Hi,
It was March, 2006 when I discovered the secret my dad had hidden from me all my life. It was two weeks before he passed away from cancer, and he felt that the time had come for him to tell me about one of his struggles in life.
My dad's weight had dropped dramatically in the previous few weeks as his illness took a greater hold over him. Despite the pain and his physical transformation, his mind and spirit were as strong as ever. He put his teacup to rest on the kitchen table and he reached into the inside pocket of the jacket he was wearing. As my dad held a white envelope in my direction, I noticed a tear in each of his beautiful eyes. The tears were tears of pride.
My dad asked me to open the envelope immediately, and I obliged by tearing at the edges. The content of the letter completely startled me, but it also made me very proud. His words told me that when his own dad died, he developed a stammer that hurt his confidence to communicate. His words also told me about why he had to leave school before he was a teenager to earn money for his family. He admitted in the final paragraph that this was the first letter he had ever written because he had never learned to read and write until recently. It was only when he discovered that he had cancer that he decided to learn how to read and write. It was his final goal in life, and this private letter to me was his proof that he had succeeded.
My dad always seemed to be a very articulate person who was known to advise local politicians and business leaders in Dublin on how to communicate. He was a great people person and an amazing listener. He could take a difficult subject and simplify it. He could take a boring piece of information and make it interesting. He could take a tense situation and fill it with calmness. He could respond to injustice with reason. I looked into his eyes, and I asked him how he always knew so much. He said it was because he listened and asked questions all the time. He said it was because he listened to great minds and good people.
So why did my dad not ask for help with his reading and writing earlier? One answer is time and perhaps money, but maybe the real answer is the embarrassment he felt. Maybe he didn’t want to admit to those he loved that he had a problem, and it was easier to delegate all the paperwork he encountered.
There are many people with a similar problem to what my dad had. They may be able to read and write, but they suffer from a verbal communication problem. Their confidence and skill to communicate constantly hold them back. They lose out on promotions. They fail to promote their business, or they work ineffectively in teams because of their poor communication skills. They may have amazing business skills, but they fear presenting or speaking in public. They may have a valid point to make at a meeting but poor confidence glues them to their seat. They may be the best person for a promotion, but they slip and stumble in the heat of an interview. Not everybody is willing to admit they have a problem. 'HOW TO GIVE A BETTER SPEECH THAN OBAMA and change your world' was written and recorded with these people in mind.
This is the fuel that drove my passion to write this book and the fuel that energised me during the rewriting stage. I see people suffer in a similar way to my dad, and I want to help them. That is why I devote my life to helping people in business all over the world to improve their speeches, presentations, customer service and sales skills. That is why my dad gets a special mention in the book.
Tomorrow, I promise to reveal a Ronald Reagan secret. It will help you develop a trait that Reagan used to gain the title, ‘The Great Communicator'.
Take care,
Darren.
PS: 'HOW TO GIVE A BETTER SPEECH THAN OBAMA and change your world' - will be available on iTunes and Amazon in December.
Kellcomm, Princes Exchange, Princes Square, Leeds,LS1 4HY, United Kingdom
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