confidence Archive - Lead with Clarity. Communicate with Impact.

Speak up

I want to live in a world in which those who have an important story to tell find the words that motivate them to speak up with confidence

Words that resonate strongly and inspire action.

Words that are honest and compelling.

Words they truly believe in about the things they deeply care about.

There are more than enough careerists who couldn’t care less about the stories they tell as long as these stories get them the deal, the promotion, the vote, …

They are the ones who have no issue with speaking up, even if they don’t believe in what they say.

We shouldn’t leave the field to them.

I want to live in a world where those who do care for their story, tell their story – and in a way that gives them a chance of being heard.

That’s why I do what I do.

The fun part of public speaking

You’re getting a chance to speak about what truly matters to you. How awesome is that!

Don’t forget to have fun with it.

People tend to mistake giving a talk as an obligation. But honestly, isn’t it kind of amazing that you get to stand up there and speak your truth?

Not everyone gets that chance.

Don’t you agree that the opportunity to share what you’re passionate about should be a joyride, not a chore?

If you manage to reframe the situation in that way, it has a profound impact on your emotions.

Enjoying the moment helps you stay present, which is essential for managing anxiety. When you’re ‘in the moment,’ there’s less room for anxious thoughts about the past or future.

But there’s more to this: Joy is infectious. When you’re visibly enjoying the moment, that enthusiasm is contagious. It sweeps up the audience and creates a shared experience that’s memorable and meaningful.

So, this isn’t just about enjoying yourself; it’s about creating a vibrant, positive atmosphere that the audience can participate in.

And guess what? Their joy becomes infectious, too. It’s a virtuous cycle.

Here’s another way to look at it: This is a choice.

You can choose to consider the talk an obligation.
Or you can choose to consider it an opportunity.

You can choose to watch out for everything that could possibly go wrong. Or you can choose to watch out for anything that could be fun.

You can choose to treat your audience as a target.
Or you can choose to treat them as humans.
The former means work. The latter means fun.

Here’s the thing: It’s your choice!
Enjoy it!

PS: This is a short excerpt from my free eBook “Speak Easy” with a simple 4 step approach to show up with more confidence.

Your speech is a gift

Whether it’s to share insights or to shift perspectives, whether it’s to motivate or to entertain … there are many ways in which your speech can be a gift to your audience.

Don’t you agree that giving a gift generally feels good?

In case of your speech it shifts the focus from your performance to the value you’re providing. You don’t have to ‘perform’ but instead you just share generously.

No pressure there, right?

Why then does giving a speech often feel not so good? Where does the pressure, stress, and nervousness come from?

Perhaps it’s because you’re expecting to get something in return. Which, to me, actually doesn’t qualify as truly giving anymore, does it?

Worse, some speakers show up to only take … their audience’s time, money, support, goodwill, …

When you show up to take or even just to get something in return, you’ll be under immense pressure to succeed. Pressure, though, rarely serves confidence well.

But when you change your lens, that dynamic changes.

When you show up to generously share your experience, the audience will actually be rooting for you because they really want you to succeed. They are on your side.

They don’t see you as a pickpocket for their time or approval anymore. People naturally root for the giver, the sharer, the storyteller.

And that can be a calming thought.

So, be that person and turn your speech into a gift.

PS: This is a short excerpt from my free eBook “Speak Easy” with a simple 4 step approach to show up with more confidence. Download it here: https://michaelgerharz.com/speak-easy

The biggest reason for stage fright

The biggest reason for stage fright is not what you think it is.

It’s not the size of the audience or the prestige of the event.

It’s not that you don’t have a commanding presence on stage.

It’s not that you’re not funny enough or can’t tell engaging stories.

It’s also not the complexity of the topic you are speaking on.

Nor that you haven’t practiced enough.

And it’s not that you haven’t attended enough public speaking workshops.

Although all of that can contribute.

But none of it is the root cause! The root cause is this:
You don’t believe in the words you use!

None of the usual advice will fix this. That’s why it can’t work. If you don’t believe in your words, any body language tip will have to work against your belief. It only adds to the stress.

But here’s the good news:

When you find words you truly believe in about the things you deeply care about, nothing else will matter!

Solve that problem, and you’ll solve the others, too.

PS: I wrote a little eBook on how to do that. It’s called: Speak Easy and it’s a short read with a pretty unusual take. If you haven’t done so already, download it here for free: https://michaelgerharz.com/speak-easy

How confident are you as a speaker?

You are backstage.

Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms heavy.

In other words: You’re just plain terrified. Stage fright has got you in its grip and it’s squeezing hard.

Public speaking is the monster under the bed for grown-ups. It’s that universal fear that sends shivers down the spine of some of the boldest leaders.

Their powerful voices suddenly feel weak. Their decisive stride seems uncertain. Their usual commanding presence fades into doubt. Backstage, the bold leader is no longer a tower of strength.

Almost certainly, you’ve been hit with advice to conquer that fear. But in my experience, most of that advice actually achieves the opposite. It doesn’t make you feel less nervous but more.

Huh? More nervous? Let me explain …

Often, it’s quite a beast in terms of things you have to consider and do in the correct order: Deep breaths, power stance, eye contact, pacing, how to hold your hands, how to stand, when to smile, …

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg …

What’s worse is that all of this is on top of actually having to remember what you wanted to say. (Not to mention: actually saying it.)

I’ve never seen it work well. Not only does this advice not eliminate stage fright. As I said, it actually adds to the stress.

Which is why I prefer a very different approach that I hope can change the game for you, too.

In 16 years of working with leaders who went on stages, large and small, this is the only approach I’ve seen that has consistently led to improved confidence in front of audiences.

I’ve turned it into a free eBook: Speak Easy – 4 Steps to Total Confidence in Your Communication.

It’s a short read with a pretty unusual take.

If you haven’t done so already, download it here: https://michaelgerharz.com/speak-easy

PS: Please share this with someone you know who struggles with stage fright. I hope it can be a game changer for them.

Speak Easy

If you’ve ever struggled with stage fright but somehow nothing you’ve tried has really worked, this is for you.

Perhaps you’ve already watched a couple of motivational YouTube videos that promised a fix.

Or you’ve been to workshops hoping to improve your body language to come across more confidently.

Maybe you’ve read some books or tried power posing and meditation.

But whatever you tried, either things didn’t really improve or you fell back to your old patterns shortly after.

I’ve tried some of these, too. I never found them to work well, either.

Until I’ve changed my approach.

I tried to understand what was really going on and realized that almost every advice out there only addresses the symptoms but not the cause. It’s a pretty unusual take that not many speak about but I think it’s obvious once you see it.

I wrote a little eBook to share with you what I’ve discovered over the years.

It works for me and it works for my clients. 
I hope it does for you, too.

It’s also free. 
Get it here: https://michaelgerharz.com/speak-easy

PS: If you find this useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues so that others can improve their stage presence, too.

The biggest confidence hack

The biggest confidence hack?

Find the words you truly believe in about the things you deeply believe in.

Lack of confidence mostly means lack of trust in one (or both) of these. If you don’t trust

in your words being the right words (in that moment and to that audience) or
in the thing being the right thing (in that moment and for that audience)
that’s a big roadblock for showing up with confidence. Your body senses the insecurity and will surface it in your body language and tone of voice.

The body language hacks from the last workshop don’t really help, either. Acting in contradiction to what your body wants to do is hard, even for professional actors (which is why they don’t usually do it but have developed different strategies).

It’s a different game when you first build trust in your words and the things you make. Then, everything you’ll do to boost your confidence won’t be in contradiction with what your body wants to do, anymore, but in alignment.

The key is amplifying rather than correcting your body language.

Find the words you truly believe in about the things you deeply believe in. And then amplify what your body wants to do.

Body language tricks

The biggest lever to appearing confident on stage isn’t body language. It’s saying what you mean.

When we don’t believe in the words we use, it will almost always feel at least a little weird because our body wants to do one thing (according to what we actually believe in) while our brain wants it to do another thing (according to what we pretend to believe in).

Most of us are not professional actors. If you lack confidence in your words, you’re not just going to trick your audience with one or two hacks from the last body language workshop. (And let’s just face it: even some professional actors aren’t that good at it.) While most audiences are not body language pros, either, most are pretty good at sensing a mismatch between what our body does and what our words say. They probably can’t pinpoint what’s off exactly but they can somehow sense that something’s off.

That dynamic changes when you switch to saying what you mean, using words you deeply believe in. It won’t magically turn you into a confident speaker, but it will give a much greater impact to anything you do to amplify your message, mostly because message and delivery will be consistent.

Speaking with confidence

Most of your competition leads with vague statements such as “improving efficiency”, “providing flexible solutions”, “using high quality materials”.

One of the easiest ways to differentiate yourself from this competition is to be really specific in what you promise. What does “improving efficiency” mean? What does it look like? How will it change our processes?

And then make a bold statement about it. “X will increase Y by at least a factor of 3.”

There’s one important pitfall: You need to keep your promises. It’s easy to make bold promises. It’s a different thing to actually keep them.

Yet, this is the actual differentiator – and the reason why so many companies shy away from making specific promises. They lack the confidence to actually make them happen. They don’t go all the way to make sure that this will always work (or figure out which version of the promise will always work).

The best pitches start with empathy: Understand what matters to your customers. Make a bold innovation to improve this aspect. Work hard to be able to keep a promise around it.

When you’ve done this, speaking about it with confidence will be the easiest part.

The cozy pillow of confidence

… does not exist.

As much as we’d like to hope for that magic confidence potion that makes our fears go away so that we can feel confident wherever we are and whomever we meet, it doesn’t exit. Because that’s not how confidence works.

That hope confuses confidence with comfort.

It’s a natural reaction to prefer relaxation over stress. Peace of mind over fear of failure. Cooperation over competition.

Yet, confidence doesn’t make stress go away and neither does it rule out failure or make negotiations less competitive. Confidence means believing in yourself despite the possibility of failure. It means showing up regardless. What would we need confidence for if it wasn’t for the difficult parts?

That’s why acting with confidence becomes so much easier when you know who you are and what you stand for. And when the work you do is on something that’s actually worth believing in and, therefore, worth standing firmly behind.

Confidence is, in a way, the will to make it happen regardless. Rather than make our fears go away, it helps us to overcome them.

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