SPEAKERSHIP IS LEADERSHIP

Standing alone and about to present to a group will never be the same if you elect to take the challenge proposed by Matt Church in his book, Speakership. It's about the art of oration and the science of influence.

Most people worry about ‘the worry’ associated with public speaking, whereas at the other end of the spectrum, people are making a zillion dollars by creatively speaking to audiences solving their problems in less than an hour.

Speakership tackles not only ‘how to get rid of the nerves’ but more importantly the technical componentry which takes all your time to make a speech which makes a difference to peoples' lives. Knowing that you can and will do this (if you follow the books detailed process) you will be in a state where nerves are not welcome, let alone, thought about.

Speakership is Leadership.

In an age where our leaders are expected to solve programs, inspire, to influence people, to create clarity from confusion, turn fear into confidence and mobilise people to take action to a better future they need to be able to speak. Speak well. Speak publically.

If you take on this challenge, do well and speak well, you can take it further commercially and leverage off this skill. Make your messages memorable and get known for what you do and let the market tell your stories for you!

Here are my take-outs for leaders, which I hope will encourage leaders to influence as they take their leadership more seriously:

· Your speech design should fit on the back of an envelope: who you’re talking to, your concepts and what action is required of the audience

· In the middle of that envelope, you need to write one BIG word

· It should be the problem which you are solving and what your audience wants to hear and how you can best serve them by solving this issue

· You’ll never run out of what to talk about in relation to this BIG word – you’ll create an ‘Idea Bank’ which you’ll continually deposit ideas which you’ll cluster, form content capsules of information thoughts, notes and images which you’ll file in system that’s easily retrievable e.g. Evernote

· And, when you’re out in front of people, you must be able to verbalise what you boldly stand for

· You’ll make your messages memorable by helping your people remember your words by using almost mantra wording, make it poetic, repeat it often – think of Simon Sinek’s TED Talk – “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it” – How many times did he say it?

· Finally, be genuinely authentic: prepare your mind, prepare your body and control your inputs (i.e. having the space to be able to focus on your speech)

Every time you speak, you are auditioning for a leadership position. You have a responsibility to yourself to influence your people which means there is no time to hide behind a lack of confidence – you’ve got to get up and speak in front of the tribe.

These three words say it all. Speakership is Leadership. If you lead your group conversations, giving voice to the standards, the values, the purpose and the importance these are to the company then you’re on the right track to being a confident and capable leader who is curating and creating the culture.

This is the type of book which helps the busy person – it’s practical, simple to read and you can action immediately. If the book isn’t enough, I noticed on Matt’s website that he has a Speakership program which you can attend.

This is Book 45 and I'm almost finished reading Book 46 - Confidence by Rosabeth Moss Kanter - it's a tough one, however I hope to get a review typed up by the end of the week.