Fireside Chat - LEADERSHIP MINTS

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you foster more commitment to sharpening your public speaking skills. Reading time: 5:08

You are tasked to lead 12 entry level employees
in a leadership development workshop on public speaking.
More than half of the class fears
public speaking and the other half
would rather be anywhere else. What do you do?
Consider the following speech that one leader delivered to
reframe public speaking as a skill that breathes
life into you rather than scares you half to death.

Life1 If I were not an adult or even a child, I probably wouldn’t be standing and I certainly wouldn’t be speaking. I’d be on my hands and knees, screaming not speaking because I was a baby.

And I would be an infant in more ways than one since the word “Infant” comes from the Latin word meaning “unable to speak.”

But I am not an infant. I am able to speak. I am able to break through the sound barrier and soar higher and higher on the wings of speech. Growing from a baby, growing into a child, growing up to become a man.

Yes. Speech breathes life.

In the next few minutes I am going to share with you three specific examples of how speech breathes life –BREATHING life into a 6-year-old infant, BREATHING life into ordinary people who become extraordinary and memorable, and BREATHING life into depressed nation on the verge of world war. Continue reading “Speech Breathes Life Into A Leader” →

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you more personally connect with your followers. Reading time: 3:22.

Your love affair with a camera lens is evident. You can handle a Teleprompter with the best of them. And now your role as Speaker in Chief seems even more comfortable, even more confident, even more commanding.

Well hold on there, Corporate Breath: Yes you Podium King. And you too Public Speaking Queen. Beware!

The most effective public speakers know they need to do much more than light the proverbial fire under their audiences.

The most effective public speakers need to FIRST light up their audiences with a fire of ideas that draws the audience closer and closer to the speaker. They need to FIRST cast a verbal security blanket that first warms and comforts their audience to better process the cold truth.

That’s why the most effective public speakers need to FIRST feed that fire logs soaked in caring and concern, feeling and humanity, empathy and personality. Indeed, the most convincing leaders on the podium need to FIRST fan the flames of that fire to dry away the tears and burn away fears of their audience. Continue reading “Warm Your Audience With A Fireside Chat” →