I blew an opportunity to inspire a group to make a change, for lack of preparation.
I did prepare many things: the slides, the story, the imagery, the rehearsal with the others. What I didn’t prepare well was the close. More precisely, how I wanted people to feel. Choosing my words carefully. Delivered deliberately. Reaching into their hearts and minds and helping them want to make the change.
I felt, after I finished, that I had merely lifted a mirror to them. They might have seen a reflection that they wanted to see, not what I wanted them to see.
A lesson to remember. Prepare, write the words out. Rehearse them too. I’m nowhere as good as I get told – or think – I am, when speaking off the cuff.