Our professional value is something which ultimately leads to better positions and more substantial growth in the careers we are chasing after. And many people tend to define the path to attaining higher professional value in different ways.
A visionary, strong leadership, experience in business and sales, smart monetary management, you name it. These may all be important pieces in the puzzle of achieving greater value in your career, but it can all fall apart when the one thing that holds the puzzle together is missing:
THE ONE SKILL THAT WILL RAISE YOUR CAREER VALUE BY 50% IS PUBLIC SPEAKING
Warren Buffett describes this skill as essential and one that can raise your career value by 50 percent – and that is really a lot.
“Right now, I would pay $100,000 for 10 percent of the future earnings of any of you, so if you’re interested, see me after class,” he said to the students at Columbia University. And while this sounded like a joke to them, he continued with a very important message:
“…you can improve your value by 50 percent just by learning communication skills–public speaking. If that’s the case, see me after class and I’ll pay you $150,000.”
And he cannot be further from the truth. Public speaking skills are key to success in whatever field you are working on. As the author of TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking, Chris Anderson, has shown, public speaking can be “the key to unlocking empathy, stirring excitement, spreading knowledge, and promoting a shared dream.”
In an interview with Levo League, Buffett said that the ability to communicate in life is enormously important. “If you can’t communicate and talk to other people and get across your ideas, you’re giving up your potential,” he explained.
Many would think, though, that public speaking is only for those who aren’t faint of heart. This may be true if you don’t put some effort into learning more about how you can overcome the fear of speaking publicly.
Mr. Buffett himself was one of the faint of heart, who admits to having suffered from horrible anxiety attacks only by the thought of giving presentations to other people. He even dropped out of a Dale-Carnegie public-speaking course because he was petrified by the idea that he had to speak up.
However, conquering this fear is what made him take the course for the second time and today he proudly displays his public-speaking certificate in his office.
He is one of those who can prove that public speaking is something that everybody can learn and master. And the best way to do it is through gradual exposure, increased self-confidence, and a clear purpose.
Watching videos of public speakers can serve as an inspiration on what it means to stand in front of a crowd of people and try to engage them and convince them in what you have to say.
And of course, hard work and persistence are key to mastering your public speaking skills. In the end, what is very interesting is that you will notice that every form of communication is a form of public speaking.
So, don’t be afraid to do what it takes and master your communication skills, as they are indeed the key to success.
Source: Inc.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.