Chapter 1: What is the myth of the natural speaker?
There's no natural speaker. No one's born a speaker. Everyone is habitual. And if you are not a good speaker, you can become one. If you have a bad habit, you can work out of it.
welcome to mick unplugged the number one podcast for self-improvement leadership and relentless growth no fluff no filters just hard-hitting truths unstoppable strategies and the mindset shifts that separate the best from the rest ready to break limits let's go Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mic Unplugged.
And today, I have a brilliant storyteller to introduce you to. She's a TEDx veteran, a master storyteller, and a coach shaping the voice of leaders around the world, from ideas to impact, from stages to boardrooms. She's a visionary.
Chapter 2: How can everyone develop effective speaking habits?
She's empowering. She's magnetic. She's a good friend of mine, Ms. Ruth Mulligan. Ruth, how are you doing today, dear?
Hi, Mick. I'm so good and really honored and delighted to be here. I can't wait to have our conversation.
Well, I'm the honored one. You know, you are the master storyteller. And I think every story as a fellow keynote speaker starts with what I call a because. That thing that's deeper than your why, that thing that is really your true passion, your true purpose. And so I'd love to hear for the first time, Ruth Milligan, what's your because? What keeps you doing what you do?
Because I really, truly believe that everyone has a voice and everyone has a story.
Chapter 3: What are shaded habits and how do they affect communication?
That might sound trite, but it is true.
Very true.
And everyone needs to practice for it to be heard.
Totally agree.
And that doesn't go well alone. And we love to be the guide and the helper, the body double, the coach, the whatever you want to call us to support those who are trying to find their place in the world, in their lives, in their business. And it's a delight.
We dedicated the book that just came out to the speakers that we work with because that takes a lot of trust for them to let us into their worlds. And that all is my because.
I love that, Ruth. And I love how you broke that down. You know, as a speaker, as a coach, you see a lot, right? And you help transform a lot. And the reason I call you a master is because I know it's tough. You
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Chapter 4: How should we structure our presentations like a family tree?
You know, he calls me his son. I call him my father is Les Brown. So like you, Les, you know, started his career in Ohio as well. Great storyteller. And Les, the first lesson I ever got from Les is this. And I know you embody this. He said, Mick, the key to speaking is this. Never tell a story without a point and never make a point without a story.
Love that.
And if you can master that, you'll speak forever and you'll be hired forever. Because so many people, when they go on stage, it's words. So Ruth, for you, how do you help speakers transform what I'm going to call stories and points, points and stories? Because that is something that you do brilliantly. And you're one of the few people that I can actually listen to.
You're very kind and generous, by the way. You really are.
I've seen a ton of your videos. I've seen a ton of your teachings. And that's how I know that you do that.
You do good research. So I always start with the points. The points are far outweigh the stories. And they're very difficult to organize, bring hierarchy, find the highest level meaning.
And if I can get somebody, I did this yesterday on a call, there's a high, you know, I'm working generally in high stakes presentations, things with lots of consequence that could, and the consequence is how you define it, but it can go from a job interview, your first interview for a scholarship in college to a $5 billion contract. It's your definition of high stakes.
And somebody had written out a script and I said, what are the three points? What's the one thing? that you want to get across that's most important? And the sort of puzzled look comes. And I said, how can we support that?
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Chapter 5: What are the six principles of effective speaking?
And it becomes the shifting and organizing and debating. And I give people this visual, which hopefully will help your listeners. I say, think of it like a family tree. And there's a grandparent. And that grandparent had three kids. And those three kids might have had three kids on their own. And those are the most number of points you're going to get. And that's the hardest part.
Once we get through that mess, the rest of it starts to fill in. The stories then support those points. If I started with the story, I don't know where it's going to lead, then that doesn't work. So points first, then stories. I love that. And then some stories might be a metaphor. It might be a one line. It might be something longer. Stories can take on so many different shapes and sizes.
So then there's not like a uniform like every grandchild is the same size. And, you know, it's I want to make that point, but I don't have a story to go with it. So I might say this is a Mick and I are both published by the same publisher and. And their advice to me was until publishing day, it's a sprint. And after publishing day, it's a marathon. And my publishing day was last week.
And I feel like I just started a marathon. That is a story of an author's journey. It doesn't have to be long. I don't agree when people say I don't have time to tell stories. That's just you don't have time to give yourself the freedom to think about them, to be vulnerable, to trust that your audience wants to hear them. So great. I love points and stories.
Chapter 6: Why is listening to recordings of yourself important for improvement?
That's terrific.
I love it. And I want to go straight to the book. The motivated speaker, right? The motivated speaker.
That is you, Mick.
Yes.
You are the ultimate, you are, it is not about motivational speaking.
No.
This is about wanting to learn. That's what this book is about.
Totally agree. And because I truly feel everyone may not be a keynote speaker.
No.
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Chapter 7: What actionable insights can speakers apply immediately?
Like I would almost call it a blueprint in modern form.
And may I quote you a blueprint? And I love that.
A blueprint in modern day form. Absolutely. Absolutely.
We sought that. I think we did it. And what I love most about our writing process is that we didn't set out to write a book. We specifically set out to answer a question. How can we be better coaches to our speakers? Period.
And we sought out a writing scholar who I knew from my alma mater, Miami University, who taught us the notion of threshold concepts, which are those troublesome, recursive, nudgy things that you have to push through in order to get to the learning. Remember, like, trying to learn calculus, and if you didn't get that one really... I can't tell you what it is because I don't remember.
Those are the, the liminal spaces. They feel uncomfortable when you get there. You're like, Oh, I don't want to be here. But when you get to the other side, you're forever changed.
Yeah.
And we went and asked, had anyone written those or named them for speaking for learning to speak? And that's what the book ended up being. Cause we, Nate, we spent a year. Writing, blogging, thinking about what were the calls that we'd get from people that didn't do well? And what were they missing along the way? And so those are the six principles.
And then we put a modern day blueprint in the back of every skill that you need. To learn to speak. So if you are a fifth grader and you are 10 years old and you and I had a fifth grader start to read the book last week with a highlighter.
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Chapter 8: How can you find your voice and tell your story effectively?
Right.
and post-it notes. And she said, mom, look, I'm on page 25 and I've already highlighted the things I want to remember. This book is for her. It's also for the 65 year old who's starting a consulting practice in their semi-retirement. I have a client like that who's learning about what she needs to know about speaking that she never learned.
So it is at its heart, a self-help book that reads like a novel, as someone else said.
I love that.
So stories and points. We have three different voices of stories in there from our three coaches. And then we have a collective voice of perspective and tips and advice that we have spent the better part of 15 years assembling. So come to this place honestly.
I love it. So I want to go into some of the principles in the book. And oh, by the way, Ruth doesn't know this. And those that my my avid followers and listeners know, I always do this when I have a great book that I specifically endorse.
If you message me, and it's gotta be the first 10 people, message me, Motivated Speaker, I don't care what platform, LinkedIn, Instagram, whatever, and I am gonna go send you a copy of the book. So Ruth, I'm buying 10 copies, or I'm gonna buy 20 copies. I'm giving 10 away to the listeners and viewers, and I'm gonna give 10 to some of my family that- And I'm gonna send you 10 of those myself.
Well, I'm purchasing 20, so if 30 show up, 30 show up, but I'm purchasing 20.
You're a hero. That sounds great. We want as many people to be able to get it as possible, for sure.
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