, with 73% of respondents stating that it is critical to their willingness to follow someone. Furthermore, research from the Journal of Business Ethics found that authentic leadership significantly correlates with employee job satisfaction and loyalty change management, highlighting the impact of authenticity on workplace and organizational success.

Structuring Content for Impact, with Strategic Beginnings and Endings

Introduction to structuring effective presentations.

The structure of a leadership presentation can significantly influence its effectiveness. Strategic structuring involves crafting compelling beginnings to capture attention and impactful endings to leave a lasting impression. This framework not only maintains the audience's engagement but also reinforces the key messages of the presentation.

Background on the Importance of Strategic Structure

A well-structured presentation facilitates creating a clear flow of information, guiding the audience through the narrative seamlessly. It begins with a strong opening that establishes the tone and objectives, followed by a body that builds upon initial ideas with supporting evidence, and concludes with a powerful closing that reinforces the main takeaways.

In the business world, executives often use the "tell-show-tell" method. This approach involves stating what will be discussed (tell), demonstrating it through examples or evidence (show), and then summarizing what was shown (tell again). This method is effective because it clarifies and reinforces the message, ensuring that key points are communicated clearly and memorably.

Research from Stanford University suggests that the primacy and recency effects are powerful forces in presentations. People tend to remember most vividly what they hear at the beginning and end of a talk. Furthermore, a study published in the Journal of Psychology found that presentations with strong openings and closings are up to 20% more effective in retaining audience interest and engagement compared to those that lack structured beginnings and endings.

Preparing for Diverse Audience Reactions and Adapting Accordingly

Introduction to Audience Adaptation in Leadership Presentations

Adapting to diverse audience reactions is a critical skill for leaders during presentations. This ability to dynamically adjust the presentation based on real-time feedback allows for a more personalized and effective communication experience. It reflects a leader’s attentiveness and responsiveness to their audience's needs and concerns.

Background on the Importance of Audience Adaptation

Audience adaptation involves understanding and anticipating the varying needs, expectations, and backgrounds and different skills of audience members and modifying the presentation to address these differences. This skill is crucial not only in addressing a multicultural and diverse workforce but also in responding to unexpected questions or reactions during the presentation.

Global companies like Coca-Cola and Nestlé exemplify this practice by tailoring their leadership presentations to diverse global markets. They incorporate local cultural nuances and preferences into their presentations, which not only enhances receptiveness but also strengthens the leadership’s rapport with international teams.

Citing External Sources and Supporting Data

A report by McKinsey highlights that companies with leaders capable of adapting to diverse audience reactions outperform their peers in terms of profitability by up to 33%. Additionally, a study from Harvard Business Review demonstrates that presentations adapted to audience feedback see a 25% increase in audience engagement and satisfaction levels. These statistics emphasize the importance of being flexible and responsive in leadership communications.

Reinforcing Key Messages Through Repetition and Emphasis

Introduction to Message Reinforcement in Leadership Presentations

Effective leadership presentations often employ the technique of repeating and emphasizing key messages to ensure they are remembered and acted upon. This strategic use of repetition and emphasis helps to anchor important concepts in the minds of the audience, making the communication more impactful and memorable.

Background on the Importance of Repetition and Emphasis

The psychological principle behind repetition is simple: repeated exposure to the same idea or concept tends to enhance memory retention and understanding. Emphasis, on the other hand, helps in highlighting the importance of certain points, making them stand out. Together, these techniques are powerful tools in the arsenal of any leader looking to make a lasting impact through their presentations.

Illustrative Examples and Practical Applications

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, was a master at using this technique. During his iconic product launches, Jobs would introduce a new product feature, explain its significance, and then repeatedly refer back to it throughout the presentation, each time linking it to different benefits or applications. This not only reinforced the feature’s importance but also helped the audience connect with the product on multiple levels.

Research published in the Journal of Marketing shows that messages repeated at least three times during a presentation are 39% more likely to be remembered by audiences than those mentioned only once. Furthermore, a study by the University of California found that strategic emphasis on key points can increase the persuasiveness of a presentation by up to 29%, illustrating the effectiveness of these techniques in leadership communication.

FAQs on Leadership Presentations

How do you start a leadership presentation.

Starting a leadership presentation effectively involves capturing your audience’s attention immediately. You might begin with a provocative question, a relevant and powerful quote, or an intriguing statistic. The key is to engage your audience from the outset and signal the value of the information they are about to receive.

What is a good leader presentation?

A good leader presentation effectively communicates a vision, inspires confidence, and motivates action. It is well-structured, clear, and engaging, with relevant data to support key points. . Good leadership presentations also adapt to audience feedback and are delivered with authenticity and passion.

How to develop leadership skills presentation?

Developing a presentation on leadership skills involves outlining essential qualities such soft skills such as communication, empathy, decision-making, and team management. Use real-world examples and best practices to illustrate these skills, create, and include interactive elements to engage and involve the audience in learning.

What are the characteristics of a good leader?

The characteristics of a very good manager and leader include integrity, accountability, empathy, humility, resilience, vision, influence, and the ability to delegate. A good leader inspires trust and admiration through consistent action and their communication skills, aligning their behavior with their values.

What are the 3 most crucial concepts of leadership?

The three most crucial concepts of leadership are vision, communication, and both leadership roles adaptability. A clear vision provides direction, effective communication fosters understanding and alignment, and situational leadership and adaptability ensures leaders can respond effectively to change and challenges.

What are the 3 underlying themes to leadership?

The three underlying themes in leadership are empowerment, responsibility, and continuous improvement. Leaders empower others to perform at their best, take responsibility for their team’s performance, and strive for continuous personal and professional development.

What are the topics for professional development for leaders?

Topics for professional development for leaders and managers include strategic thinking, crisis management, emotional intelligence, ethical leadership, and innovation leading change management. Developing skills in these areas helps leaders manage more effectively and drive their organizations toward success.

How to make a presentation on leadership?

To make an impactful presentation on leadership, start with a clear objective, define your main messages, and support these with solid data and real-life examples. Structure your content for clarity, use visuals additional slides to emphasize key points, and practice delivering your presentation with a focus on authenticity and enthusiasm.

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Differences from typical business presentations

Differences from Typical Business Presentations: Focused on Influencing High-Stake Decisions and Strategic Directions Influencing the Course of Business: A Strategic Imperative When it comes to high-stake business decisions, the stakes couldn't be higher, and the audience couldn't be more critical. Unlike typical business presentations, which often

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10 Presentation Ideas For Leadership Teams and Training

Leadership teams shape organizations for better or for worse. They’re responsible for guiding teams and moving things— big or small— forward. So what makes a great leader versus one that causes employees to leave a company?

When you think of a great leader, it’s probably a specific characteristic that comes to mind. Qualities like respect, self-awareness, trust, influence, collaboration, and strong communication skills can set extraordinary managers apart from mediocre ones. But how leaders listen, learn, and communicate with their employees is just as important. Because of that, leaders— regardless of the industry— need to hold themselves accountable and continuously seek out ways to grow as a manager.   

It’s not uncommon for companies to host offsites or retreats to bring the leadership team together for brainstorming, planning, and training. This helps align leaders across various departments, teams, and offices, while offering them the tools they need to be more successful in their role. 

When preparing a presentation for leadership teams and training, it's crucial to focus on content that resonates with the audience's strategic mindset and their role in guiding the organization. Here are some leadership presentation ideas to help inspire your own content.

Leadership presentation ideas

Presentations can act as a platform to encourage learning and collaboration among different leaders. Do you have a leadership retreat coming up? Here are 10 leadership presentation ideas to help train and motivate your own leadership team. 

Effective leadership strategies

As a recurring training, you might share effective leadership strategies with your executive team. This presentation would act as a refresher of the latest trends and best practices in leadership. This could include insights on empathetic leadership, fostering a positive company culture, and embracing diversity and inclusion.

Change management

How should managers and leadership teams address the challenges and opportunities associated with change within the organization? A change management presentation would provide strategies for how leaders can navigate transitions successfully, with the least amount of disruption to the team.

Strategic planning and decision-making

A strategic planning and decision making presentation will offer insights into the process of setting achievable goals and making informed decisions. Organizations might also use a strategic planning presentation to lead their own company brainstorming sessions at a leadership all-hands meeting. 

Team development and engagement

Team development and engagement is important for the overall success of the team. In this presentation you might share techniques for fostering a high-performing and engaged team, including methods for providing feedback, coaching, and creating a supportive work environment.

Communication skills

Communication skills can make or break a leader. A training session on effective communication in leadership roles could be beneficial for both managers and executives of all levels. Here you could offer practical tips for clear, transparent, and empowering communication.

Leading through uncertainty

Given the current business landscape and layoffs happening across various industries, leadership teams need to know how to handle hard situations. This presentation idea for leadership teams would discuss strategies for navigating uncertainty and ambiguity, including how to maintain resilience and inspire confidence in a team concerned about job security. 

Embracing innovation and creativity

It’s no secret that AI is here to stay, and teams are having to pivot to accommodate new technology. Use a thoughtful presentation to encourage leaders to embrace innovation and promote a culture of creativity within the organization. The slides in this deck could showcase the benefits of adopting innovative approaches and thinking outside the box.

Building high-performance teams

Leaders need the right tools and knowledge to be able to guide positive performance. Employers might offer a training “how-to” on best practices for assembling and nurturing high-performance teams. This deck should include strategies for fostering collaboration, trust, and accountability among teammates. 

Data-driven decision making

As a leader, leveraging data to make more informed decisions should be top of mind. This leadership presentation idea can highlight the importance of leveraging data and analytics in decision-making processes, and offer guidance on how to incorporate data-driven insights into leadership strategies. This could include ways to implement KPIs, OKRs, or other effective ways to track the performance of individual contributors and campaigns. 

Ethical leadership

A wildly important leadership topic is ethics. Upper management should be well-educated in ethical leadership, and how that impacts the success of the team. An ethical leadership presentation could include the significance of ethics, the impact it has on organizational culture, employee morale, and long-term success, and how to ensure it’s top of mind in each department on a daily basis.

Beautiful presentations to drive your message home

You have a presentation topic, now what? The hardest part of presentation design is going from idea to deck with little design skills to back you up. Thankfully, there's a presentation software for that. Insert: Beautiful.ai. Beautiful.ai helps leadership teams create beautiful presentations so they can pack a bigger punch with their message and inspire their audience. Presenters can use one of Beautiful.ai's customizable pre-built presentation templates — like the training presentation — or leverage our AI-assistant to create a presentation from scratch specific to their topic. By creating beautiful decks you can engage your audience, drive your message home, and leave your leadership team feeling inspired to make a difference.

Jordan Turner

Jordan is a Bay Area writer, social media manager, and content strategist.

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Leadership PowerPoint Presentation

Number of slides: 10

Every business needs good leaders that motivate people to act towards the same goals. A leadership training program is a great option if you want to prepare professionals for key roles inside the company or to make your staff develop valuable skills. In this corporate template, you will be able to cover what leadership means for the company, the skills of a good leader, the difference between a manager and a leader, and more.

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Leadership overview slide.

First things first, what is leadership? You can find countless definitions, but it’s important that you explain what leadership means for the company. In this slide, you will be able to present your own definition of a good leader and sum up key ideas.

Leadership Skills Slide

Every leader has a unique set of traits and skills. Here you will be able to address the latter in a highly visual doughnut chart. Some examples of leadership skills are awareness, communication, integrity, accountability, and vision. Add the ones you fit to the kind of leader you want to have in your company.

Leadership vs Management Slide

Manager is someone with authority over a team. This person is in charge of managing a group of people and supervising their tasks. However, being a manager doesn’t always equals being a leader. Leaders don’t need to hold a key position to drive a team. In this slide, you’ll be able to discuss the difference between a leader and a manager and how to get to the best scenario: a manager with strong leadership skills.

Corporate style template

The blue corporate style of the Leadership PowerPoint template fits any type of business.

Agenda slide

This template comes with a corporate agenda slide to list the sessions and key information of the leadership training program.

Leadership styles

When it comes to leadership, there’s no just one style that fits all. Your company needs to identify what kind of leader each team requires according to their strengths and weaknesses.

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Top 15 Leadership PPT Templates To Inspire and Motivate your Peers

Gunjan Gupta

Eighty-nine percent of global corporations see leadership as a very important issue. They believe that their number one strategic priority is to close the unnecessary leadership gaps. Thus, spending almost $31 billion on improving their leadership initiatives and programs in the year 2017 . These corporations have a strong determination to spend even more on improving their leadership development programs in the coming years. 

Although “leader” and “leadership” are recurrent business terms, only a few enthusiasts know their true meaning. Also, the more recent works of authors and writers like Abraham Zalenznik and Daniel Goleman have brought some fundamental shifts in the way we look at leadership. Their work was radically foreshadowed in W.C.H Presentice’s 1961 article which rejected the notion of “leadership being enforcement of power and possession of extraordinary analytical skills”. Thus changing the entire anatomy of leadership and the way we perceive it. 

With so many schools of thought, challenging our belief system, it is imperative to study this term in detail. 

What follows is a brief about leadership, its qualities, and a few templates to support your vision and mission. 

What exactly is leadership and how to become a great one at that? 

According to Warren Bennis, a pioneering leadership researcher, “ Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”. It is the responsibility of the leader to possess a deep-sighted vision and get things done based on it. They need to be efficient communicators to emerge as true leaders much like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, and many more. Warren also states that leadership does not depend on one’s title. Thus, anybody can emerge as a true leader to inspire, engage, and influence his peers and stakeholders, without possessing C-level responsibilities in an organization. 

A few Qualities of a Good Leader:

• Passion and innovation 

A leader should be passionate enough to motivate his team and get things done on time. He also needs to be innovative enough to introduce new ideas and strategically implement them with the help of his team. Only a person with a big goal in mind, can build up an efficient team of professionals and meet deadlines on time. Thus making, passion and innovation important qualities for success. 

• Communication skills

A leader should possess indisputable communication skills to simplify the lives of his peers. It is the quality of a great leader to influence the ones listening to him. He should also be able to convey his thoughts with extreme clarity and enthusiasm, to bring in the much-needed good energy among his listeners. Only through the right communication, his team will feel valued and important, thus increasing their overall productivity.  

• Learning Enthusiast

A great leader is one who indulges in self-development activities to hone his skills. He should be an avid learner, constantly replenishing the pool of knowledge and adding more to it. This will help in bringing more to the table.

• Team Enthusiast 

A great leader should be a catalyst of great nature, who can manage a team very well. Much like self-development, a leader should be able to function well as a part of a team, constantly improving the process and simplifying it with every passing phase. Not only this, he should be able to embrace partnership development with other employees, making them feel motivated and also cherished. 

Leadership PPT Templates 

Influence, engage and motivate your peers with this leadership template. Portray your team management skills with this template. This template can also be used as a teaching tool to educate the viewers about the traits and importance of being a good leader. 

Download Leadership PowerPoint Presentation

Conduct a thorough discussion on leadership and its importance. Study different theories and educate your masses about various types of leadership by making use of this creative bundle. Jam-packed with invaluable information on the topic, this template serves as a very resourceful tool to guide your actions. 

Download Behavioral Theories Of Leadership PowerPoint Presentation

The key deliverables of leadership management can be covered with this template. This includes needs, goals, framework, change management model, and similar topics of discussion. Basically, it offers a complete package, that can be used as per your desire. 

Download Leadership Management PowerPoint Presentation

Cover all the essential traits of a good leader with this template. Use it as an educative tool to increase the knowledge of your viewers on topics of leadership, leadership management and its training. The guiding principles to become a good leader is also something that you can cover with this intuitively designed bundle. 

Download Leadership Management Training PowerPoint Presentation

The training and goals of a good leader can be demystified with this complete bundle. It will assist you in providing a birds-eye view of the topic, all thanks to its intuitive design and well-researched content, that covers all the important topics. Therefore, you will face no difficulty in its presentation and understanding as well. 

Download Corporate Leadership Training Proposal PowerPoint Presentation

The importance of introducing a leadership development program can be efficiently covered by this template. Promote the concept of leadership development with the slides given in this layout. All these slides can be edited and customized, to meet your individual needs. 

Download Leadership Development Program PowerPoint Presentation

Coordinate with your peers and discuss everything about leader management with this template. Comprising many slides, it is a great corporate tool to possess. It also serves as a great tool to inculcate leadership qualities in your subordinates by listing them one by one. As such you can make great leaders with this one simple tool that you can download now! 

Download Leadership And Management PowerPoint Presentation

Maximize the efficiency and productivity of your employees by creating great leaders. This template can be used to explain the topic of leadership in detail, covering all its key fundamentals. Different slides are added to this set to help you present a large amount of information with ease. 

Download Transactional And Transformational Leadership Development PowerPoint Presentation

You can cover the management, skills, thoughts, plans, policies, and all the key deliverables of leadership with this creative bundle. You can use it to educate your subordinates and explain to them the importance of being a great leader. This will help in improving team functioning as well in increasing your productivity, by inculcating good traits.

Download Leadership Strategies And Practices PowerPoint Presentation

Template 10

Help your team members to emerge as new leaders of today by deploying this PPT template. Define goals and behavior for different situations and the environment with respect to being a good leader. This template covers all the key fundamentals of the topic, thus helping you provide in-depth knowledge to the viewers. 

Download Leadership Model PPT Inspiration Infographic Template

Template 11

Impart enhanced knowledge on how brainstorming can help your viewers in emerging as great leaders. Brainstorming is great to improve upon creativity and innovation, which is one of the primary traits of being a leader. Therefore download this set to help hone your viewers’ leadership skills. 

Download Discussion Brainstorming Decision Making Process PowerPoint Presentation

Template 12

Use this PPT in both the corporate and educational sectors to provide a bird-eye view of the topic. Teachers can use it to explain the objectives of a good leader. This will help in inculcating good leadership qualities in the students. Similarly, organizations can use this layout to help their employees become good leaders, thereby increasing the overall productivity. 

Download Leader Business Communicating Motivational Successful Success Goals Pyramid

Template 13

Discuss different leadership styles and their impact on performance with this complete bundle. It comes in an editable format, thus making designing and presentation work hassle-free. 

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Template 14

You can discuss and compare different leadership styles with this PPT slide. The comparison can help in deciding which style to adopt in a given situation, thus increasing the overall efficiency of those involved. 

Download Comparing 2 Companies Management Of Styles PPT

Template 15

The 4 P’s that are relevant to becoming great leaders can be discussed with this slide. This helps in making strategic plans more effective and useful. Along with this, it offers editable components, so feel free to make as many adjustments as you like in this slide design.

Download People Strategy Policy Process And Practice

To Conclude…..

Leadership is much more than “understanding people”, “being nice to them” and “getting things done on time”. Therefore, every leader can be good but not everybody can be a leader! 

Also, leadership is not a one-way relationship. Every individual has to work towards building a comfortable environment in the workplace, thus helping the leaders justify their roles and responsibilities . These 15  sets are a great starting point to create some great leaders much like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and others. Therefore, download your favorite leadership ppt now! 

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Leadership Topics for Presentation

Have a presentation or a meeting coming up? Need to find leadership training topics to present on or leadership topics for discussion? The Leadership Mission has you covered! Below is our list of leadership training topics, leadership topics for discussion, leadership exercises and leadership team building activities we have compiled that are impactful for leaders at any level. These are designed to get your wheels turning and have proven to be successful across many different organizations.

Want to jump quickly to one particular section? Here are some helpful links!

Leadership Training Topics

Leadership Topics for Presentation and Discussion

Leadership Team Building Activities

Leadership exercises.

The following leadership training topics are great for leaders at any level. These work best in smaller meetings or groups. These topics are designed to generate great discussion and hopefully yield higher functioning managers.

Soft skills

Soft skills are personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. These are critically important in today's workforce as now more than ever our workforces require employees to be able to communicate, work as a team, listen and get along with others. Here is a very brief list of soft skills but this topic is HUGE and you could easily turn each of these topics into presentations.

Communication

Problem-solving

Time management

Critical thinking

Decision-making

Organizational

Stress management

Adaptability

Conflict management

Resourcefulness

Openness to criticism

Change management

Today's world changes faster than arguably any other time in history. Between 24 hour news cycles, social media and the explosion in communication methods between individuals, managing change is an essential skill any leader must have. There are a couple of excellent books on this topic by John Kotter called Leading Change and Our Iceberg is Melting. You can also have a good discussion about how your team deals with change and how much change your organization has (or hasn't) had over the years.

Managing effective meetings

Meetings consume so much of the average working person's time. No matter what kind of job you have, meetings are most likely a part of their day or week at some point. How effective are your people at running effective meetings? When was the last time anyone ever thought about it?

A great subtopic for this presentation can be a study and/or game you can play with your attendees call meeting or email? I'm sure you could easily find a handful of examples of meetings that could have been emails (and vice versa) and let your attendees have some fun guessing. Don't be surprised when your team becomes very candid during this meeting about the need for meetings!

Performance management

Managing the performance of others is an extremely important part of any leader's job. Leader's must also be managers and cannot simply rely on connecting with and "leading" people. At the end of the day, we all have hard metrics we are responsible for. One of the most important ones, is the performance of those that work for us.

This topic doesn't get nearly as much attention as it should and I guarantee you can get some good discussions going around the most effective way to do this for you organization. You can discuss how often this happens, annually, bi-annually, monthly? You can discuss what format it is done in and how the teams respond to them. Get your groups thoughts on the effectiveness of your current system and brainstorm if there isn't a better way.

The Six Styles of Leadership

Developed by Daniel Goleman, the six styles have been a staple part of the discussion around situational leadership for awhile. They describe the different ways you need to lead depending on the situation, the people and various other factors. There is plenty of discussion to be had with this topic and is great for new leaders!

The six styles are as follows:

Visionary — mobilize people toward a vision. Works best when a clear direction or change is needed.

Coaching — develop people for the future. Works best when helping people and building long-term strength.

Affiliative — create emotional bonds and harmony. Works best to heal rifts in teams or motivate people in stressful times.

Democratic — build consensus through participation. Works best to create consensus or get input.

Pacesetting — expect excellence and self-direction. Works best to get quick results from a highly competent team.

Commanding — demand immediate compliance. Works best in crisis or with problematic people.

Managing an inbox

This is something that gets taken for granted all of the time and would make a great leadership topic for presentation. The organization, efficiency and 'cleanliness' of inboxes today can be a sensitive subject. No one wants to admit to having thousands of unread emails just sitting there but chances are, most of your leaders do.

How do you as a company manage that? When was the last time anyone cared? Effective inbox organization can do wonders in taking a manager from good to great. It might also get a good conversation started around communication as a whole in your organization.

Managing a calendar

Just like the inbox, calendar's are criminally misused or underused. They can be a great way to manage the obvious things like meetings and calls. However, they can also be a great way to hold teams accountable, document what you did for reflection and serve as a sort of task list for leaders.

Don't make the assumption that everyone knows how to use the calendars. Technology changes so fast and new features come out all of the time. Even if someone in leadership learned how to use outlook ten years ago in college, it might be completely different now!

Leadership Topics For Presentation & Discussion

This section is about topics that make for great discussions or presentations. Whether it be a small group or large one, these topics are always important in the world of business today.

Virtual leadership

Thanks to 2020, so many of us have had to get used to working virtually, which means we've also had to lead virtually as well. This topic is sure to generate discussion on what is working, not working and how everyone feels about it.

This is sure to be an important topic moving forward as companies must decide what their "new normal" is going to be. You might be surprised at how effective or ineffective working virtually is/was. It might open the door to other conversations surrounding flexibility in the workplace.

Most businesses come down to some sort of execution. Whether it be making widgets, serving guests, healing patients or selling goods, every business has some sort of metric when it comes to executing the core function of the business. When was the last time you discussed not only the results but overall execution as a whole? Can you guarantee that the way things are supposed to be done are actually being done?

Additionally, you can discuss training of new hires, repair and maintenance of equipment, employee productivity and anything that goes into actually getting the job done.

When was the last time your organization had a conversation about your company culture? Are expectations meeting reality? Does your team/company know what culture they are supposed to be creating? Having an open and honest conversation about your company culture is a healthy exercise for any company.

It is extremely important that there be a strong moderator for this conversation as it is easy to go off the rails with this subject. That statement shouldn't dissuade you from having the conversation though! A great book on this topic is Good to Great by Jim Collins.

Company specific leadership topics for discussion/presentation

Do you have specific tasks, goals, metrics or items that your leaders should be discussing with their teams? Have you set an agenda that is being pushed down through the organization? Putting together a list similar to this specific for your team might be helpful for your mid level leaders. This list can give them a clean and easily accessible company approved list of topics they should be discussing with their teams.

Giving your leaders a list of exercises that they could practice either by themselves or with their teams makes a great leadership training topic. It is always extremely important to develop yourself as a leader and the other leaders in your organization. Here are some leadership exercises to get you started.

Quality circles

This isn't so much a topic as an activity but is highly effective, especially if your group allows for crossover from different departments, regions, etc. It is amazing how sometimes just putting a fresh set of eyes on a situation can create positive discussions or solutions around a problem. Spend some times thinking about your attendees and split them into smaller groups.

Come up with a top 5 list of challenges or obstacles that each group might be facing and have them discuss it in a "nameless & rankless" frank discussion. Assign a note taker to each group and charge them with capturing key points and takeaways and for keeping the group on point.

Difficult leadership situations

This is a great topic to discuss with your leaders, especially if your group has a good mix of leadership experience and tenure in it. The following situations are always important to talk about and discuss/share with other leaders. The growth that can come from just talking through some of these situations is priceless. Depending on the size of your group, you can either discuss as a whole or break into small groups and have them discuss the following topics:

Dealing with difficult or problem employees

Handling your team's stress and pressure

Letting someone go

Delivering bad news

Leading an initiative you don't agree with

Managing underperforming employees

Internal leadership challenges

This often gets such little attention, yet is one of the most important factors leaders must deal with, their own feelings. Managing your own emotions and generally how you feel about something is way easier said than done. Just like the previous item, having a good mix of leadership experience and tenure is a great.

Just talking about how their fellow leaders handle the following topics can be vitally important for new leaders and great reminders and encouragement for experienced leaders. Unlike the previous item though, it is crucially important that attendees feel comfortable being open. It is one thing to talk about topics that impact others or are conceptual and something entirely different to discuss personal struggles!

Staying humble

Self confidence

Overcoming fear

Handling personal stress and pressure

Avoiding burnout

Staying motivated

Compartmentalizing competing priorities

Keeping work life balance

Situational leadership scenarios

Situational leadership is extremely important in today's modern workforce. Diversity of all types in employee bases has exploded in the last several decades. That means managers and leaders cannot treat everyone the same. A leader that understands using different leadership styles with different people and at different times is critical.

Develop some scenarios that are relevant to your group and ask them to decide how they would approach one differently over another. There is a fantastic book written by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson on this topic called the One Minute Manager that is a quick read and is very beneficial to new leaders!

The following items are great team builders for small groups or meetings in any professional setting. They are designed to bring team's together, develop teamwork and give any observing leaders some data points about their people!

Build a building

Break your group into small even teams and provide them with their building materials consisting of any combination of the following:

index cards

tooth picks

playing cards

Don't stress over which materials you give them, just as long as it is enough to build a free standing building with! The object is simple, which team can build the largest free standing structure.

Things to consider with this activity:

How will you divide your teams? Be purposeful in how you break them up

Have the teams assign a 'project manager' ahead of time

Take mental notes of how the teams interact and how the assigned managers perform

Qualities of a leader

Break employees into teams and have them share leaders they admire (in any industry). Take notes on the characteristics that these leaders share, then give employees time and space to reflect on the characteristics they share with those leaders before identifying skills they would like to develop in themselves

Use employee notes on skills they would like to develop to design your own training opportunities.

Use employee notes and compare them to your organization. A sort of 'expectations vs reality' mental exercise.

These lists are in no way exhaustive we just think these leadership training activities are great for effective presentations or meetings that will grow the leadership abilities of your team! We'd love to hear from you in the comments below! Or feel free to shoot us an email [email protected]

Need to save this so you can easily remember? Here is a helpful picture you can save for when you need it!

We love hearing from our readers! Leave us a comment below and tell us your thoughts!

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Leadership Presentation templates

Become a true leader and guide your team to success with these google slides themes and powerpoint templates about leadership. are they born or made onward customize these designs in no time.

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Become a leader.

Inspire other people to learn more, to innovate and to succeed. Design now a workshop to help others become leaders with this smart template.

Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership

Download the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides and start impressing your audience with a creative and original design. Slidesgo templates like this one here offer the possibility to convey a concept, idea or topic in a clear, concise and visual way, by using different...

Leadership Skills IG Post for MK

Show your Instagram followers what it takes to be a great leader with these editable designs full of color and creativity! Instagram is a great tool for sharing tips and creating a community, so educational posts like this one will surely be well-appreciated. Edit the slides of this design and...

Team Leader Project Proposal

After spending some months debating and brainstorming, your team has come up with a new project. Act as a true team leader and present this new idea to your managers with this new template. The main features you'll find in these slides are the use of illustrations and some big...

Leader for Success

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Leadership Conference

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5 Levels of Leadership Infographics

John Maxwell, in his book "The 5 Levels of Leadership" explains that there is a 5-level path that a leader must go through in their continuous improvement process. The first level is position; the second, permission; the third, production; the fourth, development of people and the fifth, pinnacle. Explain all...

Leadership Development Program for Business

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Transformational Leadership Infographics

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Leadership and Teamwork for Business

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Leadership Development Plan Infographics

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Overcome Leadership Challenges Workshop

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Effective Leadership Infographics

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Leadership PowerPoint Templates (Best Leadership Styles and Models for PPT Presentations)

In powerpoint templates ,.

In this blog post, we are going to share with you some of the best leadership PowerPoint templates . From here, you can find and download some of the professional leadership styles and models PPT template designs based on your requirements.

What is Leadership?

Leadership can be described as organizing a group of people and motivating them to achieve one or more goals. Leaders must have empathy, communication skills, honesty, integrity, and charisma. Leadership begins with great communication skills. Leaders strive to create an open environment in which every person has a voice as well as an opportunity to grow politically, professionally, and personally.

Characteristics of Leadership

A good leader inspires his followers through effective communication that emphasizes trust, competence, integrity, commitment, and caring about people’s concerns. A willingness to learn from others is important because it enhances one’s ability to communicate effectively; it also improves one’s credibility. Leaders must have the ability to multi-task, emotional strength and stability, flexible work ethic, persistence, and dedication. They must be able to resolve conflicts at all levels of an organization and between parties. Moreover, effective leaders are trustworthy with a strong sense of justice because they want what is best for everyone – not just themselves or their professional interests.

Who Are Good Leaders?

Leadership requires commitment, involvement in team activities, and results in the successful adoption of a vision that is aligned with organizational goals. Leaders must ensure that their teams (employees) understand their roles as well as the tasks ahead of them in achieving the same goal. In effecting change and innovation within organizations, there must be complete support from all hierarchies. Changing a culture is a team effort, and leaders must be open to ideas that will get the job done.

Leadership is not for everyone. Leaders must also have foresight; he knows where his organization needs to go from point A to point B and beyond. He envisions change scenarios not only in terms of the present but also the future: what will happen if the plan fails? how do we handle this? how do I prevent this from happening again?

Qualities of a Good Leader

• Leaders must be prepared for all team members to have different skill sets. The leader must also balance between giving credit where it is due and maintaining the integrity of the group. Sometimes, a leader’s job can be challenging because people are selfish in nature and leaders must make them feel like they are being heard while still getting everybody on board with the plan.
• The most effective leaders are those who best serve the interest of all parties involved: team members, managers, staff and management, even if it means giving up some personal goals or objectives for the greater good of the organization. The bottom line of effective leaders is really about selfless service rather than selfish gain.
• Leaders must learn to adapt or change in order to deal with different circumstances in respect of communication, analyzing data, decision making, and planning/organizing resources. They should also ensure that they create and maintain an effective team that has a good sense of direction, the urgency to get the job done or simply a shared vision.
• Leaders must be in the forefront of every battle and provide solutions to problems or challenges his team faces; this way, he inspires confidence not only amongst his team but also throughout the organization. After all, a confident leader is one who has complete trust with a strong sense of justice for everyone – not just himself or else.
• The most effective leaders are those who have a true passion for their profession. They really care about their people first before caring about numbers or other metrics that would improve an organization’s standing within its industry, amongst its peers, and even among other businesses in general.

Types of Leadership Styles

There are different types of leadership styles:

Task-orientated:  Task-orientated leaders focus on productivity within the immediate group(s) or organization with little concern for the overall health of the organization. These styles reflect an individual’s behavior in specific situations and environments while in a leadership role.

Laissez-faire style:  Laissez-faire style reflects a leader who is more concerned about their personal agenda where they tend to give orders without any sense of urgency or demands for accountability from subordinates.

Transformational leadership:  Transformational leaders inspire commitment through verbal persuasion rather than aggressive actions because they can identify with members of their team.

Other Important Leadership Styles & Models:

• Transactional Leadership
• Servant Leadership
• Democratic Leadership
• Autocratic Leadership
• Bureaucratic Leadership
• Charismatic Leadership
• Cross-cultural Leadership
• Coaching Leadership
• Affiliative Leadership
• Strategic Leadership
• Situational Leadership

Best Leadership PowerPoint Templates from the SlideSalad Marketplace

Leadership cannot be modeled in isolation. Observing how leaders react to various challenges will help you understand the leadership style. Leaders must motivate their team members so that everyone is on the same page and is ready to work hard together as a unit. So, we are introducing some of the best leadership styles and models PowerPoint templates you can use for your business, companies, or education purposes. All our premium templates got many attractive features such as:

• Fully editable slides
• Professional slide backgrounds and image placeholders
• Unlimited theme colors
• Completely customizable vector icons
• Two screen resolutions: 4:3 and 16:9
• Lifetime support
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1. Lewin’s Leadership Styles Frameworks PowerPoint Template – Leadership PPT Template

This is one of the best leadership PowerPoint templates that explain the theory of Kurt Lewin. He defines that, the perfect management style is always dependent on the situation at hand as well as the manager’s personality. There are three kinds of leadership styles that can be used in different situations. These are Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez-faire leadership styles.

An autocratic leader is someone who generally makes it clear to all employees that they are there for work results rather than personal relationships. When issues arise, they tend to have the final say in making decisions. This type of leadership style is something that relies heavily on the trust of the employee.

Democratic leaders, on the other hand, prefer to have a level of consultation with all employees before making decisions instead of handling things alone. Individual opinions are highly valued as well as participation from all members. Group processes are encouraged within this leadership style, which relies heavily on an inclusive relationship amongst team members rather than an exclusive one based solely on personal loyalty to the boss.

Laissez-faire leaders tend to give their employees a lot of freedom and autonomy that they are expected to use in getting their jobs done. They are also known as “hands-off” leaders who are there merely for guidance and direction but not necessarily involve themselves in the day-to-day operations. Under this type of leadership style, subordinates make all decisions that may lead to failure without consulting them first.

2. Transformational and Transactional Leadership PowerPoint Template – Top Selling Premium Leadership Practices PowerPoint Template

Leadership has always been an important part of business development. This top premium PPT template for leadership contains two types of leadership styles:

• Transformational Leadership Style: Transformational leadership focuses on inspirational influence beyond current productivity levels, while transactional leadership focuses on effective management of subordinates, which in effect results in higher productivity (Bass & Avolio, 1994).
• Transactional Leadership Style: The transactional Leadership style presents a much more effective way of leading and can be implemented in almost any type of business. The concept behind this style is to make minimal demands on workers while giving them as many rewards as possible. Transactional leaders recognize that the needs, wants, and desires of the employees have changed drastically throughout the years due to advances in technology and social structure.

3. Three levels of leadership Model PowerPoint Template – Stunning Leadership PPT Themes for Leaders

James Scouller is the founder of this model, which he has been developing since 1994. In his research, he discovered a pattern that most if not all leaders have, and that is how they interact with people that are important to them in their life. He saw leaders often leading in these three very distinctive ways: public leadership, private leadership, and a personal leadership style which includes interaction with family and friends. These different styles of leading can be obvious when one observes the leader’s behavior. Some of the features of this premium three levels of leadership model PPT template includes:

• Fully customizable slides
• 4:3 and 16:9 screen ratios
• Unlimited color themes
• Colorful infographics
• Thousands of vector icons
• Premium graphics and objects
• Free lifetime updates
• Free lifetime support

4. John Maxwell 5 levels of leadership PowerPoint Template – Minimalist Leadership Styles PPT Templates

In this comprehensive leadership styles PowerPoint template, we are checking the 5 levels of leadership presented by John C. Maxwell. John C. Maxwell’s 5 levels of leadership is an interesting way to look at information about leadership and knowing your place in the team.

• Position – defines our role in an organization, relationships, functions available to us at work, and achievements. It is the place in which we hold an office or a title; it defines what we do and does not have authority over.
• Permission – defines the amount of freedom we allow ourselves within an organization, how comfortable we feel taking risks; it also defines the choices available and those which could be considered for the future.
• Potential – defines our ability to grow beyond our current position through skill development, taking on new challenges, and seeking out different experiences; Potential is what we believe we can become with proper motivation and effort.
• Production – defines what we produce from within ourselves as leaders; It is the amount of work or wealth that comes from an individual or organization over time. If somebody doesn’t produce anything, he/she isn’t considered a good leader; there are no more excuses about your inheritance or family name! As business owners, you need to get production from yourself and/or others around you.
• Position of influence – defines the size an individual has in relation to others; it is the amount of people we impact either positively or negatively; it also includes leadership positions which can be expressed through a large group. It is important for individuals to seek effective ways of influencing those around them for the betterment of all parties concerned.

5. Seven Transformations of Leadership PowerPoint Template – Clean Leadership Management PowerPoint Templates

This beautiful PowerPoint template is presenting the research of Seven Transformation of Leadership. Seven Transformations of Leadership is a leadership theory presented by David Rooke and William R. Torbert. It says there are seven types and styles of “action logic” that leaders develop and master as they progress. This logic determines how leaders assess their surroundings and their reactions when they are being put in challenging situations. One can understand the concept of the leadership theory by understanding “action logic”. Action logic is a specific way in which people think and act. It is used to assess one’s surroundings and create an effective strategy for action. These action logics styles are:

• The Opportunist
• The Diplomat
• The Achiever
• The Individualist
• The Strategist
• The Alchemist

6. Situational Leadership Model PowerPoint Template Diagrams – Professional Leadership Training PPT Templates

The Situational Leadership Model was developed in 1969 by Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey. This model was the result of years of research on what makes a good leader. The primary goal was to create a way that would help leaders and managers get the very best out of their employees regardless of who they are or what they do for a living. There are four leadership styles presented in this professional PowerPoint presentation template:

• S1: Directing
• S2: Coaching
• S3: Supporting
• S4: Delegating

Once you are done editing the template, upload it to Google Drive or OnDrive to access it on any device. If you are interested, you can check some of our Premium Google Slides and Premium Keynote Templates.

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This cool PPT template designs are showcasing the standards of the leadership success profile. According to Maxwell (1990), there are four levels of leadership, the highest being level IV, which is “Proactive”. Level III is “Reactive,” and level II is “Coordinator,” while level 0 is the lowest and most common type of leadership.

Key Knowledge:  A leader must have followers, as well as an understanding of the group or organization they are leading. A leader must have communication, project management training, and the development of others.

Key Experience:  Key experience is the second most crucial component of leadership, a leader must have role models from which he can learn; this includes teachers and coaches.

Leadership Competencies:  Knowledge and experience are the two most crucial components when it comes to leadership; however, competency is what sets excellent leaders apart from their peers. Some of these include change management, conflict resolution, strategic thinking, and effective decision-making.

Leadership Personal Attributes: A leader should have the ability to focus, has discipline and can perform well under pressure, as well as many other qualities that make a good leader great.

Personal Leadership Style:  A leader must be able to understand the strengths as well as weaknesses of themselves in order to better lead their organization or group.

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If you are looking for some of the best leadership models PowerPoint templates, then get these amazing PPT templates for illustrating Fiedler’s Contingency Model. Fiedler’s contingency model of leadership is a significant management theory that addresses the nature and impact of situational variables on leaders and leadership. Leadership behavior and effectiveness are dependent upon the leader’s ability to recognize the context in which they operate, analyze what may require change, and make appropriate decisions. The contingency model describes three key situational factors which can influence leadership efficacy: task structure, relationship systems, and leader-member relationships . Instead of downloading some free leadership PowerPoint templates, get this fully editable PPT template that is packed with professional infographics, vector icons, unlimited color schemes, two display ratios; 4:3 and 16:8, and more.

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Blake and Mouton developed a quadrant-based approach to leadership known as the managerial grid model. The model attempts to quantify leadership styles, with the type of leader fitting into one of four distinct categories based on their focus on people versus production. The grid has two axes, measuring:

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10. Likert’s Leadership Styles Model PowerPoint Template – Recommended Leadership Templates for PowerPoint Presentations

Likert Management System is a style of leadership in which the manager (Leader) attempts to develop an attitude or behavior pattern in Employees. Leaders try to improve the productivity and quality of work through such measures as improved motivation, communication, interaction, influence, decision-making process, goal setting, and control process with the help of Employees.

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• Autocratic (Authoritarian or Directive Style) Management System
• Democratic (Participative or Consultative Style) Management System
• Laissez-faire (Permissive or Neutral Style) Management System
• Authoritative (Friendly or Assertive Style) Management System

11. Leadership Style Matrix PowerPoint Template – Multipurpose Corporate Leadership Training PPT Template

Buy this fantastic PPT template created for explaining the Leadership Style Matrix. The Leadership Style Matrix was developed by Eric Flamholtz and Yvonne Randle and published in their book “Growing Pains” in 2007. The Leadership Style Matrix is divided into four quadrants and two-axis X and Y. The X-axis measures the task, and Y-axis measures employee capabilities. It offers a useful strategy for dealing with conflicts between style and capability. The matrix comprises four quadrants, which not only offer insight into an individual’s style but also helps to develop workgroups by creating synergies within each team. This model highlights a specific style for each team member, and it defines the working relationships that will help a leader to manage his or her individual workgroup successfully. The matrix also explains how different styles can be used to create high-performance teams by leveraging employee capabilities effectively. Each quadrant of the matrix has its own characteristics and is tied to a specific leadership style. The interactions between these styles, i.e., within a single team, defines how the leader should manage their staff members to achieve the best results for a project or venture.

12. Path-Goal Leadership Theory PowerPoint Template – Leadership Management PPT Template

The Path-Goal Theory of Leadership was developed by Martin Evans and Robert House in 1971. The theory is based on the expectancy theory of motivation, a proposition that people are motivated to behave in ways that will lead them to achieve certain outcomes (rewards). The key assumptions of this research center around the idea that employees have a clear understanding of expectations and goals. The theory assumes leaders are able to influence and control the motivation of subordinates in order for them to achieve desired goals. Leaders must show competence for employees to follow them willingly. Successful leadership is when subordinates are able to mold their own goals and objectives through the leader’s guidance. Thus, the path-goal theory incorporates a form of leadership similar to what managers do in everyday life. Purchase this Path-Goal Leadership Theory PowerPoint Template for your presentation!

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This simple and minimalist PowerPoint theme is excellent support for presenting Theory X and Theory Y, and Theory Z. Theory Y and Theory X are terms first used by the 20th-century psychologist Douglas McGregor. According to McGregor, “theory Y” describes an individual’s belief that their goals can be best achieved through cooperation rather than competition. The opposite of this is “theory X,” which focuses on the idea that competition and self-interest are necessary for success.

Theory Z was developed by Dr. William Ouchi while he was a professor at UCLA’s School of Management in the 1980s. Theory Z is based on the idea that Americans can improve their management style by not copying the Japanese style but by identifying what American managers do and what makes them effective and adding some innovative features.

14. ABCD Trust Model PowerPoint Template – Leadership Development PPT Themes and Designs

ABCD Trust Model was proposed by The One Minute Manager Ken Blanchard in 2013. In his book, he talks about the ABCD Trust Model. These four attributes are the basis of trust. The four constituents of this acronym stand for:

A – Able – you have to be able to do your job.

B – Believable – your inner convictions or beliefs must be acceptable.

C – Connected – with the organization and its people.

D – Dependable – you have to be reliable.

Applying the ABCD Trust Model in practical terms means that leaders, managers, and associates must be accountable in delivering on promises they make to one another; others, in turn, must treat each other fairly in performing roles and responsibilities. You can present this model in even webinars. Also, have a look at some of the best webinar PowerPoint templates selling on the SlideSalad marketplace.

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The Tannenbaum-Schmidt Leadership Continuum model is a simple leadership theory model. It was developed by Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt in 1958 and titled ‘How to Choose a Leadership Pattern. The leadership pattern model is based on the idea that a leader will grow and develop in terms of their leadership skills and abilities. This means that a level one leader cannot be expected to do everything at once if they are placed in a position that requires them to complete many complex tasks as well as maintain morale amongst co-workers and subordinates. Tannenbaum and Schmidt outlined seven points on the continuum to make it easy to understand how different leaders behave at various points on the continuum. To be considered a good leader, a person must be able to master the behaviors on both ends of the continuum.

There are a few things to consider before moving someone along the continuum. The most important of these prerequisites is that their values match those required by the position. Get this premium leadership PPT template rather than downloading free PowerPoint templates.

16. Goleman Six Leadership Styles PowerPoint Template – Leadership Styles PowerPoint Designs for Presentations

Daniel Goleman identified six different leadership styles in his book Primal Leadership, each with different emotional effects. The six styles are displayed as a continuum, with each style building on the success of the previous style while not being dependent on it. Start at the top of the continuum and work your way down to develop an understanding of them all. These are the following:

• Commanding leadership style
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• Affiliative leadership style
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17. The Emotional Competence Framework PowerPoint Template – Leadership Standards PowerPoint Templates and Themes

Daniel Goleman’s book “Working with Emotional Intelligence”, emotional competence affects the performance of employees in the workplace, which is a learned ability that is based on emotional intelligence.” The main focus of emotional competence is the cognitive aspect. Cognitive development, social skills, and personality development from childhood to adulthood. In adulthood, an individual’s behaviors, values & attitudes are observed through their actions which can lead to benefits or problems within the work environment. Emotional competence is divided into two categories:

• Personal Competence (Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, and Self-Motivation)
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18. Belbin’s Team Roles Model PowerPoint Template Diagrams – Best Leadership Frameworks PPT Themes and Designs

Belbin Team Roles is a model that identifies nine different specific roles of team members in successful teams. According to Dr. Belbin, every successful team contains all nine roles, and the team’s full potential is realized only when it has all nine. These roles range from leaders and idea people to harmonizers who bring harmony among members. Belbin’s Team Roles mentioned in this creative PowerPoint template includes:

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Each role has a different function within the team which leads to strengths and weaknesses in each individual. Every role is unique as all individuals are different individuals; however, every person does fall into one of these roles.

19. Leadership Process Model PowerPoint Template – Top Leadership Transformation PowerPoint Template

Dunham and Pierce (1989) define leadership as an interactive process of influence through which a leader can assist followers in attaining their higher-order needs. The learning involved in this process considers situational factors and individual differences among followers. The four factors of the Dunham and Pierce Leadership Process Model PPT template are:

• The Context

The leader uses his or her knowledge and skill to influence the followers in their environment in such a way that they are more successful than before. This can be accomplished by: leading people toward goals, providing direction, communicating information, or helping followers make decisions. Whatever the method, leaders must create a vision for an organization and provide feedback on progress towards achieving the vision.

20. Skill Will Matrix PowerPoint Template Slides – Unique Leadership Strategies PowerPoint Designs

The skill will matrix is a simple framework used to assess and determine an individual’s (team member) skill level and willingness to perform a specific task or role. The Skill-Will Matrix has four quadrants: Differently skilled people with different levels of motivation can be grouped into four categories.

• The upper-left quadrant of the skill will matrix is for “highly skilled and highly motivated” people who are a manager’s dream team members. They are self-directed, disciplined, and ready to work hard to achieve the goals they set themselves.
• The upper-right quadrant is for “highly skilled but low motivation” people. They can be difficult to manage because they are not motivated to work hard without the proper incentive or reward. They are motivated when they feel that their opinions are valued and solicited by management and team members.
• The lower-right quadrant is for “low skilled but high motivation” people who make excellent candidates for a team leader position since they will work hard to motivate others, although they lack the qualification required for actual leadership roles.
• The lower-left quadrant is for “high skilled and low motivation” people who will only accept management positions if they can excel at it; otherwise, they become a drain on the company because their sense of duty and dedication is not enough to motivate them to work hard or improve themselves. They have no incentive to lead any team, even though they have great potential for leadership roles.

Because of this high potential, all managers should be attentive to these individuals, giving them the opportunity to prove their leadership skills by finding other ways to contribute to the company’s success without leading a group. This best clean and minimalist leadership PowerPoint is a great choice for pitch deck presentations , project management presentations, and more.

Conclusion:

Leadership is about putting your own personal agenda aside and focusing on improving the overall health of your organization as well as the welfare of your subordinates. The greatest leaders are those who truly care for their people during tough times by remaining calm, cool, and collected so that they can be open to new ideas, better ways, or alternative perspectives. These best leadership PowerPoint templates are one of the top professional leadership styles and models PPT themes you can download without thinking. Purchase the needed templates from the SlideSalad marketplace and start your presentation today!

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What We Can Learn from Great Political Speakers

A conversation with former Obama speechwriter Terry Szuplat on commanding an audience, no matter the size.

• Apple Podcasts

The worlds of business and politics might seem worlds apart, but executives can learn a lot from the most successful political communicators. Terry Szuplat spent several years on the speechwriting team for President Barack Obama, helping to carefully craft his messages and win over audiences. He has gone on to coach business leaders including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and he says that many of the same principles for good speechwriting and delivery apply - whether you’re giving a presentation to your team, pitching a client, or making comments in a moment of crisis. He explains the importance of authenticity and personal stories, structure, language choice and presence. Szuplat is the author of the book  Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience .

ALISON BEARD: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I’m Alison Beard.

In the political world, success often depends on being an inspirational public speaker, and we all know a good speech when we hear one.

JOHN F KENNEDY: Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was “civis Romanus sum.” Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein Berliner.

RONALD REGAN: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

BARACK OBAMA: And that means that when I said the fate of the republic rests on you, I wasn’t joking. But that shouldn’t make you fearful that should make you excited. It’s not often where you can move the arc of history.

ALISON BEARD: Now, your next conference talk or all-staff presentation might not seem comparable to a presidential address, but our guest today says there’s a lot business leaders can learn from the most talented political speechmakers about how to effectively communicate, persuade, and captivate an audience.

Terry Szuplat was a speechwriter for President Obama and now teaches at American University. He’s also a keynote speaker and trainer and has helped many executives, including Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, to hone their public speaking skills. He wrote the book Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience. Terry, thanks for being here.

TERRY SZUPLAT: Thanks so much for having me.

ALISON BEARD: First question, is public speaking really as an important a skill for business leaders to master as it is for politicians? Do we all really need to be good at this to succeed in the corporate world?

TERRY SZUPLAT: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think when you look back at some of the most successful business leaders of all time, they were great communicators. Steve Jobs is one. Spend a moment on LinkedIn and every day people are dissecting his speeches even now. A great product, a great service can only get you so far. You have to be able to get up and sell it with enthusiasm and energy. And so yeah, absolutely.

ALISON BEARD: And how much of being a great public speaker is natural talent versus practice? Is it even possible for someone who starts out afraid of public speaking or tentative or just not good at it to get to a Steve Jobs or Obama level with a lot of work?

TERRY SZUPLAT: I’m so glad you asked that because this is one of the phrases that kind of drives me insane. We hear it all the time, “Oh, that person is a naturally gifted speaker.” I don’t think anyone is a naturally gifted speaker. I think like any skill, it’s a skill that you can learn and you can improve upon and you can get better at it.

When Barack Obama was a young community organizer in Chicago in his twenties, he was giving a speech and he froze up. And as someone who wrote for him for years, I was stunned by this because we all remember that speech where he came out in 2004 and burst onto the national scene with a very memorable speech. I was fascinated, how do you go from being a 20-something year old who freezes up giving a speech to someone who can give a remarkable address like that? And he told me the story of how he worked to get better and he practiced and he trained and he worked hard on becoming a better communicator.

So this isn’t just something you’re born with. It isn’t something that some people are inherently better at. It takes practice. Steve Jobs practiced over and over and over again so that when he finally came out on the stage and he wasn’t saying it for the first time. And so you can get better. Even as someone who struggled with public speaking myself, you can practice, you can rehearse. You can make your presentations more effective and deal with any anxieties that you feel on the stage in the moment.

ALISON BEARD: When you start to work with an executive who wants to get better, what’s your first step?

TERRY SZUPLAT: One of the most important things is to get ourselves in the right mindset. I think the biggest thing that’s going on when people are anxious about public speaking, and I’ve had clients like this. I had a client once who had been extremely successful in finance, but all of a sudden found himself in a public-facing role for the first time in his life in his fifties, and he was very anxious about it.

One of the things I tried to talk him through was that he had a story to tell and a perspective to share that no one else in the world has. We all have our own stories, our own experiences, our own careers, and a lot of people make the mistake that they have to match somebody else. They have to match the other three people on the panel. But we should all sort of give the speech that only we can give, think deeply about what we bring to the situation, what we can say that no one else can say, the stories that we can bring from our own careers, our own experiences. That’s what makes us unique.

And I say that because it actually helps take some of the anxiety out of it, when you realize that no one else in the world can tell that story better than you. And when I ask my clients, “Okay, tell me the story of how you started the company or tell me the story of the biggest challenge you faced in your company,” all of a sudden their face lights up, they start telling stories that they’ve had inside them all along. And so giving them the space to just be who they are and not have to think that they have to match some unattainable ideal, I find is just a huge mind shift that puts people in a better spot to be able to go out and, again, give the presentation that only they can give.

ALISON BEARD: Thinking about those very personal things, like the sacred story or your unique voice or personality, how do you apply that when it’s not the big keynote address or retirement speech? When it’s the presentation at the all staff or the quarterly earnings call?

TERRY SZUPLAT: I’ve helped companies with their quarterly earnings call. And those can be very dry. When you look at the books filled with the greatest speeches in history, there aren’t many earnings calls in those speeches.

ALISON BEARD: No.

TERRY SZUPLAT: But even those are an opportunity to do what I think all great speakers have to do, again, whether you’re speaking to 5,000 people or 50 people or five people, you’ve got to tell a story – like all great stories, the basic lessons that we learn in school as kids, that stories have a clear beginning, a clear middle, and a clear end. There’s a narrative arc to them and there’s a clear takeaway.

And oftentimes on earnings calls it’s just loaded with numbers, loaded with data, and you get to the end of this 10-minute presentation and your head is spinning with so much data, you’ve lost the thread. You don’t know what’s the takeaway. What did that company want me to think about their earnings that quarter? So I think making sure that you’ve, and I write about this in the book, all the things you should do before you give a presentation, even a small one of sitting down, finding a quiet space and just thinking deeply about what it is you’re trying to accomplish.

One of the things that I talked about with President Obama once, I said, “You’re a very effective public speaker. What do you think makes someone an effective speaker?” And he said something that I agree with, which is effective public speakers are people who are sure of their core convictions.

And I think we see that a lot in the business world and in politics. The speaker has thought deeply about who they are, what they believe, what their values are, what they’re trying to achieve, what their goals are, and they can articulate them clearly because they’ve thought through them clearly.

I encourage people, if you have to give a presentation in a week, a month, or a few months to sit down with yourself, maybe with your team, if you have one, if you’re a business leader, and go through these 10 questions that I lay out, what you’re trying to achieve, what is my mission? What is my vision?

I mean, these are big questions. They’re a little scary for some people, but I think that’s why a lot of people don’t do it. It forces you to think deeply about who you are and what you’re trying to achieve. But that’s what great leaders do and that’s what great speakers do.

ALISON BEARD: So it sounds like you’re saying that when you’re working with people, you want to spend just as much time on the planning than you do on the writing and the delivery.

TERRY SZUPLAT: Absolutely. In fact, I spend far more time planning than we do on the writing. So here I am, I’m called a speechwriter, but I spend most of my time researching and thinking and planning and interviewing, getting to know the person, helping them get to know themselves better.

I had client once who had run a series of investment institutions and we were sitting around her table and I was getting ready to help her deliver a commencement speech and asked her a lot of these questions: Tell me about your upbringing. Tell me about why you do this work. Why did you get involved in business? What were the biggest challenges you had when you started your business? What have the biggest challenges that you’ve overcome as you run your business?

And at one point, she put her hand up, she said, “All right, this is starting to feel like a therapy session.” And I was thrilled. I said, “That’s exactly what this is. This is exactly, we’re thinking deeply about who you are, what you believe, and what you want to communicate so that you can be an authentic, sincere leader who connects with your audience on a human level and they don’t feel like they’re getting a policy briefing because that’s not what a speech is, that’s not what a presentation is.”

And so, yeah, I spend far more… I have something that I call the 50/25/25 rule, which is how to use your time to prepare. And I suggest that however much time you have to get ready, a week, a month, a few days, a few hours, just spend the first 50% of your time thinking, researching, writing down ideas. It takes the pressure off. You don’t have to start writing your presentation or producing your PowerPoint slide decks right away. Only then, once you have all your ideas, you can spend maybe 25% of your time writing and 25% of your time practicing, building, making sure you build in that time for practicing, which particularly in business I see a lot of leaders don’t do it, folks are busy, schedules are packed. But making sure you protect that and reserve that space for practicing is very important.

ALISON BEARD: So let’s talk about the writing process. First of all, how do you think about structure? We are all told to hook people from the start. What’s the best way to do that?

TERRY SZUPLAT: It all depends on the audience, the scenario, the setting, what you’re trying to achieve. But there’s, I mean, all sorts of ways to do it. The most important thing you need to do is hook them, grab them in some way so that they want to keep listening.

I think one of the biggest mistakes that speakers make is that they don’t think enough about that opening sentence, the opening words. Back at the White House, we’d spend a lot of time thinking about when the speaker comes out, in our case, it was the president, when you come out as a business leader, what are the very first words out of your mouth? Because that more than perhaps anything else in the speech is going to decide whether you connect with your audience or not.

Sometimes it can be as simple as, and you’re going to laugh when I say this, saying hello enthusiastically. I know every time I say this, people laugh. I am stunned that more speakers don’t do this. They walk out, they rustle their papers, and they start ticking through a long list of acknowledgements. There is nothing interesting or engaging or inspiring about that.

Now imagine someone who comes out with a little pep in their step and they look at the audience and here’s a crazy idea they smile and they say hello, good morning, good afternoon. Just they’re human. I’m stunned that more people don’t do it. It’s one of the simplest, easy ways to just connect with your audience.

ALISON BEARD: It’s how all pastors greet their congregations, right?

TERRY SZUPLAT: Yes. Think about when you’re at church or synagogue or temple, at mosque, what do they do? They greet you. And the greatest thing about that is I think one of the mistakes a lot of speakers make is they go too far in this direction. They do this awful thing, “Good morning everybody. How are you doing today?” Now all of a sudden, you’ve put your audience on the spot. You’re asking them to somehow give you something, which raises the bar. And then if they don’t do it, if they don’t say good morning back to you, or if they don’t, then know all of a sudden it’s awkward. So you’re 20 seconds out and all of a sudden things have gone off the rails. So I don’t encourage people to try to get their audience to respond like that. They will do it naturally if you come out and greet your audience.

There’s all sorts… I mean, one of the most… Again, another really effective way to do it, a lot of leaders find themselves in situations where we haven’t been introduced. So we actually have to introduce ourselves to the audience. And one of the most effective ways to do that is in one sentence say who you are, and that takes work.

In one sentence, how would you like the audience to perceive you? A lot of situations we get to decide that. It’s a little scary, but it’s also an incredible opportunity. You see this at a lot of congressional hearings. One of the great examples was when Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower, testified before Congress, and she had this great opening where she said, “Good morning, my name is Frances Haugen. I joined Facebook because I believe it could connect people and make the world a better place.” But I’m here today because I believe it’s doing, I’m paraphrasing, great damage to our country.

ALISON BEARD: Yeah.

TERRY SZUPLAT: In one or two sentences, she told you who she is, what she does, why she cares, why she’s there today. I mean…

ALISON BEARD: It’s a good opportunity to communicate that sort of sacred story. Why are you the person who’s telling this story? Yeah.

TERRY SZUPLAT: Yes.

ALISON BEARD: And so what needs to happen in the middle of the speech for it to be effective?

TERRY SZUPLAT: So you’ve got your opening to me is your chance to establish some sort of emotional human connection with your audience, right. Then yeah, you get to the sort of meat of your presentation, the middle. I mean and to me that’s really where the heavy work is done, that’s where you’re persuading, that’s where you’re making your case, that’s where you’re really trying to bring your audience along to help them see your point of view.

And I think there are various… Again, there’s no one way to do this because no one presentation, but I think one of the most important things that we can do, especially in the business world, is I think we have to beware of the danger of data, specifically too much data. And I think another big mistake that a lot of speakers make is we load our audiences up, which is way too many numbers, way too many facts and figures.

The audience typically doesn’t have the script in front of them. So all they can do is listen. All they can do is process. It’s an auditory experience. And most people are not taking notes. So you hit them with 30 numbers, 30 statistics, you’re just overwhelming your audience.

And there’s all sorts of research, and when you do this too many numbers can actually make people less likely to donate to your organization or volunteer for your organization or become an employee or apply. I think we have to be really careful of not overloading our audiences.

And the other flip side of that is, okay, well, if not numbers, then what? I think it comes back to human stories. Again, lots of research that I include in the book shows that when you tell someone a human story about another human being, they perk up, they listen. They’re more likely to join an organization, partner, volunteer. A lot of this happens in the middle of the speech where you’re slowly bringing your audience to your point of view.

ALISON BEARD: And that’s important for people to remember, even when it is that presentation to the team about the latest sales number, you want to bring in a story about a customer or the mission and vision of the sales organization and how you’re achieving it.

TERRY SZUPLAT: I’m so glad you said that because I get this a lot in a lot of the workshops I do or the training sessions. I work with a lot of corporate communication teams or corporate speech writers, and they say, “Well, our industry, our sector, they want the numbers. They want the data.” And right, I’m not saying no numbers ever, no data ever. Of course, you need to show your investors the return on their investment that they’re going to get. You need to show a potential partner how your product or your service is going to make their business more profitable, more efficient, what have you.

The mistake though is that people go too far in that direction. So it’s a hundred percent numbers. And I think as you said, there’s always a story to tell. You can tell the story of why you chose to be in this sector, why you love your work. You could tell the story of a customer, you could tell the story of a partner, and you want to tell the story of a customer whose life is better and changed.

So we talk about great stories and great speeches having a clear beginning, middle, and end. Well, that tracks not coincidentally to the three elements of any great pitch or presentation, which is problem, solution, change. You want to lay out the problem you’re trying to fix. You want to offer your solution, your product, your company, your service, and you need to show the difference it’s going to make in the life of that consumer or that company. And if you do those three things, you’re on track for an effective, persuasive presentation. You don’t do those things, why should anyone buy your product?

ALISON BEARD: When it comes to the ending, what is the best way to leave people doing the thing you’re asking them to do or thinking the way you want them to think or wanting to hear more from you?

TERRY SZUPLAT: The ending is the wrap up. This is not the time for you to be introducing new concepts. If the beginning is sort of the emotional connection that you establish, the human connection with your audience, making them want to listen to your middle, the ending is just a way to, again, bring it back to the emotional connection so they actually want to go out there.

So you can do all sorts of things. You can do a recap. I mean, that’s common. You don’t have to recite every single point. If you have five points to your presentation, you don’t have to recite every single and you can quickly tick through them. But to me, I think the best thing an ending can do is, again, leave the audience with a sense of empowerment and vision and hope.

To me, there is only one way to end any sort of speech, any presentation of any kind. You have to end with hope. So you’ve got to give your audience hope that whatever your vision is, whatever your solution is can actually be achieved. You have to paint a picture of the future where it’s actually working. Otherwise, why is your team going to work extra hours? Why are they going to put in the extra work? Why are they going to do everything it takes to launch that new service, that new product?

There’s a great neuroscientist out of London called Tali Sharot. She and others have spent years studying how we all as humans think about the present and the future. And they find that we tend to overestimate the likelihood of good things happening in our lives and our careers and underestimate the likelihood of bad things happening. And she and others call it the optimism bias.

And she has this beautiful phrase that she says that she thinks biologically, chemically in our brain where hardwired for hope. I just absolutely love that because I think if you accept the fact that most of the people in your audience are hardwired for hope, they want the future to be better, they want the product to work, then if you as a speaker, if you can tap into that hope, it’s one of the most powerful things you can give your audience. They can go back to their desk, go back to work, and pull out all the stops and do the things you’re asking of them.

ALISON BEARD: One point you make that is near and dear to my heart is that people should use simple conversational language even when you’re talking to a really intelligent audience of peers or your bosses. So why is that so important?

TERRY SZUPLAT: It’s so important because, here’s the brilliant, crazy, radical idea, if people can’t understand you, they can’t do what you want. How’s that for boiling it down?

ALISON BEARD: Perfect. Very simple. Very conversational.

TERRY SZUPLAT: Yeah, right? There you go. When we get up and stand in front of a group of people in business, anywhere in our lives, we’re doing that because we’re asking to do something, to think differently, to act differently, to do more, to work harder, what have you. They’re not going to do that if they don’t understand what we’re saying. If we are just falling back on all these buzzwords and jargon and corporate speak, the sort of word salad that we’ve convinced ourselves means something, then they won’t do what you want to do.

I had someone say to me once, they said, “Well, if 90% of my audience understands me, I consider that a success.” And I was like, “Absolutely no, I consider that an abject failure because that means 10% of your audience didn’t understand what you were saying. And among that 10% might’ve been your next investor, your next donor, your next partner, your next customer. So why would you leave 10% of your audience out in the dark? Think of how many deals you’re missing, how many partnerships you’re missing when people can’t understand you.”

So yeah, I call it the barbecue rule also, which is that imagine if you were at a barbecue with your family and your friends and they asked you what you do for a living. You wouldn’t just bombard them with jargon and buzzwords and things like synergies and leveraging innovations and catalyzing outcomes and leveraging innovation, yet those are the kind of phrases we hear all the time, particularly in business. You would just talk to your family and friends in a more human conversational way. And so I lay out ways that we can all do that, especially in business.

ALISON BEARD: Yeah. What’s your view on including jokes?

TERRY SZUPLAT: Many, many times a client has come to me and said, “I need a joke. I need to open with a joke.” And my answer typically is, “No, you do not.” You are not a stand-up comedian. No one expects you to be. You do not need to open with a joke, a canned joke. No one wants to hear a priest or rabbi, minister walk into a bar. Nobody wants to hear that stuff.

What I think people are getting at is that you don’t need a joke, you just need some humor. You just need some humanity. You can use humor and humanity to open your speech in a way that connects with your audience, maybe gets them to chuckle, brings a little levity, but it’s not “joke.”

You know, a little bit of self-deprecation goes a long way. And many of us are parents, many of our spouses, our kids are always keeping us in line and taking us down a notch. These are things we can all relate to. I lay out some of those ways in the book.

One of the writers on our team who did a lot of the comedy writing for President Obama said something to me once that I thought was really powerful. And he said, “Humor is a tool to remind us of the things that we share and to delight your audience in a way that surprises them around shared connections.” So you think about the times you chuckle, the times you laugh, that’s what’s going on. You’re chuckling because yeah, they’re saying something you know to be true.

ALISON BEARD: You also make the point that any great speech will be fully written out, even if you’re not using a teleprompter. So why not notes or bullet points so that you’re speaking more naturally?

TERRY SZUPLAT: Right. So I have no problem with people, and I do this myself. By the time you get to the podium, sure, you might boil your speech, your presentation down to an outline, a few key points on the back of an envelope, something like that. What I’m getting at when I say we have to write it out is I think until we… There’s an old saying, if you haven’t written it out, you haven’t thought it out. And it’s really easy to get up there in front of a group and just sort of talk. Many of us can talk.

The hard thing is until you’ve written your speech out, you haven’t thought through your arguments. I’ve seen this many times where I’ll be sitting around with a CEO and they bring in the team of advisors and “Okay, today we’re going to talk about what we want to get done in this presentation.” And everybody has a thought and everybody has ideas. They’re great ideas. But then as the writer, I go back and I try to write it down and realize, oh, point one didn’t really lead to point two and it didn’t really set up point three. When you’re just talking it out loud, you don’t necessarily see that.

So number one, writing it out forces you to confront the logic and the errors in your own arguments. Two, it’s a great way for your organization to see what your real priorities are. If you haven’t written it down, you haven’t thought through your priorities clearly.

And I would just say sometimes writing it down can be a forcing mechanism. It can help you and your team come to a conclusion. I’ve seen this many times where a policy or a product isn’t fully rolled out, but meanwhile, everyone’s writing the script to roll it out. And that process of writing the words down helps you understand better what your pitch is.

And I’d say, finally, you have to practice. Great speakers practice, presidents practice, great CEOs practice. And you can’t practice if you don’t have some sort of script to work on. I really believe in this deeply. I’ve seen CEOs who don’t have a written script and every time they practice it, it comes out completely different. And so then they practice five times, it’s five different speeches, and then no one knows what’s going to happen when they actually get up to speak for real. By the time you get to the podium, you may not read it word for word, but I still think there’s tremendous value in writing out your presentations word for word.

ALISON BEARD: So how does all of this apply in more on-the-spot speaking situations that are still high stakes, like a job interview, for example?

TERRY SZUPLAT: Yes. Actually did a LinkedIn post about this recently in lead up to the presidential debates because a debate really is a job interview. And I think a lot of the same lessons of a great presentation apply to an interview. In this case, your audience is maybe one person or two or three people, depending on how many people are interviewing you. And I think the process that I’ve described to you today is very much the same. Spending a lot of time researching, knowing the history and the background and the vision and the values of your audience, the organization that you’re seeking to join. Telling stories that only you can tell about your experiences. Not giving generic answers, but telling stories about, again, with every answer having three parts, a problem, a solution, and an end. A problem that you faced in your old job, of the solution that you offered and the change in the result that it delivered, how it improved your organization.

So much of what I describe in the book can work for a job interview as well. You know, smiling, saying hello, ending with hope, the hope that you’re going to be able to work together and what you can bring that organization. These lessons work whether you’re speaking to a thousand people or one person.

ALISON BEARD: Well, thank you so much for your time today. I learned a lot.

TERRY SZUPLAT: Thank you so much for having me.

ALISON BEARD: That’s Terry Szuplat, a former speech writer for President Obama and author of the book Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience.

And we have more episodes and more podcasts to help you manage your team, your organization, and your career. Find them at hbr.org/podcasts or search HBR on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Thanks to our team, Senior Producer Mary Dooe, Associate Producer Hannah Bates, Audio Product Manager Ian Fox, and Senior Production Specialist Rob Eckhardt. And thanks to you for listening to the HBR IdeaCast . We’ll be back with a new episode on Tuesday. I’m Alison Beard.

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This article is about business communication.

• Presentation skills
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• Managing yourself
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• Corporate communications

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