CHAPTER 20

The Performing Arts

Ken was a middle manager in Marketing who was easy to overlook. A quiet keep-to-himself Type B sort of fellow, he was regarded by his own managers as a solid enough employee but unremarkable, a reliable tactician but certainly not someone who was “going places.” Unbeknownst to everyone at work, because of his natural shyness Ken had taken up stand-up comedy as a hobby. He found performing gave him confidence, and it surprised him, once he grew accustomed to it, how much he actually enjoyed being on stage in clubs, in the spotlight, making people laugh. One day, about six months after he’d begun to feel comfortable with his comedy routine, Ken had to make a presentation to senior management. A key competitor had suddenly pulled out of West Texas, providing a possible opportunity for Ken’s company to move in with a sizable advertising presence.

The senior management team was prepared for a dry, factual, probably rather boring fifteen minutes, and was not at all expecting what unfolded. Once given the floor, the quiet middle manager seemed transformed: Ken spoke with poise, energy, confidence, and touches of humor. He knew his material well and moved around the room confidently—several of the senior managers realized immediately that he in fact was a far better presenter than they were! Ken gave a flawless presentation, persuasively making the case for increased advertising, and finished with a flourish, walking over to the company’s CEO, leaning on the table, looking him in the eye, and directly addressing him: “Now, I ask you, does this feel like the kind of opportunity we as a company can possibly afford to miss?”

Ken received the West Texas advertising funding, but more importantly, he was never again viewed the same way in the organization. His career accelerated; he was moved onto an executive fast track. “Why was I never aware of him before?” the CEO wondered. “What an extraordinarily capable young man!”

In fact, Ken had always been capable, but no one had noticed. In his breakout presentation to senior management that day, it wasn’t so much what he had said but how he had said it: with complete self-assurance and aplomb, in the limelight.

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Whether it’s giving a presentation, running a meeting, or speaking more formally to a large audience, what I call the corporate “performing arts” are an integral part of every manager’s career.

Three things I can say with certainty about public speaking: (1) Most typical, quiet Type B managers start off fearing it (studies have shown it’s only slightly preferable to losing a limb). (2) It’s one of the most valuable business and career skills you’ll ever have. And (3) it’s a skill that most importantly and most definitely can be learned.

Of the universe of outstanding public speakers and presenters, a few are just born that way. Give them a stage and a microphone and they can talk a dog off a meat wagon, as the saying goes. The other 99 percent of us, however, have to work at it.

Fortunately, the work isn’t that hard and can be extremely rewarding, assuming you’re motivated to improve. Full disclosure: There are a lot of ways to skin this cat. There are a legion of companies out there—many excellent—that teach public speaking to people all the time. I’m not one of them. I’m just a quiet person by nature who, over time, gained a functional knowledge of speaking and presenting because I realized it would be helpful, indeed essential, to my career. So what I’m not passing along is a system that can work for everyone, but simply four insights—nothing profound or difficult—that proved valuable to me, and I believe can be of value to other Type B managers—and some Type A’s as well.

1. Watch yourself on video. I first did this for five minutes many years ago at a public speaking seminar given by my employer, and it was the wisest five minutes of my business time I ever invested. It wasn’t pretty. On video I could see right away what needed to be improved. I was technically proficient in that I knew my subject matter (in this case it was advertising), but I needed to be far more animated, emotive, engaging. The video was a clear, unforgiving road map showing me quickly where I needed to go.
2. Find your own style that you’re comfortable with. Know who you are, and what your strengths and weaknesses are. Being understated by nature, I was never going to be a fiery Type A speaker who’d pace around a stage like a panther and enthrall thousands with “fire-and-brimstone” emotion. But that was no excuse to be boring. Two things I could do reasonably well were use dry humor and tell stories. Those were natural aspects of my personality that could be integrated into my public speaking. That’s a great thing about speaking and presenting—there’s no inherently right way to do it. You can be charismatic, motivational, educational, entertaining, informative, low-key, professorial—you name it—whatever works best for your personality.
3. Pick out one person in the audience and pretend you’re having a conversation with that person. This is by no means an original insight, but a practical tactical maneuver I especially liked. It can help turn a potentially overwhelming situation into a manageable one. Instead of facing dozens or even thousands of people, you’re (sort of) having a personal conversation with one other person. Naturally over the course of a speech or presentation, you can focus on numerous different individuals—but focusing on them one at a time is a helpful way to cut a large, inchoate event down to size.
4. Practice, practice, practice—know your material cold. For me this was by far the most important element—there’s no substitute for thorough knowledge of your topic. Get completely comfortable with your content. Facing a large audience is the absolute worst time to discover that you’re really not too sure what you want to say. If you’re preternaturally gifted, perhaps you can bluff it, but for most of us mortals this is a recipe for implosion. Personally I never liked to memorize things—I’d end up sounding too wooden—but I wanted to clearly understand and think through all aspects of my message. When my kids were growing up, I’d spend hours before a big presentation practicing quietly in our basement, with the ironing board as a podium, and in the car driving to and from work. It was a classic “competence breeds confidence” scenario—putting in the time made all the difference. My performance could vary from bumbling (if I hadn’t prepared well) to effective and even entertaining (if I had).

Like Ken at the beginning of this chapter, I was not a natural public speaker, but I became a whole lot better than when I started. You can too.

Management Insight

The ability to speak persuasively to an audience is a tremendously valuable management skill. It’s also a skill that definitely can be learned by even the most reserved Type B manager—even if you feel you have no natural talent in that direction.