By David Prete and Abby Sheridan
We included Julia Middleton on our Best Public Speakers list because of her calming and consultative style of speaking, the enthusiasm and expressive use of emotion in her voice, and her insights about the past and ability to calculate what they can mean for the future.
Julia Middleton is the former CEO and founder of Common Purpose, an international charity that has grown to be one of the biggest leadership development organizations in the world. She is also the best-selling author of multiple books, including Cultural Intelligence: CQ: The Competitive Edge for Leaders Crossing Borders and Beyond Authority: Leadership in a Changing World.
We reviewed Julia Middleton's TedxTalk in 2015, titled "Cultural Intelligence: the competitive edge for leaders". She discusses what she defines as cultural intelligence and how it can not only shape, but benefit leaders of the future around the world to make a tangible contribution to their communities and to wider society.
Her greatest communication skills:
1. Strong Word Choice: She is not afraid to be metaphoric or lyrical in her choice of words. This challenges her audience and allows them to know she is treating them as the intelligent and creative people they are.
2. Directness: She puts forth strong opinions and ideas. Although they are often backed up by facts, sometimes they are backed up by a strong logic that does not need to be fact-checked and doesn't need to be curbed.
3. Physical Expressions: Middleton is still without being stiff. She uses a variety of gestures: some small, some big, some fast, some slow. And sometimes, when she wants to emphasize a phrase, she does it by holding a gesture for the duration of a sentence or an idea. This gives the audience a physical cue to attach to her idea, allowing it to hold more importance for them.
4. Vocal Variety: Like all great speakers, Middleton has a wonderful command of her vocal expressions. Her voice covers a variety of notes and volumes. And the emphasis she puts on words can have a staccato rhythm (2:50) "Not. Like. You." Or a legato rhythm: (4:42) "I mean your behaviors, I mean your values, I mean your beliefs."
5. Storytelling: Julia's expressive use of storytelling engages her audience and keeps topics relatable. Her use of emotion in the voice demonstrates great variety and care. At 4:35 her voice went up in pitch to express excitement. Her use of humor and increased pace at 5 minutes demonstrated excellent comedic timing. By using various storytelling techniques including personal stories and professional stories, her message was engaging and easy to listen to, allowing it to reach everyone in the audience.
6. Pacing: Julia demonstrated an excellent use of pacing through this speech. Her timing was collected and varied throughout, using her breath to steady herself between each thought. Because she didn't speak too quickly or too slowly, she allowed the listener to go on the journey with her.
7. Calm, Therapeutic Style: Throughout the talk, Julia maintains a balanced voice that was calming to listen to, drawing her audience in. She effortlessly moved from light and airy qualities to slightly more sarcastic, comedic tones, demonstrating ease and confidence every time. Particularly at 5:30 when describing her Core & Flex concept. Her most powerful moment is at 11:45 where she describes cultural intelligence and cultural intolerance and the impact they have on leaders.
What Julia Middleton could do to improve her communication skills:
1. Rehearse Transitions and Allow Room for Improvisation: Middleton structures her speech very well, but also occasionally references her notes. When she does this, it drops the energy and confidence she had exuded before. It would be a different and captivating experience for the listeners if she was to throw away the script in key moments and riff on her ideas. Working on transitions between thoughts and topics will also help bring the audience on a clear journey with the message of her speech. This will help her maintain her confidence without having to check her notes and further humanize her to the audience.
2. Address the Audience Directly: Perhaps she can pose a question to the entire audience, or more directly delivery a specific idea to one person. This would create a greater sense of community among the audience, which is in line with her message.
3. Simplify Stories: At times, Julia would begin a story and it wasn't always as clear as to where the story was going or how it related to the cultural intelligence topic. She could benefit from introducing the bigger picture first, to lead her audience through her ideas more clearly.
4. Inclusive Use of Language: Sometimes Julia uses words such as "this" to describe a slide, but she could describe in more detail what exactly "this" is referring to. It's important to use inclusive language during a speech because you never know who in the audience might have accessible needs.
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