The Sustainability Executive's Superpower: Creating Influence Through Public Speaking
I must confess, I'm a bit TED Talk enthusiast. I find immense pleasure in attending seminars and industry presentations, and it seems I'm not alone in this passion.
Speaking engagements have the potential to yield impressive results for both your business and personal growth. In a survey involving over 200 Visible Experts®, a significant 67% of respondents regarded speaking engagements as the most impactful marketing technique.
Source: www.hingemarketing.com
Beyond the obvious benefits of driving revenue and raising awareness for your company, speaking engagements offer something even more valuable: the ability to create influence.
Crafting a compelling speech or presentation demands careful planning, introspection, and consideration. It starts as a simple topic and gradually evolves into a coherent narrative that connects various ideas. Along this journey, the presenter gains insights into their expertise, recognizes areas where they can improve, and hones their communication skills. As presenters work through the process of conceptualizing, writing, and refining their content, they develop the ability to transform their ideas into a narrative that resonates, motivates, and influences.
This exercise holds significant power because a well-crafted narrative achieves one of three fundamental outcomes:
Alters the way we think.
Shapes the way we act.
Evokes emotions that influence our feelings.
Influence, undoubtedly potent, is a skill that can be honed through the art of writing. Writing serves as the crucible where effective speaking skills are forged. It ingrains talking points into our everyday language and embeds concepts into our thought processes. I would argue that the learned ability to create influence is even more valuable than the act of influencing itself, as individuals often adhere to the law of diminishing intent: over time, without meaningful reinforcement, their intent wanes.
After all, is there anyone who didn’t think about becoming a vegan after they watched Forks over Knives?
It is the underlying process rooted in Speaking and presenting, which allows executives to sharpen their influential abilities.
Securing speaking engagements at conferences, seminars, and peer groups frequently sets executives apart from their peers. These opportunities amplify an executive's personal brand and open doors that would remain inaccessible from the confines of the audience.
While most executives possess valuable perspectives and insights relevant to their peers, they often grapple with the challenge of distilling their knowledge into coherent presentations. Information accrues through what we hear, see, and experience, but condensing this wealth into a meaningful and sequential speech can be daunting.
Fortunately, there exists a timeless tool—a framework—that has proven to be the most effective way to organize our ideas.
The Act of Developing A Framework
The most effective means to master a topic is through the construction of a framework. Just as a software engineer uses a wireframe to develop an MVP or a professor relies on a mind map to elucidate a complex subject, these tools have historically facilitated the distillation of intricate thoughts into digestible form.
As professionals, we each possess a unique story. It is the framework that empowers us to leverage our strengths, experiences, and past achievements to communicate our distinctive value proposition effectively, thereby empowering us to wield influence.
Various types of visual frameworks exist, such as the Triangle, Chevron, Pyramid, and Step Diagram. Personally, I favor the flexibility of the triangle, which allows me to delve deeply into a subject or maintain a surface-level overview.
Triangle Framework Template
Source: www.csobroker.com
When embarking on the creation of a presentation or speech, one of these frameworks serves as the foundation upon which to build around your central topic.
To identify this central topic, initiate a profound introspective exercise.
Start with a blank sheet of paper and jot down your top 3-5 skills. Then, reflect on your career and record 3-5 outcomes you are most proud of achieving for yourself or your team.
Somewhere at the nexus of these skills and outcomes lies an experience or problem unique to you, one you are exceptionally positioned to address. This becomes your topic.
For instance, imagine you are a sustainability executive in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. You have deep expertise in managing hazardous waste, a by-product of the manufacturing process. One of your achievements is the conversion of specific hazardous waste byproducts into valuable chemicals within your supply chain. Furthermore, you managed to sell another byproduct to a chemical company, generating substantial revenue for your organization.
Proposed Topic: "Transforming Waste Into Revenue"
With our framework in hand, we can systematically build upon this topic, identifying the three foundational components that sustainability leaders need to explore to uncover revenue-generating opportunities within their waste streams. Taking it a step further, we can pinpoint 2-3 Initiators that will guide these executives in achieving each foundational component.
I won’t insult your intelligence by continuing through this exercise on this specific topic, but I challenge you to Create Your Own Framework here.
The only thing left to do after you have developed the framework? You guessed it: Write. Tie each Initiator into the associated Foundational Component, and each Foundational Component to the Main Topic.
This should be an iterative process with First, Second and Third Drafts. You will want to socialize the framework, and supporting narrative, with your peers and colleagues, until you arrive at something that is truly influential.
At this moment, you have gained one of the most powerful skills an executive can have: the ability to create influence.
If you would like to schedule a meeting with me to talk through any ideas that you might have for your own speaking engagement or presentation, feel free to reach out directly or Create Your Own Framework here.
Happy Writing!
