Why is it imprtant to be able to talk with crowds and keep your virtue?
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
Many of you might recognise the title, this is an excerpt from my favourite poem 'If' by the great Victorian poet Rudyard Kipling (for the British amongst you please note that he is not to be confused with another of my favourites, good old Mr Kipling who makes 'exceedingly good cakes' see http://bit.ly/1F1PTN6). Let me explain a little about 'If' and its relationship with the software industry.
Firstly, its my favourite poem for one simple reason, namely it tugs at my emotional core, after a stressful day at work or when the 2 year old has been screaming all afternoon it can bring me to my knees and help me re-balance what is important in life. I guess it is a crutch, a simple, highly emotive method of support. To bring this into alignment with the context of the software business let me quote you one particular excerpt that I want to focus on (you can read the full poem here http://bit.ly/KbUxCk and I highly recommend that to get the most out of it you find a quiet spot, brew a nice pot of your favourite tea and read the poem whilst drinking from a beautiful tea cup and saucer, with a slice of Mr Kipling on the slide if you wish):
"If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute,
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything in it,
And-which is more-you'll be a Man, my son!"
I have to question whether Rudyard (we are on first name terms I think - at least until he says otherwise we are) had us in mind when he was writing this as it resonates so well. Let's start with that opening line - one of the greatest challenges we face on a daily basis is being able to speak publicly, to 'talk with crowds'. Of course talking with crowds isn't the end of it, you need to have something valuable to say that people want to listen to. This is one of the arts of Presales - to be able to deliver a message to an audience with gravitas. Sometimes the audience isn't even interested and only turned up because their manager asked them to so how do you grab them and leave the stage with your virtue in tact? This is a question I was asked a few times when teaching for our graduate program and the answer is that there is no short-cut, no trick, this can only be achieved with one thing - that's to care about what you do. You can fake an interest in a topic, I do it every day - (I apologise to my wife and kids now) I am not really that interested in the new skirt or racing Hot Wheels but you should see the excitement on my face when one of my sons drags his cars out. But you can't fake your passion in a topic though so if you truly want to be successful I recommend finding something you care about as a career. For me, from a profession perspective, I truly care about Presales and I do have a passion for Analytics.
Find your passion and public speaking becomes so much easier!