When public speaking, “good enough”… isn’t
For executives, directors, partners and professionals who are responsible for securing revenue for the firm, there's few activities with as much opportunity for leveraged upside as thirty minutes on stage.
If you're not making use of the power of public speaking to make your work life significantly easier, you're missing a huge opportunity.
I understand why many (or, in fact, most) professionals fail to embrace the possibilities afforded by public speaking, it takes loads of time to prepare, and you're placing yourself at considerable risk.
You’re a professional, not a professional public speaker.
Whilst public speaking is occasionally part of your job, it’s not the bulk of your job. Subsequently, you don't speak often enough to get really well practiced, so every presentation feels like a major disruption. You’re responsible for an endless list of other accountabilities that demand your attention, so you don't have time to properly prepare.
Coordinating junior contributors to pull together the Powerpoint slides and content is treacle-slow, and they don’t truly understand your perspective so their contributions are limited in value. Creating your presentation is one of very few pieces of work that absolutely can’t be outsourced properly, which is a constant source of frustration.
It’s possible you feel you're not a ‘natural speaker’, and that as a medium of expression it doesn’t highlight your strongest character traits, so you subtly tend to avoid it unless it’s thrust upon you. It’s probable the act of public speaking makes you nervous (this is true for nearly everyone), so you rarely actively seek out speaking opportunities.
For many smart, talented people, the fact is that speaking can feel more like a threat than an opportunity. Fear of failure overpowers the potential for success as a motivating force, and as a result we goal we set for ourselves is merely “don’t embarrass myself”. This is a limiting belief with significant consequences.
As a high performer constantly seeking new frontiers to conquer, and as a leader in your organisation setting the standard for others to rise to, taking the stage hoping to be “good enough” simply won’t do.
P.S. — If you know a professional (accountant, consultant, economist, engineer, lawyer, researcher, etc.) who speaks to drive commercial goals (or they should), please send them the link to this article.
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