Nancy Duarte
CEO at Duarte Incorporated
Nancy Duarte is a bestselling author, speaker, and CEO of Duarte Incorporated, which has helped create over 250,000 presentations for the world's most influential business leaders and institutions including Apple, TED, Google, the World Bank, and Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth.
Dimension Profile
Key Themes
Episode Summary
Nancy Duarte shares tactical advice for improving presentations, telling better stories, and laying out convincing arguments, drawing on 35 years and over 250,000 presentations created for the world's top leaders. She reveals her 'what is vs what could be' contrast framework that works in any moment of influence, from board presentations to getting your spouse to do chores.
Leadership Principles
- → Every moment of influence benefits from contrast between what is and what could be
- → Great presentations work in any format — meetings, phone calls, not just big stage talks
- → Data storytelling requires standing in front of data and making it human
Notable Quotes
"A lot of people think that the only time you really need to present well is when you have a big stage talk. I can get my husband to do chores for me on the weekends with a real quick what is, what could be."
— On how the contrast framework works in any moment of influence, not just formal presentations
"I have the whole history of the Silicon Valley in a way. Every little startup and then they grew to massive brands — you could actually look at the rise and fall of all these companies."
— On 35 years of crafting presentations for Silicon Valley companies
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