1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,720 Tell me about your vision. 2 00:00:04,140 --> 00:00:07,420 Well, my vision, it's bold, it's a bit audacious, 3 00:00:07,420 --> 00:00:11,380 is that there is no great idea anywhere in the world 4 00:00:11,380 --> 00:00:14,580 that goes unheard or unacted upon 5 00:00:14,580 --> 00:00:16,740 because people who have that idea 6 00:00:16,740 --> 00:00:19,540 don't have the public speaking skills 7 00:00:19,540 --> 00:00:21,060 in order to champion it. 8 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:23,520 Tell me more about that. 9 00:00:26,340 --> 00:00:29,580 Over the years, and I've had more than 20 years experience 10 00:00:29,580 --> 00:00:33,980 now, I found that people who have great ideas, 11 00:00:33,980 --> 00:00:37,360 often these ideas never make it out of their shower 12 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:42,080 or their cubicle or a discussion with friends. 13 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:44,340 And the world has some problems. 14 00:00:44,340 --> 00:00:49,340 We can use every great idea we can possibly get our hands on. 15 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,100 And I was one of those people actually myself, 16 00:00:52,100 --> 00:00:55,380 which is what led me to get into this work 17 00:00:55,380 --> 00:00:59,260 is I had great ideas, let's be frank, 18 00:00:59,260 --> 00:01:00,460 they were pretty good, 19 00:01:00,460 --> 00:01:03,740 but public speaking wasn't my comfort zone. 20 00:01:03,740 --> 00:01:05,580 So I would put them all down in writing 21 00:01:05,580 --> 00:01:09,740 and proposals and emails and documents and newsflash, 22 00:01:09,740 --> 00:01:12,860 not everybody likes to read long documents. 23 00:01:12,860 --> 00:01:15,660 And what I was finding is people who would be prepared 24 00:01:15,660 --> 00:01:18,580 to get up and champion their ideas by speaking, 25 00:01:18,580 --> 00:01:20,740 whether that's at the water cooler, 26 00:01:20,740 --> 00:01:23,520 in a boardroom or in a team discussion, 27 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:26,000 their ideas were more likely to get accepted, 28 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,620 even if the content of their ideas wasn't as good. 29 00:01:29,620 --> 00:01:33,820 So I thought, okay, I sulked about it for a little bit. 30 00:01:33,820 --> 00:01:35,980 And then I thought, I've got to do something about it 31 00:01:35,980 --> 00:01:39,340 to teach myself how to do this well, 32 00:01:39,340 --> 00:01:40,860 because I'm a screaming introvert, 33 00:01:40,860 --> 00:01:42,980 so it did not come naturally. 34 00:01:42,980 --> 00:01:44,740 So I looked into the neuroscience 35 00:01:44,740 --> 00:01:47,060 and the neuro economics of decision-making 36 00:01:47,060 --> 00:01:50,060 and what makes people go from just hearing something 37 00:01:50,060 --> 00:01:54,260 to really listening and then caring and then acting. 38 00:01:54,260 --> 00:01:56,980 In essence, getting whoever your target audience is 39 00:01:56,980 --> 00:01:59,140 to say yes to whatever it is, 40 00:01:59,140 --> 00:02:03,780 whether it's a promotion, a sales, distribution agreement, 41 00:02:03,780 --> 00:02:05,460 legislative reform, it doesn't really matter, 42 00:02:05,460 --> 00:02:07,420 the principles are the same. 43 00:02:07,420 --> 00:02:10,260 And so I started applying all this knowledge to myself, 44 00:02:10,260 --> 00:02:12,740 and then people around me started to say, 45 00:02:12,740 --> 00:02:14,780 could you help me do that? 46 00:02:14,780 --> 00:02:18,920 And so I realized that there was a real need for this. 47 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:22,620 And I've now coached over 100 TEDx speakers, 48 00:02:22,620 --> 00:02:26,740 I've coached authors and writers, 49 00:02:26,740 --> 00:02:29,900 and I've coached business leaders and founders 50 00:02:29,900 --> 00:02:32,820 and entrepreneurs and scientists and researchers, 51 00:02:32,820 --> 00:02:35,940 you name it, all across the globe. 52 00:02:35,940 --> 00:02:37,760 And the one thing that they consistently have 53 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,580 is they are brilliant subject matter experts 54 00:02:40,580 --> 00:02:42,240 at whatever they know about, 55 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,380 but they really can't champion their ideas 56 00:02:45,380 --> 00:02:48,940 in a way that needs to really amplify their work. 57 00:02:48,940 --> 00:02:52,700 And so, that's my vision, that's my mission, 58 00:02:52,700 --> 00:02:55,100 is to make sure that people who have 59 00:02:55,100 --> 00:02:58,000 these truly brilliant ideas aren't afraid 60 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,680 to get them out in the world 61 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:01,260 because they're afraid to speak, 62 00:03:01,260 --> 00:03:04,300 or alternatively, when they get up and speak, 63 00:03:04,300 --> 00:03:06,100 they really do their ideas justice. 64 00:03:06,100 --> 00:03:09,220 Because one of the things I say all the time 65 00:03:09,220 --> 00:03:12,220 is that a bad presentation is the place 66 00:03:12,220 --> 00:03:13,900 where good ideas go to die. 67 00:03:14,820 --> 00:03:17,220 Yeah, it could be very well true 68 00:03:17,220 --> 00:03:19,260 if you can't explain your idea 69 00:03:19,260 --> 00:03:21,420 and people don't understand what you're saying 70 00:03:21,420 --> 00:03:25,980 or don't realize it very well, you wouldn't see interest. 71 00:03:25,980 --> 00:03:26,980 It might change the world, 72 00:03:26,980 --> 00:03:29,100 it might freaking cure cancer one day, 73 00:03:29,100 --> 00:03:31,900 but if you can't explain it, it won't work out. 74 00:03:34,020 --> 00:03:35,140 Yes, that's absolutely true. 75 00:03:35,140 --> 00:03:37,180 And a lot of the people I work with, 76 00:03:40,340 --> 00:03:42,420 across the broad range of fields, 77 00:03:42,420 --> 00:03:45,100 but sometimes it's that people don't realize 78 00:03:45,100 --> 00:03:47,380 the value of their ideas. 79 00:03:47,380 --> 00:03:50,980 Sometimes people have a little bit of self-doubt 80 00:03:50,980 --> 00:03:52,380 or imposter syndrome. 81 00:03:52,380 --> 00:03:54,020 Maybe they have a brilliant idea 82 00:03:54,020 --> 00:03:57,220 that's based on 20 years of working in an industry, 83 00:03:57,220 --> 00:03:59,340 but they didn't get their high school, 84 00:03:59,340 --> 00:04:03,660 so they don't appreciate the value of what they have. 85 00:04:03,660 --> 00:04:06,460 And other times, I'm working with people 86 00:04:06,460 --> 00:04:10,020 who have been die-hard researchers. 87 00:04:10,020 --> 00:04:14,340 So they've been in a cubicle or a lab almost 24-seven 88 00:04:14,340 --> 00:04:16,980 for sometimes upwards of a decade. 89 00:04:16,980 --> 00:04:20,860 And so communication hasn't really been a key part 90 00:04:20,860 --> 00:04:22,500 of what they've needed to do. 91 00:04:22,500 --> 00:04:25,700 They've just been focused on getting the outcomes. 92 00:04:25,700 --> 00:04:27,380 And now all of a sudden you turn around 93 00:04:27,380 --> 00:04:28,740 and someone will say, okay, great, 94 00:04:28,740 --> 00:04:30,700 now champion that to the world. 95 00:04:30,700 --> 00:04:34,620 And instead it just sits in a thesis or a document 96 00:04:34,620 --> 00:04:36,900 or a strategic plan or a business proposal 97 00:04:36,900 --> 00:04:38,980 on a shelf gathering dust, 98 00:04:38,980 --> 00:04:41,700 and it doesn't actually get acted upon. 99 00:04:41,700 --> 00:04:43,780 And that to me is a huge loss, 100 00:04:43,780 --> 00:04:45,220 not only to that person, 101 00:04:45,220 --> 00:04:49,020 but to all of us as a society and potentially the world, 102 00:04:49,020 --> 00:04:52,340 if we don't have the opportunity to evaluate that idea 103 00:04:52,340 --> 00:04:53,580 and put it into action. 104 00:04:54,860 --> 00:04:56,420 Yeah, wow. 105 00:04:56,420 --> 00:04:58,900 Thank you for sharing that with me. 106 00:04:58,900 --> 00:05:03,660 What would you say Juanita is how you got started on this? 107 00:05:03,660 --> 00:05:06,500 What led you to what you do today? 108 00:05:08,300 --> 00:05:12,660 Well, I was working in a multinational at the time. 109 00:05:12,660 --> 00:05:16,820 Over my career, I've worked a lot in business. 110 00:05:16,820 --> 00:05:19,020 I had got to the point where I was the Director 111 00:05:19,020 --> 00:05:21,420 of Global Marketing and Market Development 112 00:05:21,420 --> 00:05:24,340 for one of the 20 fastest growing biotech firms 113 00:05:24,340 --> 00:05:26,140 based out of the US. 114 00:05:26,140 --> 00:05:28,980 And I was just consistently finding that 115 00:05:30,860 --> 00:05:34,060 I couldn't articulate ideas in meetings. 116 00:05:34,060 --> 00:05:37,620 I was anxious about it. 117 00:05:37,620 --> 00:05:41,700 I didn't know how to have my voice heard when it mattered. 118 00:05:41,700 --> 00:05:44,260 And so that's when I started doing the research. 119 00:05:44,260 --> 00:05:46,700 I'm like, there has to be a way to do this. 120 00:05:46,700 --> 00:05:48,660 And there has to be a smart way. 121 00:05:48,660 --> 00:05:51,100 So I wasn't interested in things like, 122 00:05:51,100 --> 00:05:52,660 what do you do with your hands? 123 00:05:52,660 --> 00:05:55,300 Or what do you do with your vocal modulation? 124 00:05:55,300 --> 00:05:57,380 That to me seemed really superficial. 125 00:05:57,380 --> 00:06:01,460 And the people who I saw speak that resonated with me 126 00:06:01,460 --> 00:06:02,860 and persuaded me, 127 00:06:02,860 --> 00:06:07,660 it wasn't based on those kind of, hello this. 128 00:06:07,660 --> 00:06:10,620 It was people who made really persuasive arguments. 129 00:06:10,620 --> 00:06:12,220 So I did the research. 130 00:06:12,220 --> 00:06:14,340 I went and, I'm a bit of a nerd. 131 00:06:14,340 --> 00:06:16,460 So I went and found every research paper 132 00:06:16,460 --> 00:06:19,260 and every study I could find on 133 00:06:19,260 --> 00:06:23,820 how does the human brain decide what to listen to? 134 00:06:23,820 --> 00:06:27,820 And once you'd listened, then actually take action. 135 00:06:27,820 --> 00:06:30,220 Because that's what I was interested in, neuroeconomics, 136 00:06:30,220 --> 00:06:32,140 which is the study of neuroscience 137 00:06:32,140 --> 00:06:34,500 as it relates to decision-making. 138 00:06:34,500 --> 00:06:37,100 And so I just nerded out 139 00:06:37,100 --> 00:06:39,940 and read everything I could get my hands on. 140 00:06:39,940 --> 00:06:42,020 And then said, okay, here are some strategies 141 00:06:42,020 --> 00:06:44,700 I should apply and I could try. 142 00:06:44,700 --> 00:06:46,060 And I tried them on myself. 143 00:06:46,060 --> 00:06:49,980 I've made myself my own guinea pig for years. 144 00:06:49,980 --> 00:06:52,180 And I worked out what worked and what didn't. 145 00:06:52,180 --> 00:06:55,340 And eventually I found a process 146 00:06:55,340 --> 00:06:56,700 that could work for extroverts, 147 00:06:56,700 --> 00:06:59,420 but it also worked for introverts like me. 148 00:06:59,420 --> 00:07:01,700 And it works for people who have lots of speaking 149 00:07:01,700 --> 00:07:03,100 or no speaking. 150 00:07:03,100 --> 00:07:08,100 And at its basic core, it's about persuasion. 151 00:07:08,100 --> 00:07:10,900 So I'm not the slightest bit interested really. 152 00:07:10,900 --> 00:07:13,580 You wouldn't come to me if you just wanted to learn how 153 00:07:13,580 --> 00:07:15,220 to give a great wedding toast. 154 00:07:15,220 --> 00:07:17,580 I mean, that's not my kind of public speaking. 155 00:07:17,580 --> 00:07:19,660 That's great and it has a purpose unto itself. 156 00:07:19,660 --> 00:07:22,740 But my entire focus is on persuasive speaking. 157 00:07:22,740 --> 00:07:24,660 So speaking for purpose. 158 00:07:24,660 --> 00:07:26,820 Speaking when there's an objective at the end 159 00:07:26,820 --> 00:07:28,660 and you want somebody in the audience, 160 00:07:28,660 --> 00:07:30,260 or multiple somebody's, 161 00:07:30,260 --> 00:07:33,300 whoever your target is to say yes to something. 162 00:07:33,300 --> 00:07:36,700 And so I got into it to answer your question, 163 00:07:36,700 --> 00:07:39,140 because I needed to. 164 00:07:39,140 --> 00:07:41,500 I wanted to have my voice heard. 165 00:07:41,500 --> 00:07:43,620 I had ideas I believed in. 166 00:07:43,620 --> 00:07:46,300 And I recognized that if I wanted to champion them, 167 00:07:46,300 --> 00:07:48,660 if I truly believed in those ideas, 168 00:07:48,660 --> 00:07:51,380 then I had to suck it up and learn how to do this. 169 00:07:51,380 --> 00:07:53,220 Because in the real world, 170 00:07:53,220 --> 00:07:55,940 you have to be able to champion your ideas 171 00:07:55,940 --> 00:07:57,380 and do them justice. 172 00:07:57,380 --> 00:07:59,860 Yeah, wow, that's a great story. 173 00:08:01,500 --> 00:08:05,060 Where would you say that now that you're here, 174 00:08:05,060 --> 00:08:06,900 is where does this journey lead you? 175 00:08:06,900 --> 00:08:09,100 Where do you think you're going with your vision? 176 00:08:10,860 --> 00:08:12,260 Oh, that's a great question. 177 00:08:12,260 --> 00:08:15,700 I think I see success every day 178 00:08:15,700 --> 00:08:18,660 and the success of the people I work with. 179 00:08:18,660 --> 00:08:21,660 Their success stories are the reason I do what I do. 180 00:08:22,940 --> 00:08:25,980 So I will see, you know, TED is a great example. 181 00:08:25,980 --> 00:08:27,620 I work with TEDx speakers. 182 00:08:27,620 --> 00:08:29,580 I run TEDx Brisbane. 183 00:08:29,580 --> 00:08:32,420 So I will work with Selecting Us speakers 184 00:08:32,420 --> 00:08:34,740 and I'm working with them on the speech writing, 185 00:08:34,740 --> 00:08:37,500 the script editing, and the actual speaker coaching 186 00:08:37,500 --> 00:08:39,660 for months, the lead up to the event. 187 00:08:40,540 --> 00:08:43,300 For us, you know, TEDx is better than Christmas. 188 00:08:43,300 --> 00:08:47,660 And on that day, you'll see between 16 and 20 people 189 00:08:47,660 --> 00:08:50,540 that you've worked with for months get up 190 00:08:50,540 --> 00:08:55,020 and they will champion and explain their great idea 191 00:08:56,100 --> 00:08:59,500 in a way that is its best possible shortest, 192 00:08:59,500 --> 00:09:03,420 most succinct, most powerful, most persuasive form. 193 00:09:03,420 --> 00:09:05,060 And I'll just be standing, you know, 194 00:09:05,060 --> 00:09:07,580 in the side stage wings, just, you know, 195 00:09:07,580 --> 00:09:11,660 so proud and so excited and so fulfilled that, 196 00:09:11,660 --> 00:09:15,380 okay, I'm doing exactly what I should be doing in the world. 197 00:09:16,340 --> 00:09:19,820 They're not my ideas, they're other people's ideas, 198 00:09:19,820 --> 00:09:24,700 but my purpose, the thing I've been put on the planet to do, 199 00:09:24,700 --> 00:09:27,180 if you believe in that type of thing, 200 00:09:27,180 --> 00:09:29,980 is to help other people amplify their ideas 201 00:09:29,980 --> 00:09:31,340 and champion them to the world. 202 00:09:31,340 --> 00:09:32,740 And that's how I'm gonna make a difference. 203 00:09:32,740 --> 00:09:35,500 The world is being made a better place 204 00:09:35,500 --> 00:09:39,300 by these people's ideas, because they're amazing. 205 00:09:39,300 --> 00:09:41,460 And I'm just helping them to get to the point 206 00:09:41,460 --> 00:09:44,420 where the world knows about them. 207 00:09:44,420 --> 00:09:45,980 Thank you for sharing that. 208 00:09:45,980 --> 00:09:47,060 That's very powerful. 209 00:09:48,260 --> 00:09:49,900 I have one more question for you for today 210 00:09:49,900 --> 00:09:52,060 before we end today's segment. 211 00:09:52,060 --> 00:09:53,700 And that question is, 212 00:09:55,340 --> 00:10:00,340 what held you back all those years as leaders? 213 00:10:00,340 --> 00:10:03,420 We wanna learn from our mistakes, 214 00:10:03,420 --> 00:10:05,020 and we wanna learn from all the bad things 215 00:10:05,020 --> 00:10:06,380 and good things we do. 216 00:10:06,380 --> 00:10:08,580 But a smart person and a great leader 217 00:10:08,580 --> 00:10:11,180 is who can learn from other people's mistakes. 218 00:10:11,180 --> 00:10:14,540 So through your area of expertise, 219 00:10:14,540 --> 00:10:17,020 what were some of the things that held you back 220 00:10:17,020 --> 00:10:18,060 through your journey? 221 00:10:19,620 --> 00:10:21,020 There were several. 222 00:10:21,020 --> 00:10:26,020 So I think the first thing is that I thought the world 223 00:10:26,620 --> 00:10:28,940 should work in the way that I wanted it to. 224 00:10:28,940 --> 00:10:32,260 So I thought if I put a really compelling argument together 225 00:10:32,260 --> 00:10:36,180 and I put it in my preferred medium or channel of writing, 226 00:10:36,180 --> 00:10:39,020 then that should be good enough and everyone should read it, 227 00:10:39,020 --> 00:10:41,700 rather than accepting this is how the world is 228 00:10:41,700 --> 00:10:45,300 and I need to work out how to speak persuasively 229 00:10:45,300 --> 00:10:46,780 and get over being an introvert. 230 00:10:46,780 --> 00:10:49,060 So that was my biggest thing that held me back 231 00:10:49,060 --> 00:10:53,580 the longest time, which was a ridiculous concept 232 00:10:53,580 --> 00:10:56,740 that the world should change itself to my preferred mode. 233 00:10:56,740 --> 00:10:59,340 I think the other things were the things I see commonly 234 00:10:59,340 --> 00:11:03,540 in all of my speaking clients, which is self doubt 235 00:11:03,540 --> 00:11:06,140 about whether or not I was good enough, 236 00:11:06,140 --> 00:11:09,860 like who was I to get up and make these assertions. 237 00:11:10,860 --> 00:11:13,580 And this is even, I still have those moments occasionally 238 00:11:13,580 --> 00:11:14,940 and I've got three master's degrees 239 00:11:14,940 --> 00:11:16,660 and 20 years of experience. 240 00:11:16,660 --> 00:11:19,940 None of those things necessarily impact 241 00:11:19,940 --> 00:11:23,380 how confident you feel about your ability to speak 242 00:11:23,380 --> 00:11:24,820 to a room of your own. 243 00:11:24,820 --> 00:11:27,380 Your ability to speak to a room of people. 244 00:11:28,500 --> 00:11:33,500 I think I also, so self doubt is a big thing. 245 00:11:33,500 --> 00:11:36,980 I think I'm a recovering perfectionist. 246 00:11:36,980 --> 00:11:40,820 So for me, one of my biggest challenges is that I think 247 00:11:40,820 --> 00:11:43,660 if it's not perfect, I don't wanna do it. 248 00:11:43,660 --> 00:11:46,780 So I will delay and delay and delay 249 00:11:46,780 --> 00:11:49,100 for fear of it not being perfect. 250 00:11:49,100 --> 00:11:51,780 And one of the things that I've come to accept 251 00:11:51,780 --> 00:11:54,300 and I teach my clients now is that 252 00:11:54,300 --> 00:11:57,580 if you aim for 100% perfection in your speaking gigs, 253 00:11:57,580 --> 00:11:59,900 you've failed before you even start 254 00:11:59,900 --> 00:12:02,340 because you're not a robot, you're a human. 255 00:12:02,340 --> 00:12:05,780 So if you wanna aim really, really high, 256 00:12:05,780 --> 00:12:09,580 then the absolute top bar should be 80% perfection 257 00:12:09,580 --> 00:12:12,620 and 20% authentic human moments. 258 00:12:12,620 --> 00:12:16,140 So your 20% authentic human is the things 259 00:12:16,140 --> 00:12:19,140 that my former judge yourself would have called mistakes, 260 00:12:19,140 --> 00:12:23,820 but really just in the day, in modern times, 261 00:12:23,820 --> 00:12:26,020 like now where people really care 262 00:12:26,020 --> 00:12:28,220 about having an authentic connection 263 00:12:28,220 --> 00:12:30,460 and an authentic relationship with a person 264 00:12:30,460 --> 00:12:32,740 who's championing an idea, 265 00:12:32,740 --> 00:12:36,380 that 20% authentic human moments where you forget a line 266 00:12:36,380 --> 00:12:39,220 or you get a bit teary or you get choked up, 267 00:12:39,220 --> 00:12:41,100 that can be where the magic is. 268 00:12:41,100 --> 00:12:45,700 Don't be afraid, so afraid that you won't achieve perfection 269 00:12:45,700 --> 00:12:47,060 that you don't start. 270 00:12:47,060 --> 00:12:48,420 Thank you for being here today. 271 00:12:48,420 --> 00:12:50,900 I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. 272 00:12:50,900 --> 00:12:53,580 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions 273 00:12:53,580 --> 00:12:55,900 as these episodes continue to move forward. 274 00:12:55,900 --> 00:12:57,580 This is gonna get more and more fun. 275 00:12:57,580 --> 00:12:59,380 We'll have more and more engagement as well. 276 00:12:59,380 --> 00:13:01,500 We'll invite people to participate in the show 277 00:13:01,500 --> 00:13:03,860 and thank you for giving us your time and attention. 278 00:13:03,860 --> 00:13:06,580 Have an excellent time building out your vision 279 00:13:06,580 --> 00:13:23,860 and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.