The Power of Speaking: Why Leaders Are Judged the Moment They Talk

I mean, we're human. It gets in there. So when you genuinely want to help someone get from part A to part B, step A to step B, maybe even to step C, then that shows through. Think about the last person who you've admired, looked up to.

They looked you in the eye, you felt like they heard you, and they genuinely helped you get to a next step. Right? And so in that sense, they are a true leader that you won't forget. People might forget what you say.

They will never forget how you made them feel. Hi there and welcome to the Step up podcast. I'm your host, Kent Knievel. Every week I talk to experts who focus on helping leaders step up their leadership game and leaders telling their stories of growing up through the ranks.

If you're new to the show, do me a favor and subscribe so you never miss an episode. One last thing. As a leadership development consultant and executive coach, focus area of mine is supporting newly promoted leaders. One in three promotions fail because we never teach newly minted VPs how to stop being a director, or a newly promoted director how to stop being a manager.

That's you. Or if you support a leader who had been recently promoted, I encourage you to visit my website at Kent Coach Toolkit and download a free copy of the Promoted Leader Toolkit filled with practical advice and tools to help new leaders stick the landing and truly step up to their new leadership level. All right, I've dillied and dallied long enough. On with the show.

Welcome, everybody. Today we're going to be talking about the power of speaking for a leader's advancement, effectiveness, as well as their ability to lead. And with me for this conversation today is Antoniette Rose, CEO of Speakers Global. Welcome to the podcast.

Thank you for being here today. Thank you, Kent. I am a fan of the Step up podcast and very happy to be here. Well, you're in good company.

I know for sure. My two aunts listen, so the three of you can start a little fan club, I think. Woohoo. Okay, so.

So tell me for the audience and those who don't know, you would love to hear just a bit more about your career journey. What were your beginnings? How did you get into what you're doing today? Sure.

So when I started out, I knew that I wanted to do something with the power of the voice, and I didn't know which direction I was going to go. So I started off in publishing and I worked for an international pretty big magazine for the first part of my career. Then I became a producer of Very large scale events that was mostly in the wellness space, but it spanned beyond that. And now I own a speaker agency.

I am also host of a top 10% podcast and I am all about empowering voices so that people can find the solutions that they are laying awake at night praying for. Well, and I know, I mean it's, it's. So it should be no surprise for those listening that if you're running a speaker's agency that we would be talking about the power of the voice today, right? But as we start to think about leaders, right, Because I think, you know, there's, there's ways in which, how leaders communicate that touch a number of things, right.

Which we'll probably get into today. But I would really love to hear, you know, kind of taking it from the top, you know, because I don't think all leaders necessarily think about speaking as a skill, right. I feel like we, until at least you get to a certain level, when you're now on stage on a regular basis for either, you know, quarterly or annual, you know, meetings and things like that. So, yeah.

What are your thoughts on the, the power of speaking? Why should one focus. When should they start focusing on it? I don't know.

Wherever you want to start, right? What if you imagine the leaders that most come to mind to you, right, Those, whoever it might be, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, whoever it might be. How do you know about them? How do you understand what they're doing?

It's because you've probably seen them speak somewhere. Speaking is one of the most underutilized power tool that executives, leadership and HR actually value and utilize. Yet the ones who get it are the ones who excel the fastest. Number one, they excel in their, in their ranking.

But also they excel as a leader who can com. Effectively communicate to everyone who needs to get on board with whatever the plan is. One of the places I see. So let me.

The thing that kind of has been in my head, so let me just get it out there right away, just as we've been talking here is executive presence, right? There's this, this term, executive presence. It is a loaded term. It means all kinds of things, it's used in all kinds of ways.

But I would say, you know, one of the first things I think about when I think of someone's speaking abilities is executive presence, right? And it's unfortunately one of these, you could call it a competency, but it's one of these competencies where it's ill defined. People kind of have this. I know it when I see it.

Kind of feeling about it. But I think nowhere does executive presence show up more than how someone shows up on stage. And, you know, and we can maybe dissect that a little bit on the call. I'm curious, you know, what your.

What your experience with this, with. With the idea of executive presence and how people are showing up on stage and where those intersect. Right. There's some different ways we can go with that.

But first and foremost, when you're in front of people, whether it's three people in a boardroom or you're on a stage stable stadium, thousands of people in front of you, you need to understand the nuances of effective speaking. Effective. And basically, speaking is effective communication if you're doing it right. So I treat it all the same.

When I'm in front of a big crowd, I really just see one or two people. Those are the people who I know are going to get my message and actually act on it. And generally, when we speak, that's exactly what we want. We want to spur people to action.

So as a leader, especially at the executive level, understanding how to speak should be as important to you as the expertise that you have in your craft. As a leader, that is the number one thing that will propel anything you're trying to get done is your ability to communicate. Not bark, not give orders, but actually communicate and speak. What are some of the.

I'm kind of like, do I want to dive into. Should we start dissecting, like, speaking skills and, you know, presentation skills and what, you know, where people are getting it wrong and where, you know, where they can start tightening some screws? Because I could see this episode today being really useful to people who want to work on their presentation skills or their speaking skills. But maybe before we go there, I would love to maybe let's, let's.

Let's light the platform on fire here a bit. Right. What are some of the. When we get it wrong or get it right?

You know, what are some of the. Because how we present affects. When I think of a competency model, it probably affects numerous competencies, right? Yes.

We oftentimes will say communication is a competency, but in terms of how it affects, you know, for example, influence. Right. Your ability to influence, which is its own competency. Right.

So it's one of these competencies that I think cuts across so many others. And maybe that's a place to start is. Is with influence. But I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on other.

The other competencies. Right. Because I think as we were teeing up the conversation today, it's about, you know, getting this right can help leaders both advance. It can help with their general effectiveness.

It can help with their ability to lead others. So maybe we start with influence and then from there I'd love to, you know, hear some of your thoughts on other pieces of sort of a leader's performance, quote, unquote, that, that speaking skills impacts. Right, okay. This is really great, Kent, because so many people who want to be improve their speaking skills put the cart before the horse, which is performance.

I'm going to take these classes or I'm going to join Toastmasters and I'm going to get the performance part down. But actually, that is the icing on the cake. That's the last thing that people should worry about. There are two keys if you get this, even if you flub up the performance part, you're going to be a very effective speaker.

Number one is thinking more about them than you're thinking about yourself. Thinking more about their agenda and spurring them to action, whoever it is that you're speaking with, than your own agenda and your own ego. I mean, we're human. It gets in there.

So when you genuinely want to help someone get from part A to part B, step A to step B, maybe even dyspepsi, then that shows through. Think about the last person who you kind of admired, looked up to. They looked you in the eye, you felt like they heard you, and they. They genuinely helped you get to a next step.

Right? And so in that sense, they are a true leader that you won't forget. People might forget what you say. They will never forget how you made them feel.

So put them before you, before your own agenda. Help your audience, whether it's three people or 3,000 people, feel understood, feel heard, and feel like you care more about them than your own show. Right? Okay.

That's number one. The number two thing, if you get these two things, you're. You've got it. The number two thing is don't try to pour the whole pot of pasta right on their head.

Take them one to two steps further, save the rest for the next conversation because you're immersed in your own information. You're immersed in your agenda and your world. They aren't. It's not that they're not smart, they've got their own stuff going on, but if you can meet them where they are, bring them a couple of steps, three steps maximum in any one sitting, you're going to get a lot further than trying to pour it all out right up Front and think that they're stupid because they just didn't get it right.

They got the first three steps, and then everything else fell apart. So if you understand the way that the human brain thinks, there's lots of neuroscience behind all of this. You can check it out on your own. Be concerned with micro transformation in any one given sitting.

And that's just a few steps. And then also let them know you actually understand them and you hear them and you can actually help them progress. Right. And as they progress, you progress.

Nice. Does that make sense? It does. Yeah.

I'm. I'm taking. I'm, I'm writing down some notes. Cause I, I want to listen fully, but also want to unpack a couple of these things because.

Well, I like what you said right away, which is their agenda, not yours. Right. And. And yet there's the nuance of.

I'm obviously speaking because of my agenda, but. Right. I think. And I think there's a.

It's, there's a saying, and to me, it's one of these, yeah, duh, sayings. But I think if it was roundly understood. Right. And truly absorbed, we wouldn't have to say it so often.

And yet I'm still surprised how often people kind of forget the. What's in it for me? Right. Is it quote unquote.

Right. And thinking about your audience and what's in it for them when it comes to. And I mean, you know, and I'm not talking about on the stage speaking. I'm talking about to your point.

You know, you're. You've got three people you're meeting with. You know, you're presenting in front of just your team or a couple of board members or, you know, another director or VP that you're trying to influence. And if your focus is on what you want to share and why you think it's important, without giving any thought to why should they give a damn?

Right. Then you're already. You're already lost. Right?

Right. So the whole idea is to get them to lean in. So you're doing yourself a favor when you get this. So you lead with community and connection.

I'm in the right room. I'm with the right people around me. So you bring, you bring that element in. And I'm.

I'm listening to the right person. Once they get that, they can, oh, okay, now I can relax and I can lean in. Then your agenda can, can take place. Yeah, well, and so there's different ways, like, so how do you better understand the audience and what's in it for them.

Right. And I think there's different ways for us to tackle that question too, which is there's probably a very different way to tackle that. If you are, you know, preparing a keynote or preparing yourself for, you know, a quarterly town hall or annual meeting versus how you prepare yourself for a, you know, smaller meeting. You know, you're meeting with people to get them on board with an idea.

You know, maybe it's a smaller group would, would love to hear your thoughts, you know, for the audience on. Let's, let's tackle both of those, right? Cause people listening might, might also be saying, hey, I just came out of, you know, I, I, I will say we're recording this in early July and I just saw on LinkedIn, you know, numerous business units from General Mills. Cause they're, they're fiscal year ends, I think June 30th.

But you know, so numerous groups were having their annual meetings, right. And I saw, I saw numerous posts and I saw leaders that I used to work with, you know, on stage. Right. So people listening here might be thinking about, you know, how do I prep myself to be on stage next year.

Right. So if this is for, let's tackle it both those ways though. So, so if, if you're trying to prepare yourself to kind of present keynote, et cetera, what are your thoughts and recommendations on how do you kind of pop the hood and get a better. Understanding of same thing for three people within your own organization or a big crowd that you aren't as familiar with.

And it's care, ask, hear. It's not care, ask, listen. Because often we can listen, but we don't really hear. So within your own organization, it's a little bit easier.

Ask what they're wanting. Take a survey ahead of time. What's top on your plate, what's stressing you out, whatever you want to ask and actually soak with that a bit, put yourself in their place a little bit. Then you can meet them where they're at, get them where you need to be, get them where you need them to be for a larger audience.

Most organizers love it when you ask about who's going to be in the audience and get some details there. And then there's a list of other things you can do. You can study their last event and who, who was present. What are the demographics, what are the things that those demographics are facing?

And we are an, in the age of information, you can get this information if you care. It's gotta start with care. If you ask, they will provide There's. I have some speakers who will actually ask the event organizer for three people that they can actually speak with on the phone.

And they often will give them that. Don't show up like a diva and leave like a diva. Right. Show up a little early, shake some hands, ask some questions, grab some business cards so that when you go up in front of everybody, you can actually call people out by name.

Then you're building that connection and that community right up front. Because if someone remembers Kent and 30 people there know who Kent is, it's like, wow, he cared enough about Kent in this big room of people. It's super, super powerful. These are easy to do.

They just take a little bit more caring and a little bit more action on your part on the front end. That's it. Yeah. Love it.

I'm gonna, you know, love that from a speaker perspective. And I like your perspective that it's. It's kind of the same thing even when we're talking about meeting with three people. And I would say you have the luxury of being able to play the long game when it's.

When you're trying to build these skills just as an internal skill for your own leadership development. Right. And I often recommend, you know, building a bit of, like a relationship map. Right.

As a leader and who are the people who. And I'll just keep it super simple. Who has inputs that your team has to deal with and who, you know, who's dealing with the outputs from your team, like, what other teams? It's what you're doing the inputs for.

And you should probably get to know as a leader, the key leaders on both sides of that, and spend time with them, get curious, understand what their goals and metrics are so that you can more readily. Right. And you have more. You have the luxury of time.

If this is, you know, if you're trying to build this skill as just a general leadership skill, you know, to do this over time and build those relationships over time too. Right. And in that sense, that's understanding the through line. So for within your organization, where are they coming from?

Where are they going? You know, who's talking to? Who are the bookends? What else are they hearing?

Then you can create that core middle part effectively. But really the same is true for bigger audiences. Where are they coming from? Where are they going?

And you're. That through line. So same really. It's.

We overcomplicate. It's really that foundational. Get the foundations, get the foundation down. All the rest, you know when to move, when to Pause when to lean in, when all of that can come.

Yeah. But first collect the data and care. Yeah, I like that. And my.

Yes, and to that, because I want to, I want to call back to your idea of like, you know, if you're, you're speaking at an event, come early, shake some hands, meet some people, get some business cards, maybe call those people out in your presentation. You can do that in an internal meeting at a company too. Especially if you're taking the time to socialize ideas ahead of time, get to understand your cross functional partners, goals and objectives. Right.

You can do this very same thing in a meeting and say, you know, Anthony, we were just talking, you know, me and Antoinette were just talking a couple weeks ago about this, this and this and how what I'm talking about today connects with that. Right. And, and it's sort of this. It doesn't hurt being seen doing the work.

Right. Let alone. Right. Which I think you're kind of getting at is this idea of like, oh, he took the time to know this person's name and call them out.

And you know, it's one thing, and it's common to see a speaker call out the CEO or the cfo, right. On a stage. It's another thing to call out, you know, the general masses too. So I can kind of see where that's the benefit.

But you could do the same thing if you're intentional about it. Right. And I think part of that is the. Not only what you might glean informationally from it, but the power of being seen doing the work, seen caring.

Absolutely. Yeah. It makes all the difference if you have a higher up who actually takes notice of you or takes notice of one of your colleagues, maybe they reached a milestone and they actually know about it. They're going to tune into your values and feel like they're actually on your team versus they're an underling who.

You don't have any idea what their name is. You have no idea who they are. You're just a cog, right. You're just part of a machine.

There's a huge difference. You haven't seen this with politicians and presidents. Right. Love them or hate them, the ones who can look you in the eye and make you feel seen are the ones that you remember and you respect and you're on their team.

Yeah, yeah. I haven't met any politicians directly, but that's the thing you hear right, is like, they made me feel like I was the only person in the world when I was talking to them. Right. And then Sort of that, that care that they put into that.

Right. So, all right, so what's in it for me? Right? And I, I feel like it, it's easy to say.

It's often parroted. It's also often forgotten and oh, so important. The other thing that you said that I want to drill into is, you know, and I, I liked your, your, your imagery is, you know, don't try to pour the whole pot of pasta on their head. And you said micro transformation.

So I think, I'm curious. I, I feel like this might even be sort of the biggest, bigger learning curve for people in terms of both day to day communication as well as probably presenting right on stage. But it's the. How do you keep it short?

How do you give just enough information without trying to convey it all? Because I would say I probably have seen more leaders, you know, trying to cover everything in a short amount of time being, you know, being described as sort of word salad. Right. Instead of being focused again, it's, it's,.

It boils back to foundational homework and you need to come equipped. So let's say you are pushing out a big new product that might be a little outside of your customer's expectations of what it is that you offer. So you need everybody communicating it very well. Let's just say that's the thing that you're facing.

So you reverse engineer, okay, this is where we want to be. This has to happen before we get there. This next thing has to happen before we get there so that we can get there. This next thing has to happen before we can get there.

There, there. Right? And so you boil it down and then you see, okay, what are the first three things that have to happen within these teams so that we can even get three steps forward to reach that bigger goal? And that's what you talk about now, listen, this week or this month or this quarter, these are our goals.

We're going to do A, B and C. We're not going to do A, B, C, D, E, F, G to get to Z. We're going to do A, B and C. And then you communicate it well, you get them on board because they are part of your team, because you know how to communicate and speak.

And they are focused on mastering those first three levers that need to happen and schedule, give a timeline or let's collectively reach this by this time next month and we're going to meet again. And then at that point, you assess, how did everybody do? What were the, what were the pain points? Right, what went well what didn't go so well?

I always say what went well and what could have gone better instead of saying what went well and what didn't go well. What what went. What went well and what could have gone better. And you're asking.

Right. Get that feedback so that when you give them the next three, two or three, that you can keep that in mind. Okay. Well, there was a breakdown in cooperation between the departments.

Whatever it was, you assure them you're going to address it for them to make things easier or go more smoothly. And you just give them those next few steps. It might feel a little elementary, like you're dumbing them down, but really you're doing yourself a huge service. Because when people master each level, then you are going to move faster and with fewer mistakes and more in unison.

Yeah. So. Right. It's like herding cats.

Yeah. How do you. You can just say, okay, cats, here's. But.

But if you really care about doing it in this methodical way, then they're going to not get lost on the journey and they'll be all in. Before we unpack. Why three is the magic number. The thing that's kind of popping in my head here is.

And I, you know, I get it. Right. You're providing focus. Right.

Let's not. We have to focus on the trees in order to get to the whole forest. But what's your. I think where I'm getting a little stuck with it is because I get the concept of let's, let's focus.

Let's keep people focused so that we're not getting lost in the woods. And yet there's tons of advice out there that you need to give people the vision of where we're going. Right. And yes.

So help me break that down. So what's your recommendation? And how do you give them the vision of where we're going without the 12 steps that are gonna be needed to get there and to just focus on the first three. Yeah.

So you can definitely be transparent. That's. That's something that people respect and appreciate. Give them the big picture.

This is where we're going. But to get there, we first need to. To master these beginning steps and then the next time. Great.

We were, you know, we're so sorry. Much further along now. We need to do these three things. People really appreciate that that's actually showing them leadership for their.

Their. So you're at the macro. Right. It shows them those leadership skills at their micro level as well.

So any good speaker knows it's all about micro transformations when Somebody leaves your presence, your talk, and they feel like, wow, I get it. I'm connecting the dots. There's a real transformation there. Then they can act if they feel overwhelmed or like they don't even know why they're doing this.

You brought up a really good point, Kent. You don't have to say you're going to do these three things for this secret thing that's going to happen later. You definitely give them the vision and the big picture, but you tell them, don't worry about everything that's going to. It might seem like a big elephant, right?

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. It might seem big, but really all we have to do is focus on these three things for the next week, for the next month, the next quarter. That's where we're going to start.

You guys all in, right? And. And you get that there you're showing them. You're actually demonstrating how leadership is actually effective.

So I'm unsurprised that the number three has come out a number of times in this conversation. And I will say there's been numerous leaders, if not every major leader at every company I've worked for. If, you know, I'm trying to remember, like, this number three is so pervasive in my head, so much so that at least in a couple of examples in my head, there's always some, you know, there's some tongue in cheekness to. And I think even Jeff Harmoning, the CEO of General Mills, you know, I think there's always people in the audience kind of chuckling because, you know, when.

When he steps on stage or if he's at a fireside chat and someone asks him a question, it's very common for him to say three things. And then he kind of goes off, you know, rattles off the three things, or I want you to be thinking about three things, right? And so it's. It's clearly some kind of best practice in presenting.

So for anyone else who is listening, who's unsurprised by the number three coming out, or maybe those who have never heard this would love to just have you kind of unpack that for the audience. Why is it that we. Why. Why is the number three.

Why is it always three? There's a lot of neuroscience behind this. I'm not a neuroscientist, so I can't rattle off the scientific data, but I can tell you that you are right. It is definitely pervasive.

And in the speaking world, they always say three key points. And then for Those three key points, you just go three steps deep. So it's three, three, three. So nine, obviously, altogether.

But it's the way that the human brain can accept a new idea and connect the dots and then take action on it. A confused mind freezes. Too much, paralyzes. But if they can.

If they can grasp, then they can act. And there's just a power in that. And even to the point of, I know this is. Feels off topic, but it's.

It just goes to the science behind how the brain works. But if you study interior design at all, there is the power of three. So I just got a lake house, and I was gifted a whole bunch of beautiful plants, and I put them all out, and it just felt like too much until I arranged them in threes. I don't know why, but suddenly it felt like it all made sense and it just flowed better.

So you see that actually in interior design as well. You'll see it in really pretty much in advertising, pretty much everything. And it has a lot to do with neuroscience. And we have AI to answer that question.

It gets you all the data behind that. But it is valid. It is a. It's a real thing.

So if I came in and, okay, when somebody makes an offer, they generally will make an offer in threes. So even as a leader, you give three options. You could take this option, opt out, don't get the promotion. You know, fine, just do your job.

That's great. Or you could take option number two, where you opt in, you keep your role, but you also get these bonuses or benefits, whatever. Or you can opt for three, where you risk everything. You might lose your position altogether, but there's a chance to get this advancement.

Right. This is obviously a funny illustration, but almost always people are going to pick the middle, whatever it is. It's just when you see these offers and there's like three columns. Pick this, this, or this.

It's almost always in threes. It's just a very powerful way that our. Our mind thinks. Yeah, yeah.

You know, it's probably. Probably helps with, you know, recall as well. Right. In terms of, you know, you can't expect people to remember 10 things, but you could reasonably expect them to remember a few.

So I'm. I'm sure there's some other angles we can go down here, but I think one thing I really want to. Get. Your perspective on is the power of.

Because I know we're talking about presenting and speaking, and yet something I kind of keep coming across is the power of silence. So I'm curious either, you know, when it comes to presenting on stage or, you know, not Right. In more of an informal or meeting type setting. What are your thoughts?

What. How do you kind of coach people around how to use silence to their benefit? Yeah. White space is so important.

And whether it's on a printed page or in an ad graphics or in you speaking that white space, that silence is so important. So that is if, if you're going to master a presentation skill, that would be the one. If you're a constant talking head, you're never eliciting interaction and then shutting up and hearing what, you know, what they have to say and then. And allowing.

Not being afraid of quiet, not being afraid of silence. Silence is so powerful. It's a punctuation point. So anytime you've just landed a really important point, just be quiet.

Let them act like you're doing something if you have to, if you're nervous about it, but let them process it for even 3 seconds, 5 seconds, and finish out, you know, writing their notes. If you make an offer, ever make the offer and shut up. Do not make the offer and then hand out free T shirts or make the offer and then explain why you made the offer. You make the offer even if it's a.

If you're proposing a new way of doing things in a boardroom. And then you just be quiet. Don't keep rattling on why you feel like it's important, why you feel like it's the best thing. Just make the offer and you be quiet.

Because people, you might interrupt them on the wrong note. They are processing. You don't want to interrupt that process. I don't think that can work because A, B, C, D.

But on the other hand, we've tried everything else and maybe we should try this new thing. Right. If you interrupt them on, I don't think it's gonna work because abcd, you interrupt them there, that's where they stay. They don't get the opportunity to process the rest.

And if it's just new information that they're bringing in, let it nourish them. Let it soak in for a moment so they can get that, so you can go on to the next topic or idea. And one of the reasons I keep kind of bumping up against this and then I wanna kind of of talk about something really similar is sort of, it kind of maybe comes back to executive presence, leadership presence, and the willingness to. Well, let me.

I'll kind of tell you where I'm going with this because I think they're Interrelated, which is also the pace of talking, you know, how the pace with which you speak. Right. And I think just reflecting myself on being in the room with really strong officers. Right.

So VP level or above. You know, I'm just kind of like thinking about these annual meetings, these town halls. There's the, I think almost one of the most common skills that I see. Right.

And I'm not a speaking expert, right. So I'm just kind of, this is just from my own vantage point, couple, a couple of the most common skills is both watching lead, you know, especially higher level leaders. And you just kind of notice this in higher level leaders than more junior leaders who might be presenting that day as well. These higher level leaders seem to really take their time, right.

They, they take their time on stage. They're not rushed and they're also again, and even, even from a, you know, even if there's not much interaction, it is a one way presentation, right. As in like a town hall kind of format. They're still not afraid of the silence.

Right. So and to your point, kind of both punctuating and I would say on research, right. What is. Why do I think, why do I think it's important?

And I'd say the leaders who are. You take their time and are unafraid of these pauses make me lean in more. Right. Because it's, it's like, like it kind of makes me.

I almost want them to pick up the pace to a certain degree. And I'm not, I'm not talking about people who are speaking way too slowly, but it's, it kind of makes me lean in and the pauses make me lean in. I. So I'd be, you know, and I compare that to maybe more junior leaders who get their opportunity to come up on stage.

And I feel like I see almost a faster pace in people who are maybe even a bit more junior, which not an age thing. I maybe just translate that to tenure and experience per se. But kind of curious how you tend to either coach people or you know, instruct people or even just sort of think about both pacing and silence. So good.

So there's. This is a three part answer. And, and each in each of these three parts are equally important. Number one, who do you trust?

Do you trust somebody who is talking real fast and trying to get it all in right. That usually those are like snake oil salesmen, right. Somebody who's just talking. Really a fast talker.

They, we, we've all heard the term oh, the he or she is just a fast talker. That immediately elicits distrust. So somebody is trying to speak too fast. Even if it's your leadership within your organization, you don't trust that they even trust what it is they're saying, because they've got to say it so fast so the confidence level goes down.

And you're exactly right, Kent. For somebody who confidently gets up, they're not in any hurry. They've got their ideas laid out, and they're going to bring them to you. There you do lean in.

They're like, they're confident. So I can be confident. There is. So, number one, don't.

When you're. When you're. When you're speaking too fast, you are diminishing the trust in what it is that you're saying, because it's almost like you're trying to convince yourself. Number two, it goes back to the old quote, and I can never forget who the heck was the original person, because there was some controversy about who's the original person.

But if I had more time, I'd write a shorter letter. It's because less is more. It's well thought out. The fluff is gone.

And just those main points and then those. And then that third element is one idea grasped. Leaders know this. One idea grasped and acted upon is way better then 10 ideas lost because they're worth nothing.

So leaders really understand, I just want this action or maybe these three sets of actions. But beyond that, that's a whole nother meeting. That's a whole nother sitting. Let's get this down.

They know that, and they're confident in that. And so they're not trying to again, pour the whole pot of pasta on everybody's heads. And you could be your grandmother's favorite dish. Like, you love this dish, but she keeps feeding you, feeding you, feeding.

You're like, oh, Grandma, I love it, but your hands are up, right? I can't. Not one more. You're.

You're pushing it away. That's the last way you want to leave your audience and your. Your teams pushing it away. It was great, but just too much.

Instead, you want to give them that bowl of nourishment, let them soak it in during the time that you're speaking. And then you're like, wow, that was really good. I'm really looking forward to my next bowl. This episode has, I think, been full of good nuggets of advice.

And before I get into the advice column, I'm going to. I could say with some confidence, there's definitely people I have in my mind that are making me think of this next question. But I'm going to call myself out as guilty of it as well, which is I'm very comfortable on stage. Right.

And oftentimes I designed that, maybe this leadership development program. I designed the deck. And yet I'm probably very guilty of not preparing what I'm going to say and sort of just stepping on stage and sort of shooting from the hip. Talk me out of it.

What's. Why. Why should I spend more time preparing even though I'm. I'm very comfortable.

I'm very comfortable on stage. Yeah, right. It's not necessarily that you're preparing what you're going to say. You're preparing who you're going to say it to.

So it's your same core content. And I talk to speakers about this all the time. Do not have 15 different talks. So if.

If speaking is the thing that you're concerned about, this relates. If it's. If you're more of a corporate leader and the ideas that you need to get across differ, fine. But have a core that people can learn and expect.

People like getting what they expect. Right. When you go to your favorite restaurant, you generally have a favorite dish at that restaurant, and you're expecting something. If they mess it up too much, you're like, what the heck did you do to my favorite dish?

Same with getting in front of you. They know. They're going to know your pace. They're going to get to know your pace and your personality.

If they're your first time, then there has to be a solid core that people can sense. So your solid core is, I'm going to give you these three ideas, and we're going to act on it by the end. By the end of today. And that's all you need to grasp.

We've got a big picture right here. You don't even need to worry about that. This is where we're going to go. So you tell them what you're going to tell them.

You tell them, then you tell them what you told them. And there are some formulas, there's some presentation formulas and all of that, but people get so wrapped up in that that they forget to care more about who they're speaking with. So you're going to deliver that same information much differently to a room full of engineers than you would to a room full of truckers. Yeah, right.

It's just going to be a very different way. So it's less focus on how am I going to so eloquently and greatly present this thing. I Have the knowledge. Nobody comes for information.

They come for experience. And you can't give people an experience unless you understand who it is that you're speaking with. So prepare for the audience versus preparing this perfect slide deck and, you know, laying out all your ideas. Yeah, well, I mean, it kind of brings us right back to where we started, which is the, you know, their agenda, not yours.

So if I'm, if I'm hearing you correct, Right. It's almost more important rather than Grant prepping the deck, which is important. I mean, that's, it's, it's core, it's table stakes. Right.

And maybe even more important than prepping a perfect. Taking the time to truly understand the audience and what they care about, what their agenda is. Or is it all about you and your agenda? Yeah.

So since we're on this food metaphor, if you're sitting across the table, let's say from a colleague, and you're, you're sharing a meal and they're looking you in the eye and you're having a good conversation, you're, you're getting engaged, you're going to lean in. If instead that colleague, they're sitting there, they're kind of there, but they're looking over your head, they're looking to the right of your shoulder, the left of your shoulder, never really meeting you in the eye, you're going to pull back and not be as engaged.

The audiences are no different. Again, whether it's an boardroom of three or a stadium full, they want to feel like you have enough understanding about them that you get them. Because if you don't get them, you can't have any solutions for them. So that's first and foremost on, on your plate.

So if you prepare for creating that connection and that community right up front, they know you did your homework, they know you know them. And then you can info dump, but also don't info slap. So you know, we've all been pitch slapped where, especially on LinkedIn, you just make a connection and all of a sudden you get this DM where they're pitch slapping you. Same thing for speakers with info slap.

Like, okay, you are here. I'm going to slap you all over the face with my, with my information. Whether you like it or not, you, Kent, are an expert at your field of expertise, at your information. You have it all.

You're close to it. They're not so close to it. So what might seem common and every day, even languaging to you is not to them. Do not utilize internal languaging and Acronyms.

Right. Speak at a fifth grade level not because they're not smart, it's just because their world has to catch up with your world. Yeah, yeah. So fifth grade level language, super clear.

And those leaders that you were referring to earlier, they understand that. So they're not going to act like the good ones. Right. Aren't going to act like the doctors are the worst.

And I represent a lot of doctors and they are the worst. There was this one dentist, I went to see him at this very big conference because I hadn't, I hadn't physically seen him speak. And oh my goodness, that poor emcee had to basically take, you know, grab him by the scruff and get him off because he had so much amazing information. The room was packed, like standing room only, but it was too much information.

And afterwards he's like, how, how did I do? He was asking me, I said, take your whole talk, chop it into 18 pieces and deliver just one of those pieces. Because he'd be way more effective. People would seek him out for that next set of information.

But instead there was just such overwhelm and the poor MC had to basically pull him off the stage because he wasn't yet getting done, getting all of his thoughts out. So same thing when you're delivering ideas. Yeah, yeah. Leave them wanting more.

Right, Exactly. Yeah. So I, I focus a lot of my, you know, so obviously I, my work is kind of in the realm of leadership development and executive coaching. And so it being the billion or multimillion dollar industry that it is.

Right. We spend a lot of time and attention prepping leaders for the future or trying to build certain skills in an organization from a leadership perspective. Readiness being kind of the big catchphrase that we're all focused on and, or, you know, research focused on. Like, do we think we have the leaders of the future ready?

Right. And, and yet the evolution it takes for someone, once they've been promoted to, you know, they've been promoted to a director, to stop behaving like a manager, start behaving like a director does, stop behaving like a director and start behaving like a vp. Right? We do not spend much time, time and effort on that point of transition.

And so I ask everybody to come prepared, you know, for, with two pieces of advice. So one being, you know, one piece of advice you have for those leaders who are still seeking that next promotion in their career. And then the second piece of advice being. And what about for those who just landed, they just landed that promotion, you know, they, they Just transitioned out of their old role into their new role.

So would love, you know, one piece of advice for, for each of those. So starting with, you know, those leaders who are seeking their next promotion, what's one piece of advice you have kind. Of in the reverse that we were just speaking about. So knowing your audience, knowing how to communicate with your audience, actually understanding your higher up and what they're, what's keeping them awake at night.

So create three columns on a piece of paper and as much as you can with whatever homework you can do with whatever you can see from the outside is happening departmentally. List out what's likely keeping them awake at night. If you have the luxury, actually ask them. Ask.

Right. List that out on the first column, skip the second column, go to the third column. A year from now, when you are their solution, you come in and you make a difference, what will they thank you for? You're having lunch together, they're like, wow, this past year we've, you know, I no longer have to worry about abc.

I now get to enjoy abc. Write that out, then figure out those three things. There's three big boulders that need to happen for them to get from where they are to where they want to be. You are those boulders.

So you basically now you know what it is. Now you, so now you know you've done your homework. So when you speak with them for that promotion or you write it out on the written stuff that you have to create for the promotion, whatever it is, you're speaking to the pain, you're speaking to the solution or the other side of things and you're demonstrating how you're going to help bridge that, that helps them understand. Wow, they actually cared enough to understand what's going on and to lay it out for me how they're going to be a solution versus begging for a job, you know, begging for a promotion, you're not doing that.

You're showing them how you're going to be a strategic partner that is going to help them get to where they want to be, not help you get to where you want to be nice. And what about for those leaders who just, they just got promoted, right? They just found themselves at the next level. What's your advice for them to sort of best sort of stick the landing, so to speak.

Yeah. So what do, what does a company want? What do they, what do they reward? They reward action and results.

So the way that you can inspire that in the people that surround you because it's never a one man show, then you're going to have more action, you're going to have more results and the whole company is going to benefit. So if you can hone in on what is the cog, what's the cog in this thing we're trying to do. And same three columns. Here's the cog, here's where we want to be.

What are those three steps that need to happen in order to get to bridge to the other side? And you don't, you don't start off focusing on step three. You start focusing on step one. Let's get this first step done first so we can get to the next step.

So we can. And then as you do that, you are creating massive forward momentum for your department or for your company. And that's going to be noticed. Number one, everything's going to perform better.

Productivity is going to be up, retention will likely be up. It all just flows a lot better and that's noticed. Awesome. Well, so for those listening who would like a little more Antoniette Rose in their lives, tell us more about, you know, who should be reaching out to you.

Where do they find you? You know, who are you working with? Yeah. So the three best places.

Number one is my podcast. Especially if you want more of this information, you just hear it anywhere at any time. I'm on all the majors. It's speak pact so speak to make impact.

Speak P A C-T.com or on any of your favorites. I am a little on YouTube. They haven't quite discovered me yet.

But we are a top 10% podcast. The second place is LinkedIn. That is the place I love to hang out. It's the number one.

And Antoniet A N T O N I E T T E so just look me up on, on LinkedIn. Um, and then the other thing is if you really are wanting to step in to speaking at a, at a more serious level, I hold a three day workshop with me. That is amazing. I will say.

Um, and they're just very accessible. And that's@speakerrevenuelab.com.com Speaker Revenue Lab.

com so those are really the three best places for that first step. Yeah. Into my world for budding speakers out there. Right.

Because I know you. Part of what you do is run a speaker agency. Right. Can you just tell just a teensy bit about that and you know, if that's a path someone's on, you know.

Yeah, absolutely. So of course the first place to start with that would be Speaker Revenue Lab. I get to know you, you get to know me. And then I'll know whether or not we're a good fit and that I can represent you and get you onto the stages that you want.

But outside of that, if you go to the speakpact.com address, it also has a calendar link in there where you can meet with either my talent manager or be included in what we call a micro group interview where I interview speakers for my roster. There's no cost, but of course I need to meet with you and it's usually in a small group setting and make sure you're a good fit. Nice.

Antoniette, thank you for being here today. This was a fun conversation and like I said, I think there was. Even though, you know, I say the advice column is at the end, I feel like there was a lot of really good nuggets of advice for people who are trying to improve in their day, you know, day to day meeting to meeting, you know, presentation, let alone those who are trying to get onto stage a bit more too. So thank you so much for just sharing all your wisdom and guidance with us today.

It was fun. Kent, thank you for having me. Thanks. Take it easy.

All right, Ciao. Ciao for now. That brings us to the end of our episode. Thank you for listening.

I'd encourage you to head on over to my website, Kent Coach and start a conversation with me there. Or check out my personal Promoted leader toolkit at Kent Co Toolkit. Before you go on with your day, please take a moment to leave a rating and a review. Wherever you listen to podcasts, click the five stars.

That helps put this podcast in front of more ears. Till next time, take it easy.