Leaders and Teams, Beware…All that Glitters is not Gold

Dear Reader, there are times in your professional life when you get a kick up the rear and fall down. Someone or something creeps up behind you and shoves you one. Not being prepared, you stumble and fall forward. Once on the ground, you have one of two choices: Lay there in a puddle of self-pity and doubt and become immobilized, or stand up, dust yourself off and get back to work (or write a LinkedIn Article ;)!

Although often tempted to choose the first option because it’s the easiest, I always end up choosing option number two.  This choice gives you your power back because after all, you are the conductor of the symphony of your life, not external forces that kick you up the rear.

Needless to say, I was recently “knocked down” by a surprising adversary…new technology.  Call it AI, call it a “thing-a-ma-jig”, or call it a shiny object with levers and buttons that roar, klonk and bonk.  This thing won a bid for a lucrative teaching gig that I was in the running for. 

The brief was to deliver public speaking skills training to a prominent organization. Its leaders needed rapid upskilling in the craft so that they could show up as the best versions of themselves in front of their diverse audiences.  This is a typical scenario for what I do and whom I work with. But, this time, something very, very different happened.  

In the letter explaining why I didn’t get the gig, I was told that they were looking for someone who could “integrate technology and the new trendy ways of analyzing public speaking for every individual”.  

Dear Reader, I’m not a sore loser, I don’t mind losing a bid to someone else who has the same or better qualifications that I do, but I do mind losing it to someTHING else.  

Now among us, is cutting-edge technology that can measure things like your speaking speed, how many pauses you make, the number “ums” you speak and even the pitch and timbre of your tone to measure your mood.  Cool metrics for anyone who wants to measure oratory variables laboratory-style in research conditions.  What I am not convinced about is that these “trendy ways of analyzing public speaking”, let’s just call them “gadgets”, actually transform people into better public speakers.

At best, these gadgets can be useful for unskilled trainers to identify what oratory elements should be worked on. For example, the data can reveal if the speaker is within an average range or whether they are outliers, i.e. speaking “too fast” or “too slow” or having “too many” um’s and other sound fillers, etc. With unskilled trainers running the machinery, a company that offers “public speaking training” can scale because it’s the machines that paint the picture and suggest solutions, not the skills and qualifications of the trainers. 

On the flip side, although the data recorded is interesting on an intellectual-level, the problem is that it is superficial and cosmetic and it doesn’t address the root of the speaking imperfection.  This root always stems from within. For example, telling someone who speaks “too fast” to speak slower is a short-term, band-aid solution. They may be able to slow down to please the trainer in rehearsal, but to break their habit of speaking too fast, they have to rewire themselves. 

This takes time and the work is in determining why they speak so fast in the first place. Are they anxious? Do they feel unprepared? Do they have imposter syndrome? For lasting change and for authentic transformation, the work must come from within. If they are anxious, they must learn how to warm up and prepare themselves for the speaking performance so that they come in feeling more present than anxious.  If they feel unprepared, they must learn the art of rehearsal which will bring them to a place of comfort with their speaking and will reduce their anxiety. And finally, if they have imposter syndrome, they have to do the work of becoming empowered and learn how to dare to be remarkable. These “fixes” are long-term and lasting and they work.

Furthermore,  using gadgets to learn how to speak in public, makes the speaker dependent on an external source of control. Think about it, when you’re actually in front of a real audience, there won’t be any gadgets there telling you how things are going.  You’re on your own. 

To be totally honest with you, The artisan in me, recoils at the thought of learning a skill like public speaking through metrics with different colored peaks and modulations displayed on a computer screen. In my playbook, it’s embodied learning that is the secret sauce.  Feeling, doing and being the work. Trusting your body to tell you about all of the nuances that you need to be aware of regarding your speaking performance. Modulating how you breathe to power your voice, shifting the angle of your head to reach a state of authentic presence, moving your feet into the right position and unlocking your knees in order to feel grounded and in control of your body, using the resonators of your face to project sound and so much more…You hone the craft of public speaking by living it with your whole being, over time. Your body is the gadget!

The adage “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”, is relevant here. Dear Reader, give a person a technological fix to help improve public speaking and you help them for a day. Teach them the craft of public speaking using the whole body and you empower them for a lifetime.

My advice? Beware of “shiny objects” which promise you instant results and polish you up with a superficial shine. The shine wears off the very next day and you’ll be right back to where you started. 

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Dr. Laura Penn is an expert in the speaking arts and in leadership communication. Founder of The Leadership Speaking School, based in Switzerland, she supports leaders, teams and motivated youth to become authentic communicators of the digital age. Award-winning international keynote speaker, four-time TEDx speaker, author of three books, writer for UN Today, the official magazine of the United Nations and host of the Leadership Speaking Radio podcast, Dr. Penn is available for virtual and in-person training sessions and customized keynotes.