Training managers and business leaders spend their days in myriad conversations and in multiple contexts, including one-on-one or in-person, on the phone, in teleconferences, using PowerPoint, and executive training. At times, you may be more prepared textually than at others; for example, you may have written remarks or, at the very least, bullet points.
Most of the time, however, there are no notes, and communication is extemporaneous. I teach that “speech is habit.” Traditionally, we do not think strategically about how we speak; we just talk.
Before becoming a public speaker, author and communication strategist, I began my professional life as a trained classical singer with a master’s degree in voice. I share this background because musicians understand that a song without a rest is not the same piece of music, and there are multiple types of rests. Whether it’s a quarter rest that has one beat, a half rest that has two or a whole rest that has four, singers and musicians recognize the critical nature of a rest. In public speaking, we do not. Thus, our narrative runs us; we are not in control of it. We tend to “stream data,” speaking too quickly and filling space with what I term white noise (“um,” “uh,” “you know,” “I mean,” etc.).
Perhaps you are afraid you might lose your audience or be interrupted if you stop for an effective breath. This assumption, however, is false. The single most important way to control the flow of information is to control the flow of breath.
The title of this blog post is “Space Has Value.” Part of that value comes from the fact that space that creates thinking time, enhances storytelling, enables you to communicate more authentically and effectively, and so much more.
Exercise
Record yourself for 20 or 30 seconds reading a paragraph as you normally would from a professional document or something you have written. Then, mark your text with a checkmark wherever you think it is tactically effective to breathe. Before recording again, practice initiating your read with a slow, silent, three- to five-second inhalation, and speak at the apex of that inhalation. Do not release your breath before speaking. At each checkmark, breathe again without rushing. Feel relaxed and natural. When you believe you are doing this effectively, record again and listen to the difference.
Today’s Axiom
Breath is not only physical; it is emotional. Conscious, strategic breathing enables us to tap into the sovereignty of who we are.
