What Makes Great Speakers Truly Great – by guest writer, Mark Sanborn

Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE is a bestselling author and professional speaker based in Denver, CO

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There are several ways you could analyze what makes any speaker great. The most obvious would be to assess his or her skill on the platform and the components of what enables the speaker to connect with and positively influence audiences.Cavett Robert and Charlie Tremendous Jones are two legendary speakers who have addressed thousands during the course of their respective careers. Cavett (now deceased) and Charlie were very different in their on-stage personas and performances. But one key to their greatness was as much as how they both lived their lives off-stage.

Why Did Cavett Robert Want to Bake a Bigger Pie?

Cavett Robert was a lawyer and real estate investor in Phoenix, Arizona before he became a professional speaker. Cavett didn’t give his first paid speech until he was 60.

He is also considered the founder of the National Speakers Association. In 1973, Cavett rallied a cadre of his speaker friends to form an association that now numbers 3500 in membership.

There were some who initially criticized him: why form an association to teach our existing competitors to get better and even create new ones?

Cavett had a different perspective. He didn’t see the potential rewards of the marketplace as fixed and therefore wasn’t threatened by new competitors. His philosophy: if we call work together we can bake a bigger pie. Members of the new organization NSA could cooperate not to compete with each other, but to learn from each other and to increase the opportunities for professional speakers throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Cavett was right, and not only has NSA grown and improved, but its members have been better equipped not just to be more successful in their businesses, but to more positively impact those in their audiences. Cavett personified the spirit of service.

What Makes Charlie Jones Truly Tremendous?

Consider the following story about Charlie from my book “You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere Can Make a Positive Difference:“

Charlie “Tremendous” Jones is one of the most philanthropic people I know. Throughout his life, he has given lavishly of his time and money. So you can imagine my surprise when he announced to me and his other friends, “I’ve given up on giving.”

There had to be more to the story, we knew.

He went on to explain. “Everything I have—my life, my potential, my time—was given to me. I’ve decided to spend the rest of my life returning.”

Charlie wasn’t talking about putting back into the world what he took out of it. He was talking about making the world a better place, which is what great speakers and great leaders do.

So What’s the Point?

We can become better speakers, better parents, employers or better whatevers, by focusing not just on the practical skills of our craft, but by the philosophy we live by. We can learn from two of speaking’s greatest that while our resumes reflect what we’ve earned, our legacies reflect what we’ve contributed.

Over two thousands years ago a baby was born into the world who grew up to say the same thing: to be great, learn to serve. That’s not just a timely message of the season, but a timely lesson in greatness.