We recently connected with Matthew Cossolotto and have shared our conversation below.
Matthew, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
The process of finding my purpose was rather circuitous. I’ll share a somewhat abbreviated version of my roundabout journey. I recall having a keen interest in writing in my childhood. I was impressed as a youngster by leaders who spoke with eloquence and passion about the issues of the day. I remember being shocked and saddened by the assassinations of President Kennedy, his brother Bobby, and Martin Luther King.
So I knew early on that my purpose would involve writing in some capacity. For various reasons — some based on kismet or serendipity — I gravitated toward speechwriting as a professional focus. Some speech coaching opportunities soon followed. Early in my speechwriting and speech coaching career, I began to explore ways to empower my clients to enhance what I call their PodiumPower! I soon created The Power of SPEECH—The Six-Point Checklist for Powerful Presentations. I began to use that handy checklist as part of my executive speech coaching services.
But wait. There’s more to the story. As I see it, speechwriting and coaching only comprise part of my purpose. My true purpose came into sharper focus when I made a promise to my mother on her deathbed that I would finish writing a book she had been encouraging me to write, and dedicate it to her memory. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said: “You do that, Matthew. You do that. This makes me very happy.” I’m proud to say I kept that promise.
I’ll be perfectly honest. Keeping that promise was not easy. You see, the book I promised to write was a self-help book and at that time I did not consider myself to be a self-help author. This was outside my comfort zone. But the idea for the book was intriguing enough to me that I discussed it frequently with others, including my mother. And she reminded me of the idea from time-to-time. She seemed to know something that I didn’t fully appreciate: that I should be a personal empowerment author and speaker. I’m convinced now that she had a clearer vision of my purpose years before I perceived it myself.
Making that promise put me on my current path as a personal empowerment author, speaker, workshop leader, and coach. It also helped to shape my overriding mission: to help millions of people around the world replace negative, disempowering habits of thought with positive, empowering mindsets.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My overall approach to personal empowerment — on and off the podium — can be summed up in one sentence: Success is an inside job. I believe the most powerful motivational speech in the world is what you say to yourself. Your internal dialog – your consistent, habitual self-talk – will determine whether you succeed or fail, whether you reach your peak potential in life or fall short. That’s why I focus my books, coaching, and speaking programs on sharing the tools needed for empowering mindset shifts. This approach applies to all three “power tools” in my Triad Empowerment System – Habits / Speaking / Promises – and my trilogy of books on these topics.”
The Joy of Public Speaking is the first book in my personal empowerment trilogy. Two additional books are coming soon: Harness Your HabitForce – which highlights the seven habits of FAILURE and SUCCESS – and Embrace Your Promise Power – featuring an extensive foreword by Jack Canfield, co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series.
The ability to speak confidently and comfortably to audiences of all types is a widely recognized leadership and success skill. Yet, opinion surveys confirm that most people rank public speaking as one of their top fears, along with spiders, snakes, and death itself.
In The Joy of Public Speaking, I distill many years of high-profile speechwriting and speech coaching experience into a comprehensive, how-to guide to help experienced, novice, and terrified speakers overcome self-defeating attitudes, feelings, and habits about public speaking.
My book and PodiumPower! speaking and coaching programs embrace a simple proposition: People who learn to enjoy public speaking tend to be better at it than those hobbled by anxiety, trepidation, or outright terror. I ask readers and audiences to join me as I unveil what I call “the gentle art of mental joyjitsu” – powerful mindset shifts that encourage participants to turn stage fright into stage delight by bringing a natural, authentic joy to every speaking opportunity. My ideas are designed to give your career, your leadership skills, and your self-confidence a big boost.
Since I’m now based in the greater Cleveland area, I’m actively seeking clients and venues for my speaking and coaching programs in Ohio and more widely on both sides of the Atlantic. I recently launched a new website (www.MatthewCossolotto.com), complete with a demo video and an overview of his lineup of Personal Empowerment Programs (PEPTalks).
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
If I may, I’d like to talk about two critical skills or qualities necessary for effective public speaking. Then I’ll say a few words about one of the essential habits of SUCCESS that I discuss in Harness Your HabitForce.
1) When it comes to effective public speaking, I think one of the key success factors is to have a joyful mindset. So I want to help my students and clients make the shift from stage fright to stage delight. There’s an Inner Game and an Outer Game to public speaking. The best speakers have mastered the Inner Game. In my book – and in my speech coaching and speaking programs – I help readers and clients to recognize self-defeating attitudes, feelings, and habits, and replace them with empowering mindsets to fast-track their success, on and off the podium. The encouraging fact is most of us enjoy talking with others – friends, relatives, colleagues, and even complete strangers. A key insight in the book and in my various programs is this: There’s no such thing as public speaking – there’s just speaking. That realization is where the “joy” of speaking comes from. Having a joyful attitude is a big step toward winning the Inner Game of public speaking. The best speakers find a way to turn stage fright into stage delight!
2) Another key quality in effective speaking is the willingness to be admired. My former boss, Speaker of the House Jim Wright, made a profound observation about leadership that I believe also applies to speakers. Looking back on his decades-long experience with numerous U.S. presidents and other world leaders, Wright observed that the top leaders, the most effective leaders he had worked with, all possessed an important quality. He called it, “The willingness to be admired.” I think this is a keen insight.
Wright did not mean that these leaders were egotistical in their desire for public attention or adulation. Rather, they were simply comfortable about placing themselves in the spotlight, occupying center stage, serving in the glare of public attention. This willingness to be admired also applies to anyone who mounts a podium to give a speech or presentation. You must be willing to have the spotlight of audience attention shining on you. You must seek this attention out and be willing to bask in audience admiration. If you don’t feel you deserve attention and admiration, the podium will be a very lonely and inhospitable place, and this will show in your performance. You will not feel at home on stage. You will be anxious and even fearful. I believe the willingness to be admired is closely associated with being able to experience and appreciate the joy of speaking. Turning stage fright into stage delight will be virtually impossible.
3) Shoulder Responsibility. In Harness Your HabitForce, I create these two side-by-side acrostics (often called acronyms). The F in FAILURE stands for “Finger-Pointing.” The equal but opposite habit of SUCCESS is “Shoulder Responsibility.” I won’t go into detail here. Suffice it to say that shouldering responsibility, being accountable, is an essential success skill. You need to take responsibility for your life, even when bad things happen to you.
Unlike finger-pointers, the person who shoulders responsibility doesn’t waste time or energy looking for someone or something to blame.
There’s nothing more powerful and personally empowering than the moment when you accept the fact that you are in control of your own life. If you’re going to point fingers, be sure the finger is pointed at yourself. That’s when you start to take personal responsibility for your successes and failures.
Jack Canfield writes (in The Success Principles) that you must take 100% responsibility for your life. That truly is the essential first step toward success and personal empowerment. Canfield elaborates: “If you want to be successful, you have to take 100% responsibility for everything that you experience in your life. This includes the level of your achievements, the results you produce, the quality of your relationships, the state of your health and physical fitness, your income, your debts, your feelings – everything!”
Canfield goes on to explain that taking 100% responsibility means you have to stop making excuses and blaming outside circumstances for what happens to you. In effect, Canfield contends that successful people can’t engage in finger-pointing. They do the exact opposite. They shoulder responsibility.
Oprah Winfrey agrees. “The greatest lesson in life,’ she wrote, “is that you are responsible for your life.”
Winston Churchill even ups the ante: “The price of greatness is responsibility.”
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Briefly stated, my senior-level leadership communications career spans the corridors of power and influence on both sides of the Atlantic – as a former speechwriter for top leaders at NATO headquarters in Brussels, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Chancellor of UCLA, senior executives of several Fortune 100 corporations, and as a legislative aide to former Congressman Leon Panetta.
As a speaker, workshop leader, speech coach and speechwriter, I have shared my public speaking and other personal empowerment ideas with a wide range of domestic and international audiences, including corporations, associations, government agencies, conferences, schools, community groups, and nonprofits/NGOs.
I recently conducted a series of four PodiumPower! public speaking workshops in Brussels, Belgium, for a major international organization. I also gave two well-received presentations about “The Joy of Public Speaking” and provided one-on-one speech coaching for two senior executives. These are the kinds of opportunities I’m looking for. Workshops, keynotes, and coaching. Ideally, I’ll be able to partner with private and public sector organizations here in the greater Cleveland, Ohio, area, but also in other parts in the United States, in Europe, and beyond.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.MatthewCossolotto.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-cossolotto-the-podium-pro/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/powerofapromise?lang=en
- Other: http://www.einpresswire.com/newsroom/matthew_cossolotto__the_podium_pro_/
