Be the Donut!!!
Posted on June 03, 2019 by Jared Young, One of Thousands of Entrepreneurship Coaches on Noomii.
Passion is more powerful than perfection!
I am part of a group on facebook of great leaders who are also students of leadership and always seeking to adapt their styles to new environments and challenges. One Gentleman asked if anyone had any advice for how to speak. Because he said, “English is my second language and I feel like what I want to say is often overlooked because I don’t know how to say it right.”
He then started getting responses just like you’d expect. Get an interpreter, ask for help… One gentleman told him, and I love this, “You’re English is perfect. trust it and believe in yourself.”
I had a few thoughts of inspiration come into my head from Eddie Izzard and my old Entrepreneurship Professor. I formed them somewhat on accident… This is how they came out…
My old professor used to say, “If you can’t fix it, Flaunt it!” And I think it may apply here.
So, what I know about communication is people don’t hear what you say nearly as much as they feel how you say it.
Our body language, tone, eye contact, caring, and confidence are what people feel. When we hit these we can say the wrong words and still deliver the right message.
This is displayed often in film when a lead says, "We have a saying in my native country, “insert moment of genius here”, which roughly translates into, “insert good enough explanation here”"
The reason they do this isn’t because the message is more powerful in a language the audience can’t understand. They do this because when they say something in their native language they hit the body language perfectly. They speak with love, power, hope, inspiration, and leave the audience anxious, inspired, and hungry for the words which we then translate into our own form of poetry.
One of the most beautiful moments in history where the non verbal was more powerful than the verbal was when President John Kennedy spoke at the Berlin wall after it came down. He spoke mostly in English which the audience didn’t understand, They only understood his body language. For his famous phrase, In English he says, “All free people are citizens of Berlin.” And then in German he tries to say, “I am a Citizen of Berlin!”
“Ich Bin Ein Berliner!” Which actually translates into, “I am a donut!”
Our speech, like us, does not have to be perfect to be impactful. Speak and act with power, with confidence, and with love. Show it in your body and your face when you speak. Stumble over the words! It won’t hold you back it will make you more relate-able! Your message and your words will be easier to adopt because they are both powerful and come from someone who like us, is imperfect and human!
Be the Donut!
