Speaking like myself vs. speaking like Jamie Dimon
Learning to speak publicly
Our intern just finished for the summer and gave an (excellent!) final presentation to a bunch of people. So I’ve been thinking about public speaking and how I’ve gotten more comfortable with it over the years. I’m not sure how good I am at it but my enjoyment of giving presentations or speeches has gone from perhaps a 3/10 in high school to an 8/10 today.
There a couple of reasons I can think of for this shift. The first is boring: I’ve had some practice with it and have developed a broader base of knowledge and feel more confident.
The second is more interesting and it has to do with incorporating the styles of people I think of as good public speakers.
This tweet gets at an interesting phenomenon; there is something about imitation that changes the parameters of what you are able to do:
I like the example of singing notes because it feels like something that should have fixed bounds (your vocal chords are your vocal chords) but does not: people can access a broader range if they trick themselves into it by imitating someone else.
I stumbled into a similar phenomenon with public speaking. I remember watching this video of Jamie Dimon, the longtime JP Morgan Chase CEO, giving a commencement address when I was in college and developing a (somewhat embarrassing1) professional crush on him.
I did not realize that someone with a Very Serious Job could speak in such a candid, off-the-cuff style and appear to enjoy the act of presenting. He adds little asides, interacts with people in the audience, and smiles at self-deprecating lines.
I found his style so compelling that I’ve returned to this video and others of him speaking over the years. And I think by absorbing these, I’ve taken on some of his style when I present, especially his visible enjoyment of the process.
I expect that if someone did this explicitly — found someone whose style they wanted to emulate and then practiced emulating it — they’d improve towards that standard quite quickly.
I met Dimon after a speech he gave in Cincinnati when I was 23. I didn’t know what to say to him so I told him I’d read Too Big to Fail and admired how he responded to the financial crisis. He just nodded and said “yeah…most of that was true” and then turned to talk to someone more interesting.
I was at this Jamie Dimon speech! I had forgotten all about it. At the time, I thought it was too rambling, scattered, and not polished enough. Like he had just jotted a couple random notes on the flight over. But watching it again, I like it and appreciate it much more. Maybe that’s a result of having more work and public speaking experience. The self awareness and self deprecating parts are especially great. He’s funny too. Thanks for sharing!
I enjoyed speaking more as I feared disapproval less. I, of course, still like to receive agreement and approval; but it helps to feel able to consider and even learn from a negative response rather than feel done in by it.