Impact Curve

This simple model demonstrates that early on in skill development, small advances produce proportionately small improvements. But once the basic and intermediate components of a skill set (Levels I and II) have been mastered, incremental improvements begin to yield exponential results (Level III).

What is an Impact Curve? It is a visual representation of a person’s level of effectiveness in any particular area. It illustrates that the difference between basic and mastery are similar to the differences in ordinary and extraordinary.

Example: Most would agree that Michael Jordan is the best, or certainly one of the best basketball players of all time. Yet, he wasn’t even a starter on his high school team until his junior year. He was just your ordinary, basic high school athlete.

At that point, Jordan knew if he wanted to play college ball, he would have to begin developing his game. So, he began practicing extra hours, worked out more to build stamina, and began studying the playbook inside and out. The result was a starting position on the team and a college scholarship to the University of North Carolina. He had become an advanced athlete who was then drafted to play pro basketball with the Chicago Bulls.

In the Chicago Bulls organization, while successful along with the other athletes, Jordan began to realize that to go up against other athletes of his caliber every day and merely put his strength against their strength would not create the consistent level of success that he desired. So he took his game to yet another level.

What set him apart from the other great athletes was that after the team meetings watching film and all the practice time, he spent countless hours studying his individual opponent’s weaknesses and putting a game plan in place to put his strengths up against those weaknesses to create his win—night after night. Then, after a game instead of celebrating with his teammates, he studied his play again. He not only became a superstar, but a master of his game.

So is the same for just about anything you want to apply the Impact Curve concept to, including presentation effectiveness.

Note that only when effectiveness is achieved in the Mastery quadrant does the corresponding impact level increase.

The reason for this is that many people have developed their presentation skills to some degree (or were born with some degree of natural effectiveness). So, to do that as a minimum just keeps you even with the game. In fact the vast majority of people, both in a business context and in life, fall into the Basic Range of Effectiveness. People in this average range typically experience somewhat less impact than expected, and certainly don’t get noticed apart from the crowd.

Conversely, those at the top of the Advanced range typically experience results that, over time, far exceed those that are only in the Basic (Average) range). That tells us that there are great rewards available to going the extra mile to get the results that only presentation masters experience in the long-run.