A hilarious take, and 100%, this is the convincing that takes place between a reluctant thought leader and comms advisors.
I was asked the other day by a client in a speechwriting session where things go wrong.
One bit of advice:
It is damaging as hell to feel like the real you is not good enough.
Why does it have to be YOU? When you move away from your voice - in ANY thought leadership - and try to put on a different persona, it feels off to the audience, it feels off to you.
A speech is still the same ‘you’ that we get on social post, in the boardroom.
Any great speechwriter or comms trainer will help you feel AMAZING in your own skin. The practice has evolved, but many trainers are still operating like it’s years ago, when the best way for you to present ideas was to change you significantly. This is a recipe for disengagement, and makes people quit - and the world loses the genius that would have been shared with us.
Don’t change you.
Rather, sharpen you. 20% more energy. Emphasis on key strengths (with Fredrik Backman, you hear how he leaned hard into his unique characteristics - dry humor, passion around mental health-related topics, etc. And the audience was SO INTO IT.)
It is still fully YOU - fake will fail onstage.
This is how you do better than most speakers when you’re at the podium.
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