Happy Martin Luther King Day!

This man, from an early age, taught me that words can move the world. HE moved the world. And today - especially now, in this age that feels like we're reeling backward in some ways - I want to highlight what we as speakers can learn from MLK and pay homage to him through his incredible speech, "I Have a Dream." 

And so, I couldn't think of a better speech to start the  TMM Talk Club with. The idea behind the TMM Talk Club is to analyze a speech - pull it apart a bit - and think through what the key elements are so that we can learn from them, and bring more of these ideas into our own work.  [More on the TMM Talk Club soon!]

So what did MLK do especially well?  These three things:

Jason Jaggard - a coach, speaker, social innovator for cultural change and CEO/Founder of Spark Good and consultant with Novus Global. I got the chance to see Jason speak at Story2016 in Nashville this fall, and he was excellent. Funny, insightful, bold. I was so inspired by what I heard that I went to his breakout session - which BLEW MY MIND. I literally wrote a billion things on my notes (well, ok, not a *billion*, but close). I still think about his ideas and insights and try to apply them to my work and life.

While I was sitting in the audience of his talk and his breakout session, I thought to myself again and again, speakers need these same mindsets. 

In fact, we ALL do. Anyone doing creative work that yearns to influence requires something big in us as creators. What do we need? Well, take a listen!

"I know I need to cut some of my talk… but I hate to lose any of this material. It’s ALL important to me! How do you decide what to cut?"

I say a lot in my workshops and with my clients that you know you’re getting to the good stuff when it really hurts to edit your talk. “Edit until it hurts.” Ok, it hurts! It hurts! Now what?

Listen in!

Happy New Year!

One of my favorite ways to end the year is to ask the simple question, "What's something that's moved you this year?"

This year I asked the question to my family as we gathered together at my parents' cabin in Wisconsin.  (They really had very little choice in the matter - thanks, Fam!) The responses varied - from the simple to the sweet to the sad and complicated. Another year in the books - and another chance to reflect.