The Speaker As Leader

There they are. All 50 of them. All 500 of them. Or all 5000 of them. Your audience sits yearning for your words. Looking at you. Waiting for you to show them the way, Hoping you bring illumination. Longing for answers. Hungering for direction.

Someone arranged for you to be there. Because you are one who knows.
Because you can open their eyes. Because you can lead them to light.

Let's say you have technical know-how. Or industry-specific insights. Or a new idea, an approach, an insight, an attitude, a concept. Or a pastiche of all or any combination of the above. A new wrinkle, a new approach that leads to breakthroughs. To ahas.

Or maybe you discovered a way of being, of doing that can lead this audience to having something they desire. Perhaps you can lead them to a deeper understanding of something they need to know.

Naomi Rhode calls it the privilege of the platform. And what a privilege you have as you stand there! Take a deep breath. You can influence, you can mold and shape a future yet unborn. Take another breath. Look at the faces before you. This is your moment. This is the moment you've worked so hard to be ready for.

When, in 1960, John F Kennedy spoke and said "We will send a man to the moon and bring him safely back to earth-and we'll do it within 10 years!" he stirred his nation to believe it could be done.

When Abraham Lincoln spoke and delivered what we now commemorate as The Gettysburg Address, he awakened the conscience of the Western world.

When Nelson Mandela spoke and stirred the sparks of hope in his people with his words, to such an extent that he was thrown into prison by the white masters of South Africa, his words changed history forever.

And, need I mention Buddha, Mohammed, Jesus, Moses, and so many others whose spoken words magnetized millions of people to shape their theological beliefs.

Are speakers leaders? Is there any doubt in your mind now?

OK. I know what you're thinking. These people changed the world. Who am I?
What can I do? You can do a lot. You can do more than you may know. You can do it in the here and now of your life. You are a thought and attitude leader now. Maybe not by your words. By your state of being. It's not what you're saying. It's who you're being.

While you may address issues of far less import, you are no less important. You bring your Self to the platform. You bring your essence to the platform. As a model of the possible, you lead and inspire simply by who you are.

When Les Brown spoke at the NSA Washington DC Convention in August 2000, it wasn't his words alone that thrilled those present. Reflect on this truth: It was his state of being. It was his soul shining through that led listeners to get that they, too, had a chance to reveal their greatness, to release their magnificence.

This is leadership of the human spirit. We who speak own this privilege. We can lead people to a new level of living and of service. All with our state of being.

We can accept the mantle of our power. You can accept the mantle of your power. You can lead your audiences to more hope and to more wisdom. All by your state of being. If not you, who? If not now, when?