From ‘I’ to Caring to Social to Speaking

July 9, 2018 Public Speaking No Comments

It’s all about ‘I’ in the public-speaking brain. And then it’s also all about caring.

Existential at the start: It’s all about ‘I’

then expanding the ‘I’ to incorporate ‘them’. This is not abandoning ‘I’. It’s a process of growing of you-as-speaker: while ‘ego’ remains humble; total ‘you’ becomes fascinating.

Find yourself fascinating: You stand as an ‘I’

You are who you are. It’s your existence. In the brain, one can see this as the brainstem/hypothalamus/thalamus which keep pushing the individual to just exist.

As a speaker, you exist-as-speaker. You show you. People come to see you. It’s invigorating to others to see you as being you. So it’s also in their advantage. They learn from you to be-me.

Make your message individual.

This happens spontaneously if you are being you. This way, you become irreplaceable. Brand yourself as your content. People pay for your brand – also because they want to be included. You and your brand become one symbol = deep communication.

This is not ego-istic. Your <standing as an ‘I’> transcends mere-ego. And that brings us – if done well – spontaneously to:

It’s all about caring

‘Caring’ has been evolutionarily invented more than once. It’s apparently a scheme that nature tends to value. In the human case, blame mammalian evolution. Mother and child while breastfeeding: they look at each other. Oxytocin – hormone – flows in both, enhancing the good feeling from inside.

BUT: at the same time, this may translate into forming ‘the enemy’ as contrasting to the own kin. We humans have the flexibility to either jump into this, making it much worse (empathy to ‘us’ provokes aggression to ‘them’); or to transcend it, making ‘them’ into ‘us’.

Gratitude as a speaker

is part of your caring as a speaker. Showing your sincere gratitude to the audience – also during your talk – you and the audience are clearly caring for the same: good speech, good influence.

Such caring together is HUGELY motivating.

Caring as a speaker is also: very well preparing your presentation

You owe it to ‘your’ public. The effort also makes you confident in having done ‘the best you could’. Attention to detail shows your audience that you care, also through showing yourself that you care. Nonconsciously, your care shows itself to your public.

May this be the main reason to be a ‘thought leader’?