The ability to speak with impact directly correlates with one’s salary. As an Executive Communication Coach, I have helped many nervous professionals hone their speaking skills in order to advance their careers. Typically, the coaching and training focuses on content organization and delivery skills for maximum effectiveness.
I love communication so much that it is not just my day job, but also my hobby. I’m a storyteller and participate in story slams. These are events where regular people tell a personal, true story to a crowd, based on the theme of the night. Many of them have never used a microphone before and some require coaxing by their friends to tell. I have witnessed many remarkable transformations. After some coaching and training on content and delivery, people have become effective and dynamic speakers; their paralyzed nerves converted into electric, magnetic charm. I have unlocked the code as to how and why this can happen through years of experimentation, observation, and testing theories. I have also discovered that research does exist that corroborates my experiences.
While human beings have unique experiences, they experience universal emotions. Those universal emotions: joy, fear, helplessness, frustration, hope, pride, humiliation etc. is where the listener’s brain waves align completely with the waves of the teller’s brain if the story is delivered dynamically, engaging all senses. The teller and the listener are experiencing (feeling) the story together in real time, it is an active experience. There is a give and take of energy that creates true human connection which can be very persuasive. This is why commercials often employ storytelling.
Many left-brained people are valued for their intellect in such fields as medical devices, financial software, academia, research, engineering, tech, and others, however they may lack the right brained skill of relaying their knowledge with a story. I have coached many of them to use this advanced skill of storytelling in business settings particularly where they need to be persuasive or influential. With this skill, left-brained geniuses are able to go further in their careers much more quickly. Humor can also do this, but that’s another subject!
