Finding a Message for the Masses: Bridging the Divide with Jane Hanson

Imagine being the first person on-air during the tragic events of 9/11 or interviewing global icons like Desmond Tutu. How would you communicate with the world in those powerful moments? This episode features an exclusive conversation with Jan Hansen, a three-decade veteran of NBC who co-anchored at Today in New York. Join us as she shares her incredible journey and insights on public speaking, emotional connection, and active listening.

From her small-town Minnesota roots to the heart of New York City, Jan has honed her ability to connect with audiences on a deeply emotional level. We discuss her unforgettable interviews and her coverage of world-changing events, revealing the power of vulnerability and empathy in communication. Jan also shares practical tips for expressing emotion and preparing for public speaking, as well as the impact of COVID-19 on our need for human connection.

Of course, communication is a two-way street, and Jan emphasizes the importance of active listening in our daily interactions. Be ready to learn how attentiveness and understanding can prevent misunderstandings, missed opportunities, and broken relationships. Don't miss this enlightening episode as Jan Hansen shares her wealth of knowledge, experience, and perspectives on public speaking and communication.

NOTABLE QUOTES
"I'm here to tell you that there's no reason to be fearful because everything you ever do in public speaking or speaking of any sort, it's just a conversation, be it between two people, 20 people, 100 people, a million people, it's simply still a conversation." – Jane
"People will forget what you did. They'll forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel." – Jane
"You can engage with that audience, and they can engage back with you." – Philip
"And one of the most crucial and incredible things that you need to do then is to have super great eye contact... I look at people in the eye and I look at them because that makes them know that they are important to you." – Jane
"The pauses, they're the most underutilized tool we have. Super good speakers dare to take a pause... So take a pause. That's all you have to do is take a pause."  – Jane
"I would love people to understand the art of communication. That really there's two parts of it. One is talking and one is listening... I really believe that if we listen better, we would communicate better and we would be so much better in this world."  – Jane
"We just want to listen to respond rather than listen to actually give an answer and understand what the person is trying to say." – Philip

RESOURCES
Jane
Website: https://www.janehanson.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janehansonofficial/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janehansontv
Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/JaneHansonTV
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jane.hanson.129
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSCxKKs2vHvmbnUKgWOR_IQ 

Philip
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamphilipsessions/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipsessions
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-sessions-b2986563/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealphilipsessions

Transcript

Philip Sessions: 0:16

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to speak on the news and communicate in front of hundreds, if not thousands or even millions of people, but you have no clue who's actually watching? Well, today's guest, we're actually going to dive into that a little bit. I'm excited to speak with Jane Hansen. She grew up in rural Minnesota, so out in the middle of nowhere, she decided to go to New York three decades ago to join NBC. I don't know if you've heard of them or not, but she was an anchor there and a correspondent in New York. She co-anchored Today in New York and hosted Jan's New York. She covered events ranging from the tragedy of 9-11 to the joy of Yankees' victory parades to Wall Street in Washington. Has interviewed presidents, business leaders, prisoners and celebrities, traveled as far as the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and the great depth miles below New York City, which I think would be pretty crazy for her special reports. Most recently, she hosted a daily entertainment and lifestyle program, New York Live, for NBC 4.

Philip Sessions: 1:22

Jan has won 9 Emmys, was named correspondent of the year by New York's police, detectives, and firefighters, among many other awards. Jan has served as the March of Dimes Walk America Chairman, honorary Chair for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and as a board member of Graham Windman Phipps House, the Randalls Island Sports Foundation, the West Hampton Beach Performing Arts Center. In Telecare She has taught at Long Island University, stern College and the 92nd Street Y and the President of the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts of Science. She is currently a much sought after communication coach, working with top tier leaders in every field, while continuing to MC, speak and host broadcast, and she even escaped communist New York and went down to Florida. So she has definitely changed lives. She's done a lot of amazing things. But that was a really long intro. But, jan, tell us a little bit more about yourself, because we're excited to get to know you and really learn about the news.

Jane Hanson: 2:31

Are we out of time yet? That was so long.

Philip Sessions: 2:34

Yeah Yeah. I was like, what did I cut out? I was trying to cut some stuff out. I'm like, but this is all like such good stuff, so much good reputation things that you've done So. But I'm excited to go through some of this. We won't go through everything, but you definitely have this great resume for yourself that you've built up over many years. But I'm really excited. But tell us a little bit more about Jan from a personal perspective. We know you came from New York down to Florida because of all the craziness of COVID. We know all too much about that And now you're living free down there. So tell us a little bit more about yourself.

Jane Hanson: 3:09

I can't believe you called it communist New York. Anyway, all right. So I did grow up in a little tiny town in rural Minnesota And if anybody remembers Little House and the Prairie, the town that I grew up in is just a few miles from Walnut Grove, which is where that was. So it's just flat prairie and then lots of lakes, because that's what Minnesota is In the middle of nowhere. We didn't even have a street, you know red lights, because we just had stop signs. So going from there to living in New York City was quite an adventure And I was very young when I did it And my father was terrified because he thought it was the big, bad city and all kinds of horrible things are going to happen to me. But as it happens, it was an amazingly wonderful career And New York, when I got there, was just the. I kind of grew up into adulthood there, i would say, and it was an awesome experience When that is the place, for it's the number one television market in the country And it always has been and I'm sure it always will be, and so you meet everybody And I had an opportunity.

Jane Hanson: 4:18

I worked at 30 Rock. You've certainly heard of 30 Rock, a filler center, right. So that's where my office was, that's where we broadcast out of, which was really a wonderful location, and we just had an opportunity on any given day. I never knew what I was going to cover. I was, i like to say I was, a jack of all trades and a master of none, because the subjects varied so widely and so completely And they were just. It was just a place that, i think, taught me all about life And, yes, there were numerous people that I interviewed that are certainly big names and certainly people that I interviewed that were a little crazy, but it was. It was an interesting experience and an interesting education, for sure.

Philip Sessions: 5:11

And I want to get back into that real quick. But before I do that, i want to ask the question of what is the definition of public speaking to you, because too many people seem to think that, oh, you got to speak in front of thousands of people in order to do public speaking. But I believe that is not the only definition of public speaking.

Jane Hanson: 5:30

Well, you and I are public speaking right now, yeah, during this area, arab Zoom, when we've all learned to do so well, or whatever platform we use. we're all public speakers because we are going out over airwaves in some form or another and anybody at some point probably watches. if we wanted to. Public speaking is anytime you are, i say speaking, not in your home. Actually, i'm in my home right now.

Philip Sessions: 5:57

Yeah, yeah Well, but I know what you mean there for sure. It is kind of weird because I think about that with, like, social media videos, and that is technically public speaking, but it's really just you and your phone, but still, at some point it gets out to an audience. Even if it's only two or three people, it still gets out to people. So that's still to me, a form of public speaking. I wouldn't necessarily as well think that like, oh, this is public speaking, that doing selfie videos or doing a zoom call and posting it later, but then again, by definition, it is because people are hearing what you say, although it just may not be live, like we tend to think when we think of public speaking. So I like that perspective.

Jane Hanson: 6:34

Yeah, so I mean it's. I think it's far different than it might have been many years ago, before we had all of this instant access to anything. But I guess, when you think about that logically in their lives of some trepidation and some concerns, that you want to make sure you're a little bit careful about what you're saying and how you're saying it, because there is so many ways in which the rest of the world can hear you and find out what you're doing and saying, and so we need to be conscious of it. But on the other hand, it's also a wonderful opportunity And there's a fear of public speaking which is called glass glassophobia, and I do. I am primarily now a communications coach. I teach people how to make presentations, how to give speeches, how to do interviews, how to be in the media, et cetera.

Jane Hanson: 7:30

But this fear 87% of the population has it at some point in their life, whether it's all of a sudden they've got to get on the stage and do a dance recital and they're freaked out, or they maybe they've got to go talk to the boss. Whatever it is, that's public speaking and we're very fearful of it. And there are jokes told that at a funeral, most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy because of this kind of this fear that they have. But I'm here to tell you that there's no reason to be fearful, because everything you ever do in public speaking, or speaking of any sort, it's just a conversation, be it between 20 people, 100 people, a million people, it's simply still a conversation And if you want to be good at it, that's how you have to look at it, that it is a conversation.

Philip Sessions: 8:25

That is such a great point as well, because, yes, if you are going and let's go with what everybody thinks of the definition of public speaking If you're going up and speaking in front of a thousand people and all you do is speak at them, it's not going to be received very well. But if you try and have that conversation and of course on that, on that stage, you're not going to have the back and forth like we're having now. But if you're not trying to have that conversation or share some kind of story to bring them in to what you're saying, it's not going to be received well. So, yes, you have to have the conversation. I'm glad you brought that up as well.

Jane Hanson: 9:00

Yeah, and that whole thing about speaking at people versus speaking with them, or it's not speaking to them, it's speaking with them.

Jane Hanson: 9:08

And I do have to say that you can have some back and forth in today's world with an audience, and I talk a lot about being very interactive And I want you to think about your audience, however big it is, as being the second or the third part of the conversation, and a lot of people ignore that.

Jane Hanson: 9:30

But when I speak to an audience, i make sure that we're very interactive, so I'll ask them questions, i'll make some kind of I go, if I'm speaking to a larger gathering before it begins, i will go out and I'll talk to the people that are gathered there And I'll I mean, i go out, you know, just to introduce myself to a couple of people. I say, hey, where are you from, or what's on your mind tonight, or why are you here, or something, and then I can use that information to gauge what the interest is going to be of my audience, because maybe they want to talk about the color blue and I'm going to talk about green and they're all telling me about blue. I got to shift because if I can't relate to them, then I'm going to have a going to have really bad time of communicating and sharing and resonate Yeah, you better go change your shirt too, because you're wearing that green shirt right now, or we're trying to talk about blue.

Jane Hanson: 10:26

Exactly, Hold on a minute, I'll be right back. But so I think it's really important that we gauge our audience and we talk to them about how are we going. You know how, understanding what they want, because you can be the greatest speaker in the world, But if you're not talking about something that's going to relate to the people that are there, then you got a problem. One of my favorite quotes and I use it in all of my work comes from the poet Maya Angelou. And Maya Angelou said people will forget what you did, They'll forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. So if you can make the audience get that you care about them and that you, you, you want them to feel something, then you walk away a winner.

Philip Sessions: 11:19

Yes, oh, we're just going to keep speaking the same language here And I'll take back what I said, that when you're on that stage you can't interact with them. When I was saying that, i meant more like literally, you say something and they respond back. But you are right, you can't interact with them like hey, show of hands, who agrees with this point? There's things like that. So you can engage with that audience and they can engage back with you. So I'll take back my point that you can't do that And I appreciate you brought that up.

Philip Sessions: 11:45

So, but I want to go back to a point that you you made earlier when you're in the introduction, and I'm curious you talked about. you've interviewed all these different people. Who's the most famous person that you have interviewed?

Jane Hanson: 12:01

Oh man, i mean.

Philip Sessions: 12:03

Or maybe top three we'll go with that, make it maybe a little bit easier, or just name three of them.

Jane Hanson: 12:09

How about if I tell you the most poignant interview I've ever done?

Philip Sessions: 12:12

Okay, that works.

Jane Hanson: 12:14

Okay, so this was a while ago and It was, as you know, the the United Nations, in the month of September, has all these leaders, heads of state from all over the world that come in to speak at the, you know, the United Nations headquarters, which are on the east side of Manhattan, and one of the people that was there speaking was South African anti apartheid leader named Desmond Tutu, and Desmond Tutu was I, so I was sent out to do an interview with him. You know what are you going to talk about. You're giving back one of the major addresses of the place, and so we're sitting on a park bench in lower Manhattan and And reporters are always busy and they always want to get things done fast and they always want to move on to the next thing, and So the people that were with him stopped me in the middle of the interview and they said I go Oh, come on, man, i'm almost done. Like just give me five or five more minutes. And like no, no, no, you want us to stop. So they pulled him aside and then he came back and he had tears streaming down his face and I said what happened? and he said they just told me that I want a Nobel Peace Prize, wow.

Jane Hanson: 13:24

And So at that moment, i saw in this man the Acknowledgement that he was getting from the world of the work that he'd done and, of course, because he was he just died last year but because he was such a gracious and And charismatic and and really well and, you know, such a great soul, he immediately said you know, this is this, this is not. I don't deserve this alone. It's all the people who have, who have fought this battle for all these years for freedom in Africa, in South Africa, and It was just. It was one of those moments I'll never forget, and So to be with someone in that moment was Just truly memorable and you know I'll never forget it. So I Can imagine.

Philip Sessions: 14:20

I'm getting chills just thinking about that. It's also being able to interview great people like you on a podcast, but going out and be able to interview somebody like that, that's created that kind of change and impact in Millions of people's lives. That's incredible, especially in that moment when they find out that they got a prize that's so honored like that And so looked looked upon as a great achievement, which it is. Yeah, that that is incredible, that you were able to be there right there in that moment, which I guess that means you're a good reporter, right, you're there in that moment, i don't know, but it was really.

Jane Hanson: 14:57

It was, it was really memorable. I mean, there've been, there've been many other. The things that I have liked best is when You can do something really good from what you're reporting on and examples where there have been Stories that we've done about children who desperately needed Some kind of surgery or something to keep them alive or to change their lives or to, you know, to just to save their lives, and where, because of that reporting, we've been able to get them the help that they needed or Where we can, you know.

Jane Hanson: 15:35

Another example is I was the first person at NBC to go on the air in the morning of 9-11 And had to begin reporting and I was on the air straight for almost eight hours, but I knew my job in that moment in time was to be able to get people safely home and to keep people to. There was so much misinformation and so much stuff going on that I had to sort through it all and keep my cool, although I'm worrying about my own family because they were all in Manhattan. I, you know who knew what was coming next. But I had to. I had to focus on that job and I knew in that moment my job was to really be sure that I could give people some kind of reassurance, some Information, something that they could, that they could use to get away from The madness and the mess and find safety.

Jane Hanson: 16:32

And at the same time I mean I had friends who died in the World Trade Center, you know the same. Don't worry about all of them, but knowing, knowing what I was at that moment, which was this, this messenger, and that That was it was a tough, hard day, but Staying calm and being cool and collected and doing what I needed to do was vitally important. So that's when, when you know the unbelievable responsibility you have Yeah, yeah, wow. I.

Philip Sessions: 17:13

That's just crazy to think about and I can't imagine that, and to me that's something This is a question I get a lot of times in. In this situation Would be a one that I really want to ask. This question is the plan for me to ask this question? I'm glad this story came out because most people will say, hey, when it's one-on-one, it's easy, obviously, to talk with one person and get them engaged and speak directly to them.

Philip Sessions: 17:37

But when it's one on a hundred, one On a thousand, how do you go about speaking to everybody, which I always say you can't speak to everybody, but in a situation like this, i mean you could talk about family. What's going on with that? What's going on with the deaths right now? Is there another threat coming? There's so many different ways you could go and speak a message. So one how did you decide what message to go on in? two, let's go back and kind of be a little bit more generic, perhaps, and answer the question for people when they're speaking to a larger crowd, how do they go about speaking directly to that crowd or specific person or whatever? your thoughts are on that?

Jane Hanson: 18:23

I think again back to this notion that it's a conversation And then you have to prioritize in your head What's the most important thing I need to do in this moment. Also, hopefully, you understand your audience a bit so that you will know what they need. And so when you're doing it from the lens of being on a television camera or being on a zoom, and I'm looking at that little camera right here In that moment, i always try to picture who might be on the other side watching And what do they need, what do I have to do for them. So I kind of make that one person, not millions, but one person, because it's easier to speak to them. You can kind of do the same thing too in a large audience, because you can focus from face to face to face, and one of the most crucial and incredible things that you need to do then is to have super great eye contact. So you kind of pick apart the room, a larger room, and this is where body language comes into. That's really crucial In a room that's, let's say, there's 100 people in a room. I divide it into three, like three pieces of pizza, and I will speak first to the middle section and then I will turn at the end of a phrase and speak to either the left or the right, and when I do that, i then again I do it on a phrase And then from that moment on, i look at people in the eye and I look at them because that makes them know that they are important to you.

Jane Hanson: 20:14

So that's really something crucial that you need to think about. Your body speaks droves about who and what you are. So we have to have our body always in sync with our words. It's really super crucial in any kind of speaking, because if I'm smiling and laughing and I go, hey, really exciting day today, you're all fired. I mean hello. So we just have to. You have to think about how can I be in sync with my body and my words, and that's really important. So that's one way of thinking about it. When you've got an audience, a larger audience, and yet you want to be able to reach these people in kind of an individual basis.

Philip Sessions: 21:01

Okay, Yeah. So basically to have that conversation, like we've been talking about for the whole time with somebody and then making that eye contact, especially there in person. But if you're on the video camera or on the media, so you're on the news, then, yes, just focus on that one person and have that conversation with them. That's such an important thing. And actually that brings up another point When you're on stage and I get that asked that question a lot too well, how do I make that eye contact? Because sometimes the stage lights are so bright you can only see like the first row or two. So how do you make eye contact with people that you can't necessarily see because of these bright stage lights?

Jane Hanson: 21:39

What's your tip. You pretend, you just pretend.

Philip Sessions: 21:43

Yeah.

Jane Hanson: 21:44

I mean, that's the best thing you can do, is you just pretend that you can see them, because sometimes they are way too bright and it is hard to see.

Philip Sessions: 21:54

Yeah, yeah, i agree. I just was curious to see if you had something different. Some maybe you had some crazy vision that you could still see people, so it doesn't bother you there. But, yeah, definitely, some of the lights are like right there in your eyes. So you do have to pretend or simulate that you're looking at other people and then make sure that you're looking at different people and not always go back to that same person, because that's definitely a crutch. I've been guilty of that. That person looks really comfortable to look at. They look really engaged with me. I'm going to go back and talk with them because they're looking at me. Everybody else is just kind of staring past me. I don't know what's behind me. I'm not going to look back, but I'm not comfortable with them. So it's something we have to look at.

Jane Hanson: 22:33

You need to start looking at everybody, because that's when you get them interested. I mean it really is People get very. They get a little. Once you start to look at them, then there's, they get anxious that you're going to look at them again. So then they start to really pay attention. It's a little trick.

Philip Sessions: 22:49

Yeah, i agree with that. So you mentioned about being a little charismatic, looking at different people in your audience And, of course, you mentioned about you shouldn't be happy when you're firing people, when you're giving bad news. You shouldn't have this happy persona about you, but speak to us a little bit about passion in your speaking, and we talked about this offline, but you have one of your YouTube videos about having passion and speaking, so I would like for you to expand upon that, because that is a very important thing when it comes to us speaking.

Jane Hanson: 23:26

If you don't have passion about what you're talking about, you're never going to resonate. I mean, why are you doing it? Why are you doing what you're doing? Why are you up there speaking in front of people? Why are you having a conversation with them? if you don't care, you got to care. So it just, unless you can actually show that you care about it, it's not going to take anywhere. It's going to be a total flop. So I mean, like why do you do a podcast? because you care about what you're talking about?

Philip Sessions: 23:59

Yeah, Oh yeah.

Jane Hanson: 24:02

So and why am I sitting here talking? Because I'm passionate about helping people become great communicators. So if you can't have that, your body belies you and will indicate that you're not telling the truth. And, by the way, people are afraid of showing their passion. Here's a fun little exercise that your listeners could try.

Jane Hanson: 24:25

So if you're getting ready to do a speech or you're going to do an interview or you're going to do something where you have to be a public speaker, take yourself on your phone just doing it, as you would give it right, Then I want you to do a second version of it, where I want you to be completely passionate, almost out of control, almost a monster feeling uncomfortable. Right Then, play the second version and see which one you like better And you're going to discover I'll make a bet with everybody out there right now that you're going to discover that that second one, where you have allowed yourself the freedom to show your true feelings, is going to be 50% to 100% better. You're going to be uncomfortable, And I'm not suggesting that you always want to be super uncomfortable, but what I am suggesting is you can stretch the limits really long ways And if you stretch those limits, you're going to discover that you will become a much better speaker.

Philip Sessions: 26:25

Yes, and I've seen so many speakers that get so passionate and it's amazing to watch them and just that passion they have. And then you think about for yourself if I'm going to do that. That would feel really awkward for me, because how am I going to sit here and just be super charismatic on this camera? Here I am by myself in this room And I'm like whoa, this is great, let's keep talking about speaking. It's like it's really weird, but I always like to give the go ahead, go ahead.

Jane Hanson: 26:53

No, i'm going to say I'm not talking about you being like a nutcase. I'm just saying when you say things like I really feel this deep inside. I want you to understand what I'm saying to you. I'm not being a nut. Yeah, they're saying I feel this deeply inside. I really want you to hear what I'm saying. Which one works? Which one shows my true feelings?

Jane Hanson: 27:23

Yeah, yeah Just let your feelings show. That's all. You think something's funny, laugh. If you think something is outrageous, go. Are you kidding If you? if you say I love that, let it show. Be vulnerable. There's one thing that COVID taught us, it's about being vulnerable.

Philip Sessions: 27:47

Yeah, yeah, and we all need that human connection and have those emotions with humans. When we were stuck inside our house, that definitely was something that was detrimental for a lot of people and really hurt a lot of us as well And maybe it wasn't detrimental, but it definitely hurt us a lot. So we need to share those emotions. I agree with you there, and something I always like to say with this is that they always say that the camera adds 10 pounds to you, and really it's it really. But I think that the camera especially takes at least 10% of the emotions out of what you're saying.

Jane Hanson: 28:22

Actually, i was taught very early on in my television career that it drains you of 30% of your energy, so it's more than 10%.

Philip Sessions: 28:32

Yeah, i figure it was more than 10, but I always like to use it because it's an analogy. Everybody knows about the 10 pounds. It looks like you're getting 10 pounds, so it's like, okay, we go 10% drain.

Jane Hanson: 28:43

But yeah, 30%, that makes a lot more sense, which is why you see people who are in the news, who, or in any television situation. You will see that they are more energetic. Or maybe you didn't even realize that they're being more energetic, but they are. You do have to amplify and you need to need to do the same thing right here on this zoom stuff, because how many times have you been bored?

Philip Sessions: 29:06

when you've been on a zoom call, you're like let me right, yep, oh, yeah, it's definitely something that's challenging And I know I push myself to continue to get more excited, or more sorrowful, if you will, or show those emotions, like you said, because it's not just the high, the happy emotions, it's also the sad emotions as well, and that goes with the vocal variety and everything which is a crucial thing. And, speaking of that, i want to get your take on this, because a lot of people they feel that they need to get all these ums and aas and the vocal variety and all of these things that are, i'll call it, more advanced skills when it comes to speaking down, where the four they can go speak in front of a crowd. Do you feel like that's something that's necessary in order to go do any kind of public speaking? or what's the most important thing starting out?

Jane Hanson: 30:03

Well, the ums, the you knows likes, so much of that. There's two reasons people do it. One is because they might have a lot of nervousness, and so they feel dead air The time between their mouth and their brain is really what it is And so they fill it with these crutch words because they don't want there to be dead air. So let it be The second. I mean, they're and they're a terribly bad habit that we have. The second and the other. the only thing is really good prep will usually, will usually get rid of it. It's so interesting because sometimes I'll work with people and I work with a lot of, a lot of really major clients, people who are big executives, et cetera. They will do, they will use a lot of ums and you knows and stuff when they're asked a question that they haven't prepared for, but when they have something they know the answer that for there's not a single crutch word. So really need to prepare well, and then and then the other thing is to just pause instead of saying them Maybe you're asked a question you don't know the answer to, instead of saying well, i think that if we did it this way, yeah, you know, perhaps, maybe, yeah, that would work.

Jane Hanson: 31:28

Instead, just pause and say good question. I can think of several possible answers, but I'm not sure which one would be truly appropriate in this case. Give yourself a break. And the pauses the most underutilized tool we have. Super good speakers dare to take a pause, and a pause is only the length of time it takes to tap your foot. So if you do that, you will sound so much better. You'll sound so much more credible.

Jane Hanson: 32:10

Yeah and then all of that. So take a pause. That's all you have to do is take a pause. And, by the way, dead air, it's okay. It's okay to have a space. Let's think, sink in. One of the greatest reporter's tricks is when I ask a question, then you answer it, then you finish And I just look at you And now you're like, oh, so you start to say something else. And when you say something else, guess what happens? You may say something you didn't want to say.

Philip Sessions: 32:45

Nice, that's good reporter trick and an interview trick.

Jane Hanson: 32:49

So for those business owners that are listening right now.

Philip Sessions: 32:52

You can do that in an interview. Just pause and wait and they'll feel awkward and they'll just start vomiting stuff out. Then you can get the real information.

Jane Hanson: 33:02

Exactly right, so think about that.

Philip Sessions: 33:05

I like it. That's great. The brain is amazing. We don't think that if we have a slight pause or even just saying that's a good question, that two seconds to say that's a good question, our brain can actually process quickly and now also have an answer. But if you're just trying to fill in the space, like you did with the example, well I think, then your brain's never able to actually catch up and it's constantly trying to catch up. So having that pause, having that small statement or even just repeating the question back So if I heard you correctly, you asked this and then you go into actually answering the question or they can stop you, if you said, if you didn't happen to hear it correctly there which is another great tactic as well.

Jane Hanson: 33:57

But the brain is so powerful. Also just simply saying I'm not sure I understand what you're asking me. Would you mind repeating it? Something like that will buy you time. Yeah yeah, it works, it's good.

Philip Sessions: 34:13

The funny thing with that too usually the person they don't feel insulted because, oh, you're asking me to say the question again. They're thinking oh okay, maybe I didn't clearly ask that question, so let me ask it in a little bit different way, and usually they'll give you even more detail what they're looking for, which then makes you look even smarter, because here I am answering it properly, that's a great tactic.

Jane Hanson: 34:35

for sure, that's screwing it up.

Philip Sessions: 34:37

Exactly, exactly. Well, jan, this has been an amazing interview. I've enjoyed covering a lot of things with the news and everything, and talking about speaking and giving tactical advice, but I want to move on to our last question, and that question is if you only had one message to share for the rest of your life, what would that message be?

Jane Hanson: 34:58

I would love people to understand the art of communication that it's really. There's two parts of it. One is talking and one is listening, and we really need to learn how to be better listeners. We have two ears, one mouth, for a reason. So do a great job of listening, because it will help your communication so much better at home with your partner, your spouse or whatever. It will help with your kids, it will help with your parents, it helps with your boss, it helps with your friends, if you just listen instead of being so quick to jump in and answer. I really believe that if we listen better, we would communicate better and we would be so much better in this world.

Philip Sessions: 35:57

I'm sitting here just shaking my head because I agree with that 100%. Too often we just want to listen, to respond, rather than listen to actually give an answer and understand what the person is trying to say. We wait and, okay, i think I know what they're saying. I'm just going to wait until they're done and I'm just going to spit out whatever I thought, one sentence into the 10-sentence statement that you made, and then I missed the nine sentences that actually it couldn't have even covered what I just said. Now I look stupid because I'm regurgitating literally what you just said and not bringing any value. But, yes, we definitely need to listen And, of course, the other side, which is the bad side, is that I completely didn't listen to you and now your feelings and your emotions aren't being listened to and understood and I'm not taking them into account. You definitely listen to be a better communicator, for sure. Well, jane, if people want to follow you, want to learn more about you, where's the best place for them to contact you or reach out and follow you?

Jane Hanson: 37:02

It's so easy. So my website is janehanson h-a-n-s-o-n dot com or my email is jane at janehansoncom. Really simple, awesome, it's very simple there.

Philip Sessions: 37:19

So, Jane, thanks again for coming on the podcast. I'm thankful to have you on and we will talk to you later.

Jane Hanson: 37:27

I love it. Thanks for having me. You're delightful.