We spend a lot of time with our clients developing confidence in professional communication. There are myriad factors that can impact your communication—clarity, pronunciation, tone—however, confidence is the one essential factor that ties it all together. If you’re not confident, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to communicate in a way that impacts and influences others. The topic of confidence is one that’s close to my heart. I had a very difficult time finding my voice when I was younger, and that was part of what lead me to create Corporate Speech Solutions. Today, I’d like to share my own personal story about how I found my voice and learned to communicate with confidence.
I didn’t speak until I was three years old. The reason was never entirely clear—I was never diagnosed with a communication disorder, and I never saw a speech-language pathologist. However, I suspect it had something to do with having an older sister. She often spoke for me, so maybe I never felt the need to speak for myself. Friends and family often voiced their concern to my mother, but she would only say, “She’ll speak when she’s ready.”
Eventually, I did learn to speak. I had no speech or language problems, but still, I had trouble finding my voice. All the way into college I was painfully shy. I remember walking down the halls of my high school, avoiding eye contact at all costs for fear of having to talk to someone. Raising my hand or talking in class was out of the question. This lack of confidence robbed me of the ability to express myself in the way my classmates could.
One day, I visited my sister at college. I went to one of her classes with her in a big, auditorium- style lecture hall. The sheer number of people was intimidating. And yet, in the middle of the class, my sister raised her hand and asked a question. I was in awe. It was at that moment that I realized two things: 1) I needed to find the confidence to find my voice and 2) I wanted to help others do the same.
It didn’t happen overnight, but throughout my young adulthood, I gradually learned to communicate with confidence. I pursued speech pathology in college so I could help others find their voice too. And that’s exactly what I’ve done for my entire career. For the first 25 years, I worked with people with neurological problems like stroke, or Alzheimer’s disease. Then one year at a conference, I discovered corporate speech-language pathology. I realized I wanted to branch out and help people like my young self. In 2006 I founded Corporate Speech Solutions to help people find their voices and use them to build their careers. The goal was to provide training to business professionals who would benefit from speaking with greater clarity and confidence while climbing up the corporate ladder. Since its foundation, our company has helped hundreds of corporate professionals and small business owners overcome communication issues that were holding back their careers.
If you want to take your communication to the next level, make sure to pick up a free copy of my e-book “Communicate with Clarity and Confidence!” by subscribing to our newsletter community on our website. In this free resource, I break down the myriad factors that contribute to confident communication and guide you through how to use each aspect to your advantage.
Give us a call and see how Corporate Speech Solutions can improve your professional life! Call us at 212-308-7725 or send us an e-mail at jayne@corporatespeechsolutions.com to learn more. I’d be more than happy to answer any questions you might have!
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