A Blog with Tips & Tricks for Enlightened Presenters
A Sport With No Scoreboard
The Emperor Wears What He Chose
The most powerful man in the world keeps a notebook that, as far as anyone can tell, he never meant anyone else to read.
Marcus Aurelius rules Rome from 161 to 180, and he spends much of the 170s at war on the Danube frontier. He writes parts of the notebook on campaign, in Greek, addressed to himself. Early in the text, a note places him among the Quadi, on the Granua, a river in what’s now Slovakia.
The war barely appears. Mostly he writes himself instructions about what to think. Stop wasting what’s left of your life wondering what other people are doing, saying, and thinking, he tells himself. And in the fifth book comes the line that could caption the whole notebook:
“Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.”
Dyed.
One thought at a time, soaked in so slowly that the color starts to look like it was always there.
The Last Default Is the One About You
Plenty about your next presentation arrives already decided, from the hour on the invite to the expectation you’ll use last year’s deck template. Underneath all of it sits an evaluation that sounds like it’s been dyed into the fabric of your self-image: I’m not a natural. I’ll do better if I have slides to turn to. I’m just not much of a presenter.
Where does that come from? Usually, from whoever’s nearby.
In 1954, psychologist Leon Festinger argued that people carry a basic drive to evaluate their own abilities, and that when no objective measure exists, they measure themselves against each other.
Presenting has no scoreboard. So we borrow one.
Whether via TikTok, TED Talks, or Tanya in Talent Acquisition, many of us borrow the scoreboard from the flashiest presenters we observe. Perhaps that instinct earns its keep when nothing else is available. But if you asked who chose that particular yardstick, the honest answer would be… nobody.
She Thought Calm Was the Problem
This past summer I worked one on one with a VP at a technology company. At our first meeting she told me she “wasn’t a very good presenter.” Her coworkers had charisma. They commanded attention, and she didn’t believe she could compete.
I noticed something else first. She was measured and calm, even with a lot riding on the moment.
It took time and coaching for her to see that serenity as a strength. The flash, the decks, and the culture around her had painted her picture of herself. She’d been grading her skill against everyone else and had never once evaluated it on its own terms.
The breakthrough came when we swapped one question for another. She’d been asking, “Will this put me on par with everyone else?” We started asking, “Is this the right thing to do for the idea?”
Her plan changed shape. What was going to be a large-format presentation to the leadership and executive teams became a one-on-one with her CEO. One morning, over a hot drink in the company café, she steadily laid out the plan. He bought in on the spot.
The trait she’d counted as a weakness ended up carrying the whole conversation.
Who Decided What Kind of Presenter You Are?
Who were you measuring yourself against the last time you said you weren’t a natural?
What do you count against yourself that your audience might count in your favor?
If the only question were what’s right for your idea, what would your next high-stakes moment look like?
“No man is satisfied with his own lot if he fixes his attention on that of another.”
Tell Me Yours
You don’t have to have fixed it yet.
Most of us carry at least one line about ourselves as presenters that no one ever checked. The client in this story had carried hers for years. Tell me yours.
Hit reply with the verdict you’ve been carrying, and who you think handed it to you.
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