No Speaking Required

Posted on August 16, 2008. Filed under: Latest News Leave a Comment

Not long ago, the local high school speech teacher pulled me aside with some alarming news. Speech communications, it turns out, is no longer part of the district core curriculum. No Child Left Behind has left districts few choices. Teachers now have to teach their students how to take tests rather than teach them life skills.

I took the news personally. I had a successful career in broadcast news, and have spent my entire adult life speaking publicly. I have always said the seeds for my professional life were planted in my high school speech class. It was in that class that I learned that communications, not math or history, would be the right path for me in college and beyond. And I may not have taken the class if I didn’t have to. Throwing clay would have been more fun.

I’ve spent the last ten years offering communications coaching to executives at some of the world’s leading companies. One thing that seperates the superstars from the perrenial mid-levels is the ability to speak well. You’re familiar with the statistic – the one that shows more people fear public speaking over death. That means that those who can masterfully communicate ideas have a better chance of inspiring the rest, turning ideas into action and succeeding personally. There might be many who are good at the numbers or the theories. Precious few are good at making sense of them, and communicating their meaning. I’m betting a fair number of those corporate superstars owe something to their high school speech teacher.

Speech is still an elective at the local high school, but as the speech teacher said, “Given the choice of a speech class – when public speaking terrifies them, or Beginning Pottery, which do you think they’ll choose?” Yep. Throwing clay still sounds like more fun. Not likely to help much as one tries to ascend the executive ladder, don’t you think?

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