Great communicators are made not born.
Great communicators are made not born.
And I hope that encourages you.
With time, and a lot of right reps, we can grow as communicators. What do I mean by “right reps”? Hall of Fame basketball coach, Phil Jackson, was once approached by a member of the media after practice one day when he was leading the legendary Los Angeles Lakers. The reporter pointed out how his star center, Shaquille O’Neal had stayed after practice and was at the free throw line working on his shot. Notorious for his poor performance from the line, the journalist was impressed to see Shaq getting his reps in, a fact he pointed out to Coach Jackson. Phil immediately responded, “Practice does not make perfect; practice makes permanent.” In other words, who cares if you’re getting your reps in, if you are not getting them in the right way. And the same is true for we communicator’s.
Today, I want to give you one thing to practice, where if done the right way will lead to our transformation as communicators. What is that one thing? Passion.
Richard St. John, in his book, The Eight Traits Successful People Have in Common, lists the number one secret as passion. More than anything else, St. John observes, passion moves people. And in the realm of speaking, it is our most potent weapon in moving people from indifference to all in engagement.
Ralph Waldo Emerson agrees. He once said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm (hear “passion”).”
Pretty strong statement, and over time I have found it to be true, not just in leadership, but especially in communication. But what exactly is passion? University professor, Melissa Cardon defines passion as “A positive, intense feeling that you experience for something that is profoundly meaningful for you as an individual.” Or to say it another way, passion is the ability to emotionally connect with our audience to raise the hopes of those who have found themselves hopeless or indifferent to the theme of the message we are delivering. If we want to move and inspire people, it begins with us as communicators who have first been moved and inspired by the very thing we are trying to persuade the people entrusted to us.
So how do we do this? How do we appropriately use the currency of passion in our presentation to transform people? I have found the following four things to be essential:
What makes my heart sing? This is the question Carmine Gallo poses in his wildly popular book, Talk Like Ted, where after years of analyzing the most viewed TED Talks, he concludes that what makes the most meaningful messages are those where the speaker is not communicating for a paycheck, or from mere responsibility, but from a deep well of calling. My father, one of the best communicators I know, often poses the question to people who are trying to figure out what to do with their lives, “What makes you pound the table and weep?” Not what pays the most, or what will bring you fame or material possessions, but rather the deep well of calling. Winston Churchill was a transformational communicator because he loved England. Pastor EV Hill was at the top of his field because he loved God and the gospel. And Susan Cain, author of Quiet, gave one of the most viewed TED Talks because she’s passionate about introverts not being overlooked in the workplace. What about you? What makes your heart sing? What makes you pound the table and weep? Draw on that and you will find passion effortless.
Bring more than your mind…bring your emotions. Don’t misunderstand me. We have to have substance in our presentations. Remember, the Greeks said all great speakers had logos, or great content. But if your message is a mere information dump, don’t be surprised if people aren’t inspired. A recipe for transformational communication is the combination of rich content, packaged in appropriate passion.
Spend passion wisely. Every great message has ebbs and flows, mountains and valleys. There should be places in your talk when people feel a slight pinch as they are challenged from any faulty thinking or patterns you want to jolt them out of. These valleys are not necessarily the place to spend the emotional capital of passion, or you run the risk of coming off as mean. It’s best to save your passion as you’re scaling the mountain(s) of your message.
Be free. Years ago, when programs like PowerPoint (yes, it was that long ago) were becoming popular aids in talks, I heard a communicator caution, “Too much PowerPoint and your message will lose its point.” I agree. You know it’s a great talk, where at the end people have stopped taking notes, because their hearts are stirred. While these aids are helpful, don’t let them take the place of you, the messenger.
What I’m Reading:
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver.
Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer (re-read).
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