GO WEST !!! Remember to be Humble

Go West! with Christine M. West, MS, CMHT

One of the most powerful lessons that I have ever learned as a business professional and especially as a speaker for hire is the power behind humbleness. I was reminded of this valuable lesson recently. This invisible power within humbleness was well illustrated recently at a conference that I was an attendee at.

One speaker, who I would rate as stupendous and presented exceptionally well, acted out some key behaviors for all of us to be reminded of. This presenter, who I will name for this article as Credible-Chris, understood the power behind humbleness. Credible-Chris provided value and maintained rapport with his audience because of the following:

1. He demonstrated topic expertise by providing substance, value and practicality.
2. His presentation naturally flowed and 90 minutes flew by fast.
3. He had excellent professional boundaries. When he was outside of his own expertise he identified what expert would be needed.
4. He promoted his services by “walking the talk” instead of behaving arrogantly and telling the audience of his greatness.
5. He involved his audience by engaging in activity that created awareness to identifying the problem to be solved and offering basic solution orientated strategies.
6. He spoke the language of the audience.
7. He gave creditability to ideas in his lecture that stemmed from a different originator.
8. He lived up who he said he was in his bio.
9. He indirectly sold his value proposition by demonstrating it.
10. (By the way his presentation was on Organizational Value, he clearly provided value.)

Another speaker at the conference that stood out for me acted professionally ridiculous. He was an excellent reminder of what NOT to do. I will name him Ridiculous-Ramon. Ridiculous-Ramon, made some very costly mistakes and obviously did NOT remember that GREATNESS comes from a state of being,NOT from a state of telling.


One of the saddest parts for Ridiculous-Ramon was claiming his expertise to be in Psychophysiology of Linguistics. That states he is a communication expert. His bio stated that he worked in the personal growth industry for the past 20 years. These are awesome credentials yet by not truly being able to communicate and engage your audience when you claim you can ------ is Pathetic for any professional.

The story gets worse. The list of mistakes was incredible. The following was my observation:

1. He did not take into account that others in the audience, such as me have an expertise that can validate the credibility of his message.
2. He forgot that I knew him prior to writing a book and I knew him as a salesman, not as a personal growth expert.
3. He lacked professional boundaries, integrity and ethics. He claimed a professional expertise that he did not have. When an audience participant asked who else has done research on what he claims is factual, he said he is the only person on the planet.

(Ridiculous-Ramon did not invent Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) Bandler and Grinder did or Neuro-Associative Conditioning Systems this was Anthony Robbins. Ridiculous-Ramon holds a Master of ART in Counseling not a PhD in Linguistics or Psychology or Sociology or even Anthropology) He created an application to teach the layman how to communicate easier and is using concepts from Anthony Robbins. Anthony Robbins work is based off of concepts in NLP, and NLP is based off of concepts of Social Learning Theory and Cognitive Learning Theory which are the work of Albert Bandura who is a Psychologist who expanded other psychological change theories.

Validity and Reliability of your message are very important claims to professionalism and holding credibility.

A concept is far more credible if you can share with you audience the building blocks of your concept as Credible-Chris did so eloquently.

4. He was arrogant and made the presentation a sales pitch of his greatness and all about him.

5. He was scheduled to lecture for 90 minutes and completed his lecture in 30 minutes. He asked the room moderator how much time he had after 30 minutes, then after 45 minutes, and then after 60 minutes…... This was painful to watch. Pacing is part of communication.

6. He had difficulty engaging with his audience, this skill is called rapport and is a major part of communication.

7. He lacked substance and did not tailor his material toward the industry he was speaking with and claimed his material would transform their specific industry culture. He provided no evidence of how or evidence of where he transformed a culture with this method before. He only gave examples on how to apply his concept to increase sales.

He knows a lot about sales because when I met him he was a sales professional five years ago. And by the way this was not a sales conference, it was a safety conference.

8. He put me on the spot by introducing me as a friend instead of as a professional colleague or acquaintance with a certain expertise. He asked me if he always walks his talk. I stated to the audience I need to be ethical and be honest. I said most of the time yet we are all human and are subject to human error. The audience actually for the first time started to laugh. Life did exist in this audience. Ridiculous-Ramon then grew defensive and illustrated that defense with his audience.

9. After the audience exited the room, Ridiculous-Ramon said to me “that was a tough audience, I could not get them engaged.” I replied “I noticed and least you did too something for you to think about” and I exited.

In conclusion, both speakers I learned something from. When I think about Credible-Chris he is an expert I would like to develop a professional relationship with. When I think of Ridiculous-Ramon, I smile, giggle out loud for a moment and Remember to Be Humble.

Genuinely,

Christine

Author: Christine M. West, TheBusinessMD, 2240 E. Tudor Rd. #976, Anchorage, Alaska, USA 99507. Phone 1-907-223-8403. Email: info@thebusinessmd.net, http://www.businessmd.net/ http://thebusinessmd.blogspot.com/ Christine West is an industrial organizational psychology practitioner and is in private practice as TheBusinessMD which helps organizations and individuals overcome fear and explore the power of change. Ms. West is also a Featured Columnist for the National Networker http://www.thenationalnetworker.com/

For more information, please visit Christine's TNNW Bio.

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GO WEST !!! Remember to be Humble