Grateful Professional Speaker
As a motivational speaker trainer I spend a lot of time on the road. Being away from home and family is the most challenging part of my motivational speaking career as a professional speaker. However, gratefulness is like a spiritual Prozac for me. I mean, I think it’s nearly impossible to be depressed when we’re busy being grateful. What is depression if not repressed anger? Gratitude extinguishes anger…and fuels the fire in that torch we all have inside. Gratefulness has been a key element I teach in all my speaker training classes for various companies. When professionally speaking to employees and managers I like to ask them to think about being grateful for where they live, what they
do, and who they serve. Yes, who they serve! In all my professional speaking jobs it is important to remind myself who I serve each time a step to the microphone as a motivational speaker.
I now live in Southern California, and if you’ve known me for more than five minutes or so, you will have heard me rave about how beautiful it is here. I always say, “Los Angeles is the best place I’ve ever lived!” One time my wife reminded me that I’ve said that about all the places we’ve lived…Boston, London, Phoenix, and Atlanta. I guess I’ve been purposely looking for the positives, no matter where I am. It is important to be grateful for your family and friends, for your job and co-workers, and for where you live. Thank people who have helped you, and give credit to others when it’s appropriate
(and, by the way, it’s always appropriate). Be grateful for your pets! Be grateful for a good movie on a rainy day. Be grateful for a good roof on a rainy day. Be grateful for rain……be grateful.
“What a wonderful life I’ve had!
I only wish I’d realized it sooner.”
—Colette
Who is the best Professional Speaker?
Who is the consummate professional speaker? The motivational speaker trainer who sets the bar the highest in the motivational speaker training? Is it Zig Ziglar, Anthony Robbins or maybe Les Brown?
Keith Harrell is an up and coming top motivational speaker that I’ve had the chance to speak alongside and he is a talented motivational speaker. It is not so much about being polished and skilled in motivational speaking. It is about loving and honoring people that is who my hero is. That’s also who gets the most motivational speaking jobs.
Love cures people – both the ones who give it,
and the ones who receive it.”
– Carl Menninger
This is a tip I give to all my students and I hope that I project to every crowd I speak with.
other in this book. Love people – all people.
Love teenagers!
Love the elderly.
Love complainers.
Love illegal immigrants.
Love drivers who cut you off.
Love crying babies on airplanes.
Love loud cell phone talkers in restaurants.
Love people who are trying to push you away. They’re
just trying to prove to themselves that they’re not lovable
– prove them wrong. Notice I didn’t say tolerate them…I said love them. I abhor
the title of Simon Wiesenthal’s Museum of Tolerance. Don’t get me wrong. I love the concept and what it stands for; I just don’t like the title – “Museum of Tolerance.” It just doesn’t sit right with me. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be tolerated! I want to be loved. I don’t want to toler-
ate people; I want to love them. Is it enough for you to just be tolerated? Love people.
Honor People. In Southern California, I’ve noticed that we have this unusual practice known as “celebrity worship.” I really don’t get it. We should honor everyone. Yet, people definitely don’t get
treated the same; not just here in California, but everywhere in the world. Do you honor everyone?
The bank president and the bank janitor? The star of the team and the team’s trainer? Do you walk past people who clean the restrooms at your office, treating them like they’re invisible? Why don’t you
smile and say “Hi”? That might just make their day. What a wonderful way to help your torch – and theirs – burn brighter. I know why this torch tip means so much to me. I was once an evangelist for a dynamic church, and I was treated with incredible respect. After ten years, I stepped down from the
ministry and was just a “regular” member of the congregation. And guess what? I was treated differently.
The honor was removed…and it hurt. Years later I left that church altogether…and once more I
was treated in a noticeably different way. Except by Andy. Andy always treated me the same – with kindness and respect – whether in or out of the ministry – whether in or out of his church. This kind man lives in Scotland, and yet for the past decade, he has regularly called Tanya and me, just to encourage us. In fact he called again as I was writing this book. Andy has always honored me…and it feels good. I will never forget this most important lesson. Thank you, Andy.
Business Speaker
A business speaker needs to do his/her homework before delivering a business keynote speech. This requires more work on the part of the business speaker but shouldn’t you expect that of every business speaker that you hire? The best speakers send out a questionnaire which starts the research process and fact gathering on a particular business. Some business speakers deliver the same keynote year after year with little or no
redesign. A professional business speaker gets to know not just about the company but the people in the company before they arrive. Let me ask you a question about your last business keynote speaker?
Did they ask permission to call some of your managers to briefly interview and ask profound questions in order to customize their keynote speech? Did they arrive 45 minutes to an hour before their scheduled speech to meet and greet the audience and then integrate those interactions into the business keynote speech? If not then make the choice to hire someone who will be that tuned in to your company so that it is not only a customized keynote but in the end you’ll say you hired a personalized business speaker.