Jody White, Speaking Directly

What does it take to be an effective communicator? First of all, you must gain confidence in order to tackle improving your skills and getting your message out to an audience.    Your audience can be another person, your supervisor, a small group of members in an organization or a huge crowd at a conference. Confidence allows you to “be yourself” and not fret over your perceived imperfections.    Every speaker has areas that they are not their best; however, knowing that you can get through whatever happens, makes them a better communicator.   Years ago, I never thought I’d be standing in front of 100+ audience members to deliver a speech or workshop; many of them for 30+ minutes.    It took time for me to gain the confidence I needed to pursue speaking opportunities; however, I learned from feedback and pushed myself to enhance my skills.    As a long-time Mentor, my initial advice is to take baby steps to feel better about speaking...

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”    John Quincy Adams Leadership is about helping others achieve goals through guidance and sharing our experience. However, many people take leadership too far and turn it into chaos when they want to take over and not confer with their team. Great leaders motivate by inspiration; by being the 'cheerleader' of the team. They set a vision of how they believe a dream can be a reality. They also know their own strengths and weaknesses and look for team members to fill the gap of their knowledge and experience.  Enable others to act on what they have to share. When the team wins; the leader wins. A leader can be CEO of a company, the Executive Director of a non-profit organization OR can be the first-year employee in charge of changing procedures that have been in place for years. It is how you direct others in a positive way to get the job done. Rem...