208. Nausheen I. Chen: Inner and Performative Confidence for Speaking

Nausheen I. Chen is a 3-time TEDx speaker and a Fortune-50 public speaking coach. She has coached the C-suite at fast-growth startups as well as senior leaders at companies like Amazon, IBM, AT&T, SAP, ServiceNow, Timberland and others. Her clients have successfully presented at and closed multi-million dollar funding rounds, spoken on global platforms like TEDx, the BBC, TechCrunch, Bloomberg and in thousands of boardrooms. Why many people lack confidence when speaking in public? * Fear of judgement. * Fear of coming across as seen unprepared. * Fear of people looking at us and not having how to defend. Inner and performative confidence for speaking Most people lack confidence when speaking in public. But a lot of presenters and speakers confuse inner confidence with outwardly performative confidence.Inner confidence is when you’re sure of your beliefs and your ability to deliver, while outwardly performative confidence is being able to show that confidence when speaking.Great speakers need both – but Nausheen has seen through her work that most people only have one type of confidence (if at all) – they either have inner confidence (that may or may not be misplaced) and lack the expression of that confidence, or they can perform confidence but lack that inner self-belief. Related: Self-Present Yourself with Confidence Favorite quotation “Let no one ever make you feel like you don’t deserve what you want” — from the movie 10 Things I Hate About You Recommended books Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazi Routine to Shine For anyone looking to improve their inner and outer confidence, take a few topics that you get asked about all the time (your FAQs) and do a 1-minute recorded speaking exercise every week. Watch yourself back and see what you’re doing well and what you ...