| How
Core Values
Yield Transcendent Performance
Discover the 7 core
values you can engage to
rocket your speaking business into higher orbit now
by Burt Dubin
Every great speaker was once a neophyte. Nido Qubein got
off the boat without a word of English. Bill Gove hustled
product for 3M corporation. Rosita Perez was a social worker.
How did they, and hundreds of other successful experts who
speak, rise from obscurity to success to significance?
I don't pretend to share their real-world history. And, based
on the principles of human nature, here's my guesstimate of
the nature of their evolution from zip to magnificence as
a person-as a person first- and then as an expert who speaks.
Core value #1: Openness and generosity
This one was inspired by the National Speakers Association’s
founder, Cavett Robert. Don't be greedy for your share of
the pie. Instead, make it a bigger pie. Be willing
to offer words of guidance to newer speakers. Great speakers
do this.
Core value #2: Resolute determination
Resolute determination to succeed in your speaking business.
This includes recognition that speaking is not a profession.
Speaking is a business. Succeeding as an expert who speaks
takes your making intelligent business decisions. This inevitably
leads to nose-to-the-grindstone activities, midnight oil,
never giving up despite formidable challenges and road blocks.
Core Value #3: Energy, all-but-endless energy
Readiness to drive all night through a raging storm
to present bright and early next morning in weather
so bad all planes are grounded. Many of us have done that.
Willingness to consistently do more that is expected, more
than is required, more than anyone in their right mind would
do to serve the client.
Core value #4: Diligence
Careful attention to the details. Every possible
detail that turns an engagement from unexciting to unforgettable.
My guess is there are well over 200 details every one of
which matters to make each booking successful for all the
constituents. These include the decision-maker who hires
you, the client who pays you, and the audience before which
you are privileged to speak.
Core value #5: Presence.
That quality of beingness which magnetizes eyes to you
before you say a word. This comes from a certain sureness
on your part, a sureness that you've researched thoroughly,
prepared well, and that you're emotionally, psychologically,
and physically primed to deliver a stellar program. It seeps
up from your spirit, emanates from your essence, soars from
your soul, and manifests from the marrow of your bones.
It rises as a glow from inside you, a glow that people can
see in your stance, a glow that's visible in your glance
and palpable in your poise.
Core value #6: Intuition.
Your inner knowing, your sensing in the moment as
you stand there waiting to be introduced, the mood in the
room, the feelings of your audience, the attitudes of the
top brass, the desires of the decision-maker regarding the
outcomes of your program. Your inner wisdom relative to
deleting this story, adding that one, shortening or lengthening
your presentation to suit the right now desires of the meeting
planner.
Core value #7: Balance
I mean retaining balance in your life. Putting first
things first. This surely includes your spiritual life,
quality time with your significant other and your children,
all first. This means placing your loved ones ahead of your
speaking business, being devoted to their happiness before
your career. And maintaining peak personal health, too.
Balancing the rigors of travel, fast food, missed meals,
finding where and when to exercise.
All of this is not easy. One way is to book time for these
values on your calendar first. Some top speakers book whole
weeks and months away with their loved ones. Rudyard Kipling's
classic poem "If" comes to mind. I do not offer
answers to these challenges. I simply place them before as
puzzles to be solved on the way to your making yourself a
transcendent speaker.
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