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The mistakes I have made

The second reason that qualifies me to write this book is that I’ve learned from hard personal experience, having made every conceivable error in the presentation skills universe, and then some.

I’ve shared your pain.

We all make mistakes. We can all fall short, in every endeavour in life.

There’s something particularly humiliating, though, about failing in a presentation, whether it’s in front of two people or two thousand. It’s as if the whole world has stopped to watch and say, “What a loser.”

The derision invariably comes from inside our own heads.

After a bad speech, or even an embarrassing moment in a speech, you may feel like you never want to interact with another human being again. Go ahead and feel that way, for a little while.

Then you need to get productive — analyze the reasons for the slip-up, ascertain how you can avoid repeating it, and get right back on that communication horse.

That’s how you get better.

That’s how you learn to speak like a leader.

The right to express ourselves publicly in a democratic society, to freely convey our ideas and opinions, is a gift, among the finest bestowed upon the human race.

A lot of people fought to give us this gift. We owe them our best.

So let’s get started by examining the five keys to speaking like a leader.

The five keys. They’ll equip you to excel as a presenter, even when the odds appear to be stacked heavily against you.

The five keys. They’ll help you open career doors that seemed forever closed, and facilitate your ascension to the next level.

The five keys. They’re how leaders speak.

Jim Gray

Toronto, Ontario

January 2010