Be a return driven speaker! How do these genuine assets help you communicate holistically and effectively? [Tuesdays: Return Driven Strategy]
What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words, “Return Driven?”
Money?
High performance?
Stocks?
Well, being return driven includes all these… and so much more.
In establishing return driven businesses, there are some aspects you need to take note of so you’ll implement activities and strategies that will help you achieve your organizational and career goals.
In the book, “Driven,” authors Professor Joel Litman and Dr. Mark Frigo discussed Return Driven Strategy, a business framework that can help change the way businesses operate.
The framework helps leaders and professionals better understand, analyze, and implement activities and decisions that produce superior returns for ALL constituents of a firm. It has 11 tenets and 3 foundations, which, if implemented properly, will lead towards ethically maximizing wealth.
Allow us to explain one of Return Driven Strategy’s “Supporting Tenets” in detail: Communicate Holistically.
This tenet is a Supporting Tenet because high performance comes from understanding the integral role of communications in the entire business process.
Let’s apply that in the context of public speaking.
In his “Speak on the Shoulders of Giants” presentation, Professor Litman discussed some GENUINE ASSETS for becoming a great speaker.
These assets are important to take note of to help you appeal to your audience even more, establish a positive image in the industry, and build networks with people you can form effective business relationships with.
Many of the world’s greatest speakers that we also call “Giants of Speeches” have these assets, which enable them to communicate holistically with their audience, colleagues, and others.
Below are the characteristics Professor Litman talked about in his presentation:
VERACITY
This is your ability to conform to facts every time you present in front of your audience.
For example, if you’re presenting data and statistics, it’s important to make sure that everything you’re showing and telling your audience is correct. Your data does not necessarily have to be precise, it just has to be correct. 19th century British author Carveth Read expressed this best when he said,
“It’s better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong.”
Even if you mention approximates of the exact number, that is much better than saying the wrong number in a failed attempt to be precise. Make sure this is clear to your audience so they won’t misinterpret anything.
By being truthful in your presentations, you are also establishing credibility in the eyes of your audience.
HUMILITY
Being humble is more convincing than being arrogant as a speaker. This asset is shown whenever you give credit where it is due and attribute concepts, ideas, and topics accordingly.
Humility can also be seen in the way you acknowledge the help of other people in order to make your presentation successful.
Sure, you’re the one presenting on stage but behind you are other people who are responsible for the data you present, stage setup, PowerPoint Presentation, audio, leave-behinds, etc. Imagine all the work you’d have to do by yourself if not for their help!
One way to acknowledge these people during your presentation is by using the pronoun “We” instead of “I.” You don’t need to name who they are and how they helped. By using the plural form, you make it evident that the whole presentation is a group effort.
Aside from that, not pretending to “know it all” is a form of humility. As a speaker, you’re not being pressured to be knowledgeable about all things; even veteran speakers have their weaknesses on certain topics too.
Being humble enough to admit that you don’t know everything enables you to present your “human side” to your audience, cancelling out all the intimidation they feel towards you.
SIMPLICITY
One thing that amazes audiences is a speaker’s ability to simplify complex data and structures in a presentation.
If you know your topic is a bit complex for your audience to understand, making your explanations even more complex will only make things worse.
Instead, simplify your discussion―present your data in an easy-to-understand table or chart, remove unnecessary information, avoid using jargon that your audience doesn’t understand, and make your explanations as simple as possible.
This helps show how much mastery you have over the topic because you are able to break down complex concepts and illustrate them simply and effectively.
COMPASSION
Compassion is the sympathetic consciousness of others’ feelings and emotions.
As a speaker, remember that your audience is giving you their time, commitment, and attention.
Compassion is your ability to value their presence and their time by delivering a great presentation. The more you value your audience and their efforts to listen to you, the more you’ll be motivated to make sure your presentation is what they need to hear.
LOVE
Public speaking is not an easy task.
Some people even tend to have a natural fear of it.
Whether or not public speaking or presenting in front of your colleagues is part of your job description, it’s important for you to master the art of public speaking (or at least learn how to effectively get your message across) because this will help you achieve your career goals and organizational goals.
Practice your public speaking skills every chance you can. As you continually do it, you’ll be amazed at how eventually it will feel normal for you.
JOY
How you feel towards doing something will be reflected in the way you do that particular task.
If you’re feeling forced to conduct a presentation, it will be obvious the moment you get on stage to deliver your message. Your audience will notice it in your tone and your body language.
That’s why it’s important that when you do something, especially a presentation, you do it with a joyful heart. This will enable you to stay motivated all throughout your presentation, and to smile and engage with your audience in a positive manner.
When your audience is enjoying your presentation because of your positive demeanor, you’ll easily appeal to them and convince them in your call-to-action (CTA).
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These assets are some of the things you’ll consistently find in some of the greatest speakers of all time, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Winston Churchill.
By exhibiting these characteristics during their speeches, MLK and Churchill’s words were able to withstand the test of time that years after they’ve gone, their words are still being used as an inspiration by many.
With these characteristics, you’ll also have higher chances of establishing good business relationships with your audience and…
… do well in communicating holistically with the people you talk to!
Keep these genuine assets in mind and make sure you live them out in your career, too―not just when you’re delivering a speech or presentation!
(This article is from The Business Builder Daily, a newsletter by The I Institute in collaboration with MBO Partners.)
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Tuesdays: Return Driven Strategy”
In the book, “Driven,” authors Professor Joel Litman and Dr. Mark L. Frigo said that the goal of every long-term successful business strategy should incorporate the combined necessity of “making the world a better place” and “getting wealthy.”
That is why they created Return Driven Strategy and Career Driven Strategy―frameworks that were built to help leaders and professionals plan and evaluate businesses so they can also help others achieve their organizational goals and career goals.
The frameworks describe the plans and actions that drive returns for anyone in an organization such as independent contractors, marketers, brand managers, communicators, and other people in any field. These actions lead to the creation of wealth and value for customers, employees, shareholders, and the society.
Every Tuesday, we’ll highlight case studies, business strategies, tips, and insights related to Return Driven Strategy and Career Driven Strategy.
In planning, building, or managing brands and businesses, these strategies, case studies, and guidelines will help you choose what specific actions to take and when to take them.
Hope you found this week’s insights interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Tuesday’s “Return Driven Strategy!”
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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