Leadership Episode 1- Storytelling Can Be Dangerous

My personal journey to leadership. -self talk 

contains first draft of International Speech contest speech

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, and welcome back to Making Ripples. I'm Bob King, your host. If you've been with us for a while, you've learned about the importance of exploring, experimenting, and expressing your discoveries, your passions, and your inner authentic self, and hopefully have made some rebels in helping our community be a better place. There is power in numbers. And how do we increase numbers? We organize. And how do we organize? We identify and train effective leaders who can do more in the process of making changes. This session of making ripples, we're going to explore leadership, what it means, what it doesn't mean, principles, how-tos. But first, we want to start about personal stories, our self-talk, building our confidence in being leaders, and discovering whether or not we are. I would like to share with you a story that I'm going to deliver in a speech contest later on in the Toastmaster year about finding my own journey to leadership. It's called Storytelling Can Be Dangerous. Storytelling can be dangerous. It can restrict. Of course, I am speaking of self-talk, the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Storytelling, I believe, is the most effective way to get a message across to an audience. Lectures, debates, and arguments only target the brain, the logical, rational seat of reasoning. Storytelling, on the other hand, goes straight to the heart, the seat of emotions, and the center of identity, that which makes us who we are and governs why we do what we do. Now I've never had a fear of public speaking, as long as I had a script or a message to present. I've been speaking in public since I was a little boy. But I never envisioned myself as a leader. Once upon a time, when I was in middle school, somebody, I don't know who, talked me into running for student body vice president. Me, the shyest kid in school, the kid who would be struck speechless even at the thought of asking a pretty girl out on a date. Not sure how, but I remember gripping a clipboard, walking the halls, collecting signatures so I could appear on the ballot. And I succeeded. The only problem was nobody told me, or at least I forgot, that I had to give a speech, a campaign speech, in front of the whole school. At least not until I was seated in that all-school assembly, hearing my name called from the stage. I froze. I had nothing to say, no clever words. As it was repeated, I slunk down in my seat, seeking to become one with the floor. I wanted it to disappear. And so I did. At school, I was diligent and studied, mostly. At work, I worked hard and was seen as dependable, but never sought higher positions. I was busy keeping up with my work, meeting my standards. I didn't want to be responsible for others' behavior and work. Once, when my manager asked me to be the team lead, I said, nope, I see myself as more of a hands-on kind of guy, working with the details. I saw management as being a target, being responsible for other people's actions, so I just kept my head down. I was afraid to fail. Until I joined Toastmasters, and my self-talk and storytelling changed. I found a safe place to fail, a great place to grow, and a perfect place to practice. It allowed me to rise from the floor and try again to come out of the shadows and learn what real leadership is like. It's not being a target, but setting targets, not critiquing people for not achieving a list of tasks, but setting forth a vision and equipping and inspiring others to set goals that they believe they could accomplish. I went from club officer to district officer, from willingly saying yes to opportunities and asks, to eagerly pursuing opportunities and doing the asking myself, recruiting others to follow. Toastmasters showed me not only how to lead, but equipped me to be able to lead, and with the opportunities and learning, I realized both that I was good at it, but also I enjoyed it. The lights of the aha moment in the eyes of my audience inspired me as I sought to inspire them. It also revealed to me that during my public speaking prepared speeches all along, I had been leading. Every speaker is or should be a leader, leading people to places of increased knowledge, greater awareness, and empathy, informing, inspiring, persuading, convincing, or just leading to a happy place, entertaining. Toastmasters motto is where leaders are made. And it is true, because I've experienced that. My ask of you is what is your self-talk? What stories are you telling yourself? Toastmasters is in very real need of more leaders. In my second round as a direct division director in 2019-2020 on the cusp of COVID, I started out the year with zero area directors for five openings. I worked with the division, the district director to recruit all that I needed. And then this year, in our district two, division C has two speakers for five spots. Two area directors for five spots. Division A has one area director for five spots. And Division B not only has no area directors for five spots, but has no division director yet. I would be taking one of those spots, but I'm taking a year off to compete in the speech contest. Yes, storytelling can be dangerous, but it also can be liberating, empowering, and enlightening. You don't have to say yes right now. Action takes thought. But just ask yourself, what if? And why not? Next time, we're gonna look at what leadership is not. Reminding ourselves. It's like I said, not being a target, but setting those targets. I hope you can join me next time. Thank you.