Walter Lewin was an MIT professor who taught fairly dull physics material. And yet, his lectures were packed, and had his students clapping and cheering, sitting on the edge of their seats.
How?
Take his stunt with 53 million views on Youtube:
“I’m going to put my life on the line,” he begins, “to show you I’m a real believer in the conservation of energy.”
He holds a bowling ball - which is acting as a pendulum hanging from the ceiling - to his chin, closes his eyes, and lets go. The ball swings to the other side of the room, then swings back, on a collision course to crack Lewin’s skull open.
Of course, it doesn’t.
(Because of conservation of energy ‘n all 🙂)
It stops harmlessly 5 cm from his chin, causing his students to roar with delight. See the video at 25 mins in here.
🚪 Why was Lewin a legend?
Now, was Lewin a better physicist than his colleagues? Probably not. Did he cover different material? Nope - same curriculum everyone else taught.
But here's what made him legendary: he understood that you have a choice in how you do everything.
You can teach physics the way everyone else does - equations on a blackboard, dry explanations, forgettable lectures. Or you can teach it in a way that makes people lean forward in their seats and tell their friends about it years later. And get 25 million views on your lectures.
Lewin chose showmanship. And that choice made him unforgettable in a sea of extremely-qualified-but-boring professors. Lewin won awards for his teaching, more than objectively “better” teachers on MIT’s payroll.
This same principle applies to everything you do in your career. Every presentation, email, meeting, or project gives you the same fundamental choice: blend in with everyone else doing the bare minimum, or find a way to be memorable.
Most people default to boring. Which is exactly why showmanship works.
So, how do you develop showmanship in your own career?
Here’s a few ideas:
🪝 Master the hook
Did you know that sharks actually can’t smell blood a mile away?
It’s true.
What they can do, though, is detect blood molecules in water around them at 10 parts per billion, allowing them to “home in” to their prey like a heat-seeking missile.
What’s this got to do with careers?
Well, nothing.
But it has got your attention hasn’t it? And that, my friend, is the job of a hook.
Three easy ideas of how to actually do it:
- Next presentation, instead of "Today we'll review our sales strategy," try starting with a striking statistic: "Did you know 90% of our leads vanish after the first call? Let's find out why."
- Sending an email? Replace the usual boring opener ("Hope this finds you well") with a quick intriguing hook relating to your key idea: "Quick question: why did our last email campaign flop?"
- On LinkedIn, instead of a generic headline ("Marketing at XYZ Corp"), try something punchy and intriguing like "I help brands go from invisible to unmissable." Or open your next LinkedIn post with a surprising question, statistic, or bold claim. Hooks aren’t just for emails and presentations — they’re perfect for getting noticed online, too.
Speaking of LinkedIn —
I kept seeing friends with amazing experience get zero messages on LinkedIn while others got flooded with opportunities. The difference wasn't their experience - it was how they optimized their profiles.
We built a free tool that shows you exactly how to optimize yours. Takes 30 seconds:
Just shifting your opening to something intriguing will immediately make people lean in, not zone out.
🧱 Play Jenga
It’s 2008, and Jared Vennett has 10 minutes to convince four investors that:
- the American housing market is about to collapse, and
- to invest tens of millions in “credit default swaps” as a way to bet against it.
Two problems: the investors don’t trust Jared, and explaining the imminent housing collapse isn’t easy (especially when everyone else disagreed).
So, what does Jared do?
Jenga.
He brings in a tower of Jenga.
And by taking one block away at a time, he shows how once the sh*tty mortgage loans start going bad, the whole thing collapses.
Brilliant showmanship - check it out here (from the movie, The Big Short).
So, like Jared, what props can you use to make your point?
If you're facing a complex idea at work — say explaining complicated market shifts or why a project timeline is at risk — think visually or physically.
Could you draw a simple diagram instead of using slides?
Can you illustrate your point by stacking a few coffee cups or markers on the table?
Make your ideas tangible.
🎯 Stories = sticky
When I was a kid, an expedition leader told me that on a jungle trip, a woman left her tent door open and woke up in the morning with a leech sucking on the roof of her mouth.
Honestly?
I heard that over 20 years ago, but it still gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Why?
Because stories are inherently “sticky”.
How to actually do it:
- Instead of stating dry facts (“This product reduces processing time by 40%”), start with a vivid analogy: “This product is like replacing your bicycle with a Ferrari — it takes you from slow and steady to lightning-fast.”
- Craft short, concise anecdotes to illustrate your point. For example: "Last year, a client switched to our platform. Within a week, they called me, amazed — they'd cut report generation from 3 hours to 10 minutes."
🧦 Wear colourful socks
Sales guru Josh Braun wears bright socks everywhere he goes.
Why?
It subtly grabs attention and makes him memorable.
You don’t need to wear bright socks (although you could). You just need to do a few things differently from everyone else. For example:
- Add a unique touch to your routine. For example, put a fun but professional "Tip of the Day" or insightful quote in your email signature.
- Instead of standard slides, use cartoons or sketches occasionally to illustrate concepts in your presentations. Or a funny relevant meme! People remember unique visuals far longer than bullet points (it’s why I try to add in memes and fun stuff into these emails — makes stuff a lot more digestible I think)
💬 He Who Quotes Wins.
I learned this from my boss' boss at an old job.
She was uber successful and gave keynotes around the world. In her presentations, she'd say stuff like,
- "Henry Ford once said, 'there are no big problems, just a lot of little problems' — and that's how we should look at this too."
When in doubt, quote.
Find a handful of relevant quotes that work EVERYWHERE. Like the one above — it works in a lot of different scenarios.
Then, sprinkle them into your presentations or important emails. They give your message weight and make you look informed.
📝 Replace jargon with visual language
No one ever says, "Wow, great use of synergy and alignment in your presentation!"
Jargon makes you forgettable. Visual language sticks.
How to actually do it:
- Replace vague jargon like "We need to improve efficiency" with clear visuals: "Right now, our process is like a highway at rush hour — we need to open new lanes."
- Make your points more relatable and memorable with everyday analogies. For example, instead of "we reduced loading time," say "we turned dial-up into high-speed internet."