When doing an activity that puts you in the spotlight, it seems a given that your personality will have a pretty significant factor in whether or not you enjoy it and how much effort it takes to succeed at it. When it comes to public speaking, most assume that extroverts are naturally more inclined…
Has anyone ever told you “don’t take this the wrong way, but…” Where did your head immediately go upon hearing that statement? I’m willing to bet is was not to a place of productive objectivity. Email seems to require the “don’t take this the wrong way” disclaimer more than any other form of communication. For…
This post is an excerpt from a project I’m currently working on: The Little Book of Big Confidence Here’s a pernicious myth about confidence: Confident people are dominant. Utter hogwash. It’s easy to think that dominance indicates confidence. After all, people who speak louder than others, or take up all the space, or…
Managers, business owners, and professionals of all stripes take note – there are killers lurking in your communications. They undermine your words, cast doubt on your trustworthiness, and make people question your judgement. They can create breakdowns in communication between team members, between departments, and most certainly between your business and your customers. The killers’…
Confidence is a subject I get asked about a lot. I’m currently working on a mini-book about that very topic – this blog post is an excerpt from the book draft. Nearly everybody I work with believes that confidence is something other people have and they do not. When they try to define confidence,…
Have you ever wondered what people mean when they say ‘be authentic?’ Lord knows I have. Authenticity is a pretty popular buzzword when it comes to speaking and content creation. It comes up over and over as a magic sauce of connection and persuasion (and sales). If you want your audience to like you, to…
I know you’ve been there – sitting in an audience listening to a speaker and wondering “Why am I listening to this and when is it going to end?” Such is the agony of sitting through a terrible speech. But what makes a speech terrible? This is something I get asked a lot. Differences…
“L’état, c’est moi.” -Louis XIV In my blog a couple weeks ago I alluded to writing a post exploring Trump’s use of the Royal “We” in his inauguration speech. And even though we’re all exhausted from the non-stop flurry of news over his every tweet, phone call, and administrative faux-pas, I’ve finally rallied…
Bet you thought I’d be going over the presidential inauguration speeches, eh? Not today! I’ll do a post about it later, as there was some interesting stuff going on. I was live tweeting during the inauguration, though – click here to see my in-the-moment thoughts regarding the rhetoric. Check my tweets from January 20th. Communication…
Improving public speaking means so much more than doing vocal drills, practicing your body language, or even rehearsing your presentation materials.* A big part of it is doing some deep thinking about what “good” public speaking means to you. One of the things that trips many of us up when we decide to work…
