What not to do when you speak – a lesson from Bob Carr
Earlier this week I heard Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr being interviewed on the radio. I’ve worked with Carr in the past in producing the audio product, Choice Voice: Lessons from great speaking voices.
Though I intimately know the great features of Carr’s voice through my work with him and my past analysis of his voice (the deep, smooth, authoritative resonance; the easily produced, unrushed delivery) I was still struck with how he stamped his authority on the interview. Try as she may to assert her authority on the interview, the woman interviewer was ‘being controlled’ by Carr.
One of the ways Carr stamps his authority, in the same vein of Barack Obama, is through ‘owning’ time. As a participant in one of my sales presentations workshops once said, he knows how to ‘exploit the pause’.
I’ve commented on owning time in prior posts – but it’s worth repeating. Many people, in under-pressure situations, rush when the speak or are perceived as rushing.
The best leaders don’t rush. Barack Obama doesn’t rush. Bill Clinton doesn’t rush. Hillary Clinton doesn’t rush. John Kennedy didn’t rush.
The ‘how to apply’ for this post: On purpose, in the next seven days, intermittently ‘exploit the pause’ when you speak in an encounter, interaction, meeting or presentation.
