How To Speak From a Higher Level of Being

Relax, I'm not going to get airy-fairy on you. We'll stay
grounded. We'll stay rooted in the practical realities of building
your business as an expert who speaks.

Picture this- The wise sailor accepts the winds and tides
as they are. The wise sailor doesn't try to change the winds and
tides. The wise sailor engages the winds and tides to move the boat
across the waters. Across the briny deep from where the boat is to
the desired destination. Are you with me so far?

Imagine this- Your speaking business is your boat. You're
the Captain as well as the navigator. The waters of the briny deep
are the present times, the here and now, the ocean in which you sink
or swim as an expert in the business of speaking. Are you still
with me? Good. The winds and tides are the feelings and
attitudes, the climate and environment in which your clients and
prospects do whatever they do.

Now, please reflect upon this reality- The feelings and
attitudes of the people who lead the organizations you serve as an
expert who speaks, simply are. (Just as the winds and tides simply
are.) And these organizational leaders want to be successful at
whatever they offer the universe of markets and people they serve.

So, why this explanation? Because times have changed. As we
start the new century, the new millennium, attitudes and feelings are
evolving. There is now a ground swell of recognition, of
receptivity, of awareness of the non-physical aspect of life.
And-sensitivity to the place of the human spirit in the world of work.

For example, Barbara Scofidio, the editor of Corporate
Meetings & Incentives magazine reported an experience of what she
called, "service with soul." (Her words) She referred to the
experience she had on a Southwest Airlines flight. As recently as a
year ago I don't think you'd have seen the word "soul" in a corporate
magazine.

Here's more: Leonard Berry, in his new book, Discovering
the Soul of Service, (1999, The Free Press), writes that the core of
every successful organization is "a soul, a value system..."

Barbara wrote, "I could almost feel the soul Berry describes
in the way Southwest handled my flight."

John B. Izzo, PhD, in his Awakening Corporate Soul, (ISBN
0-9682149-01-6) writes of "the 4 paths to unleash the power of people
at work." He says "The soul wants to make a difference." I was at
his program at the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers
(CAPS) 1998 Convention. He said we who speak are to share our unique
essence (our soul and it's values,) with our audiences.

And longtime speaker, Kathleen Hawkins, in her
SPIRIT Incorporated, (ISBN 0-87516-717-9,) writes of the "spiritual
laws operating in the workplace."

There's no denying this rising tide of corporate receptivity
to our authentically sharing who and what we are at the essence level
as part of our message.

A growing sense of self is pervading people at every level of
the corporate world. A personal dignity, an enhanced awakening to
the rightness of personal autonomy is sweeping through the world of
work. There's a heightened concern for self, for personal growth as
a human right and as a direct result of the work we do. People long
to actualize their true potential. And they want this to be one of
the outcomes of the work they do.

It's now appropriate for us, as experts who speak, to
recognize and salute the rightful place of the human spirit in the
workplace. At every level of the workplace. From the mail room to
the boardroom. And every level in-between.