I got really offended by someone in the audience that I was speaking to. It was several years ago, I was hired to come in and deliver a talk and some training to a group of people in person, and this was before things went hybrid. This was meant to be delivered to the group who showed up in person, but they happened to have streaming going to their social media group.
So if people joined, great. Well, there was a podium at the front of the room, and I don’t stand behind podiums. I’m a very dynamic speaker and trainer so I’m moving around, and at one point during the training I have the attendees working on an exercise, and it’s really quiet in the room. This gentleman pulls me to the side and he says, “There’s a podium up there, you’re supposed to stand behind it. You keep moving around and all the people on social, they can’t see you. You need to go stand behind the podium.”
I didn’t say what I really felt or thought in my head, I smiled and I said, “Thank you for your feedback,” and I proceeded to move all over that room for the rest of the time. So many people, they have this way of communicating and thinking that they’re being helpful, but in reality, that was unsolicited advice from somebody who is not a professional. Be the professional that you are.
You have been trained, you are an expert in certain areas. Own that.
I am a professionally trained speaker and trainer. I do not need to take advice from somebody who is not – this gentleman was clearly not that. In that moment, I could acknowledge that perhaps he truly wanted to help, maybe he was irritated – I don’t know, it doesn’t matter. I was not about to falter from what I knew my intuition and my training had told me and taught me. I stayed the professional that I knew I was.
So I give you the permission that unless you’re receiving feedback from a mentor or a coach, somebody you have engaged and you are paying to give you that feedback (yes, you should be listening to that, that’s why they’re there!), someone not trained in what you are delivering, I give you permission to be the professional and continue doing what you know is best. When we second guess ourselves, that’s when we end up in the wrong direction. Stay true, be the professional that you are!