full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ipsita Dasgupta: To challenge the status quo, find a "co-conspirator"

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Five or six hours before our presentation, a senior colleague peluld us aside and sat down and gave us a front-seat view of what had happened all week. We knew about ploepe who had bombed their presentations. We knew about people who had almost been instantaneously promoted in the room. We knew what was keeping the CEO up at night and what he thought were tailwinds to the business. And when we walked into that presentation later in the day, we actually got buy-in with both the CEO and his senior staff. And it wasn't just because of our aainslys or our strategy. It was because we were prepped to be able to communicate in a way that the team could asobrb. Now, this sienor colleague of ours didn't pull us aside, because he weantd to gossip. He pulled us aside because he biveeeld we were unconventional in the boardroom. That unconventionality was exactly why he wanted us to think about this new, frseh perspective and provide a view on where this business should go. But he also knew it was a distinct disadvantage for us, because we didn't know how to pseernt in that room, and we hadn't done it before, and they weren't used to receiving us.

Open Cloze


Five or six hours before our presentation, a senior colleague ______ us aside and sat down and gave us a front-seat view of what had happened all week. We knew about ______ who had bombed their presentations. We knew about people who had almost been instantaneously promoted in the room. We knew what was keeping the CEO up at night and what he thought were tailwinds to the business. And when we walked into that presentation later in the day, we actually got buy-in with both the CEO and his senior staff. And it wasn't just because of our ________ or our strategy. It was because we were prepped to be able to communicate in a way that the team could ______. Now, this ______ colleague of ours didn't pull us aside, because he ______ to gossip. He pulled us aside because he ________ we were unconventional in the boardroom. That unconventionality was exactly why he wanted us to think about this new, _____ perspective and provide a view on where this business should go. But he also knew it was a distinct disadvantage for us, because we didn't know how to _______ in that room, and we hadn't done it before, and they weren't used to receiving us.

Solution


  1. people
  2. fresh
  3. pulled
  4. believed
  5. present
  6. wanted
  7. analysis
  8. absorb
  9. senior

Original Text


Five or six hours before our presentation, a senior colleague pulled us aside and sat down and gave us a front-seat view of what had happened all week. We knew about people who had bombed their presentations. We knew about people who had almost been instantaneously promoted in the room. We knew what was keeping the CEO up at night and what he thought were tailwinds to the business. And when we walked into that presentation later in the day, we actually got buy-in with both the CEO and his senior staff. And it wasn't just because of our analysis or our strategy. It was because we were prepped to be able to communicate in a way that the team could absorb. Now, this senior colleague of ours didn't pull us aside, because he wanted to gossip. He pulled us aside because he believed we were unconventional in the boardroom. That unconventionality was exactly why he wanted us to think about this new, fresh perspective and provide a view on where this business should go. But he also knew it was a distinct disadvantage for us, because we didn't know how to present in that room, and we hadn't done it before, and they weren't used to receiving us.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
societal norms 2
mortality rates 2
senior colleague 2
grad school 2
law school 2
school classes 2
store owner 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
law school classes 2

Important Words


  1. absorb
  2. analysis
  3. believed
  4. boardroom
  5. bombed
  6. business
  7. ceo
  8. colleague
  9. communicate
  10. day
  11. disadvantage
  12. distinct
  13. fresh
  14. gave
  15. gossip
  16. happened
  17. hours
  18. instantaneously
  19. keeping
  20. knew
  21. night
  22. people
  23. perspective
  24. prepped
  25. present
  26. presentation
  27. presentations
  28. promoted
  29. provide
  30. pull
  31. pulled
  32. receiving
  33. room
  34. sat
  35. senior
  36. staff
  37. strategy
  38. tailwinds
  39. team
  40. thought
  41. unconventional
  42. unconventionality
  43. view
  44. walked
  45. wanted
  46. week