The great debate – extrovert versus introvert.
So many people believe that in order to be the best presenter, speaker, or communicator, that you’ve got to be extroverted, that you’ve got to be really energetic and charismatic. But that is a myth. To be a great communicator, you don’t necessarily have to have all of this charm and charisma.
Now look, I get feedback that when I am delivering a talk or doing a training, that I’m really energetic and enthusiastic, and I lean into that. But that is part of what makes me personally be a great communicator or speaker, because it’s part of my personality.
I lean into it because it’s part of who I am. But not everybody is like that, not everybody has, and I wouldn’t even say I’m charismatic, but not everyone is that way. And it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re not a great communicator. In fact, when I think about in my corporate professional world, some of the best communicators that I interacted with were totally not charismatic.
They tended to be a little bit more serious, a little bit more dry, but I was always mesmerized by what they were saying. They had such great insight and they packaged their words and their message with different volume, different tone, and different expressions that you wouldn’t label charismatic or energetic, but it was so captivating the way in which they delivered it, and it’s because that was their personality.
If they had tried to be overly enthusiastic, it would’ve completely missed the mark; I would’ve been turned off, because it wasn’t really authentic to who they were.
So this thought that in order for you to really be the best communicator, speaker, presenter, you’ve got to be charismatic, that’s not the word that I would like you to hold onto. Yes, you do need to have colors in your communication, in your non-verbal communication, the words that you’re using, absolutely – but get rid of this whole, “I’m never going to be good, I don’t have this energy enthusiasm, this humor, all of this personality,”
No! Lean into your specific personality. Find what works for you, and use that in order to better connect with the one person, or the many people, that you’re communicating with.