Authenticity also shows up in how we are in business. If you are considering a profession in professional speaking…you may benefit from Teresa’s article below. Enjoy!
Channeling Your Inner Elder – harnessing fear in your toughest business moments!
Shirley stood on stage facilitating. Courageous. Influential peers stared up at her from the audience. Her facilitation was confident but at the same time wooden. A bit too forceful. A bit too “put on”. No one could fault her facilitation nor would anyone really praise it. It was simply good. Not exceptional.
In the influence game, understanding the distinction between good and exceptional is subtle. The difference lies in authenticity. My definition of authenticity is whether your inner voice is saying the same thing as your outer voice. So any situation that bring up fear and nervousness puts your authenticity at risk.
Many facilitators and speakers make the mistake of thinking they’re putting on a role when they step on stage. Or they “channel” another really great speaker, such as Gandhi or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
These techniques are not “wrong”, yet it’s not authentic and can be effective. It results in the kind of wooden, too forceful, put-on kind of speech that one might consider “good” but not “exceptional”.
The best thing you can do for your own influence is to be yourself, 100%. Don’t act the way you think others want you to act, don’t channel someone else. Channel you.
And if you absolutely need to channel someone, channel your inner elder. A wiser, more adept version of yourself from the future.
The difference is always memorable.
2 keys to remember:
- Put all your focus on serving your audience. Anything going on with you, fear, back pain, an itchy nose, can be parked for later.
- If you need to channel someone, make it an older, wiser, awesome version of yourself.
About the Author – Teresa de Grosbois is the #1 International Bestselling author of Mass Influence, 4X Best selling author, International Speaker and the Founder of the Evolutionary Business Council.
If you’d like to learn how to increase your influence, click here to download your complimentary digital copy of the #1 International Bestseller Mass Influence
Teresa’s passionate goal is to have transformational principles touch the lives of 1.2 Billion people by 2020, by growing 1200 thought-leaders.
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