The Power of Examples | The Speaker’s Edge Podcast

Hey guys, welcome back to The Speaker's Edge podcast. The podcast designed to help you learn from some of the world's very best speakers so that you can master your message and inspire your audience every single time you speak. I'm your host for this podcast, Roddy Galbraith. I'm so pleased you're here with us today because in the last episode we were talking about content and how you've got to have something to say. Well, in this episode, we're talking about how you bring that content to life with different types of examples and illustrations. How do you make it more interesting for your audience? How do you make it more interesting? So we're going to look at four different ways that you can use examples.

But before we get into that, make sure you've downloaded the companion resources. You simply go to maxwellleadership.com/thespeakersedge and you can download the companion guide.

All right. So why do we want to use examples then? Why is it so important? Well, a number of years ago, I was doing a presentation that I was putting together at the last minute, and at the end I wanted to kind of go through and have like a checklist that I could make sure that I was including some of the most important principles. And so I ended up really by accident coming up with this very helpful seven point checklist to make sure that you've done all you can to make your message as powerful as possible.

So number one, the first point is make sure you make a point. You've got to make a point. Make a point because you're not sharing this for you. You're sharing it for the audience. You already know this. They don't know this. So what is it that you're trying to communicate to them? You've got to make your content purposeful to deliver that benefit to the audience. So number one, make a point.

Then number two, make it memorable. Make it memorable. John says your audience is not going to remember everything. They're just not. They're not going to remember everything, but they should remember something. What is it that you want them to remember? So number two, make it memorable.

Then number three, make it more interesting. Make it more interesting. Content on its own is boring. Content on its own, information on its own, education on its own, very quickly people drift off. So we need to make it more interesting. Taking them on some kind of journey, taking them on a journey of discovery is a great way to do that. So examples, stories, are a great way to make your content more interesting.

So number one, make a point. Number two, make it memorable. Number three, make it interesting. Then number four, make them feel something. Make them feel something. Emotion is so much more important than logic. So much more powerful than logic. So much more impactful than logic on its own.

Then number five, make it funny. You don't have to do all of these, but the more you do, the bigger difference it's going to make. And so you don't have to be funny, but if you can be funny, then it does work very, very well. It's very disarming for your audience. We love to laugh while we're learning. So if you can use humor, then it makes a big difference. We're going to come back to this. This is an episode all on its own later in the series, but for now, just as a simple checkpoint, can you include some humor? Your audience will really appreciate it. Number five.

Number six, can you make it shorter? You can definitely make it shorter and you should make it shorter. Your audience will definitely appreciate that whether you've included humor or not. When you say something for the first time, it's too long. You're using too many words. The more you think about it, the more kind of premeditated it is, then the more words you can take out and the more impactful it becomes. It becomes more potent, more powerful if you've got the right number of words. If you're lazy and you just use lots of words, then you're going to significantly dilute down the power of your message. So number six, make it shorter.

And then number seven, make it count. If you're going to go to all of this trouble to put together an important message, make sure there's some kind of call to action, something that you're going to ask them to do or to think or believe or consider at the end. So, number one, make a point. Number two, make it memorable. Number three, make it interesting. Number four, make them feel something. Number five, make it funny. Number six, make it shorter. And number seven, make it count.

And you'll find that a great way to do all of these things is with the power of examples and particularly stories, personal stories.

Now, if you ask John, "What shall I speak on, John?" he's going to say, "Well, what have you lived out?" What have you lived out? Don't just memorize something and repeat it. Think about your own life experiences. What experience do you have of this? How have you lived it out? And a great question to get to that is to ask yourself this question before you teach anything: Where did I learn this? This point that I'm going to tell them that they need to do or they need to learn or they need to consider, whatever it is — where did I learn this? How have I experienced this? How have I lived it out? Where have I struggled with this? Where have I made mistakes? Where have I had failures with this? Where have people stepped in to help me and shown me the way? Where have I learned to deal with some of the challenges that trying to do this presents?

So where have you lived it out? School of hard knocks is great. What you've learned from experience. Learning that has been forged in the furnace of failure is a great way for you to help other people learn what you now know. So what have you learned from your failures? That works better actually — and this is a little counterintuitive perhaps — but sharing what you've learned from your failures works much better than telling them how much you've enjoyed your successes. They'll respect you for your successes, but they'll love you for your failures.

So what is your story? What have you lived out? What is your example? It can be very convincing when you share what you've lived out, what you've learned from experience. It's very difficult to argue with that because you're saying, "Well, this is what I found. This is what I found to be true. This is what worked for me." It's actually very helpful for your audience as well. John says the convincer for them to do it is you telling them how it worked for you, the difference it made for you.

So in sharing your examples, don't skip the pain. Don't skip the struggle. Don't skip the mess that you found yourself in that you gradually found a way through. It's so relatable. That's what's really relatable for your audience because in all likelihood, the reason they're listening is because that's where they are now. Not at the end, but at the beginning, when you were stuck, when you were struggling, when you were facing this insurmountable obstacle — that's where they are. So don't go to the top of the mountain of success looking back down at them saying, "You can do it too. Come on. Come on up here. You can do it too." They might be impressed, but they can't relate to that because they're at the bottom looking up thinking, "How on earth am I going to get up there?" So don't stand on the top and beckon them up. Go down to the bottom with them. Start where you were and relive your journey when you were looking up feeling helpless. That's what they can relate to because that's where they are now. And that's what's helpful — for you to tell them how you overcame some of those roadblocks along the way.

So sharing your struggles: it's very human. We tend to admire people much more for their struggles than just their successes. It's their struggles that we really relate to.

Now, you've got plenty of those. If you're anything like me, you've had lots of struggles. Lots and lots of struggles. And there's a story associated with each of those. But we're not just looking for any story. Most of the things that you've experienced and lived out are not going to make great stories. We need to look for the right stories. We want the right examples. Remember, they don't just want to sit and listen to you tell stories about yourself, unless you're a celebrity. Then they may do, but even then, they prefer to listen to you say something interesting and helpful.

So examples can be great for this, but we need to pick the right examples. We need to find the right examples. And it does take a little bit of time to find the right examples. Keep in mind that you're sharing them not because you look great and you want to show off and you want to impress them. You're sharing them not for you but for them, so that they can understand the point that you're trying to make.

So the best way, I think, to end up with good stories is through quantity rather than quality. Don't just pick one story and try and make it great. Collect lots of stories and experiment with them and you'll find that some work better than others. So collect lots of stories. Anything you might be able to use at some point in the future for a future audience that you don't know anything about at the moment, just collect those, write them down somewhere. I use Excel. I recommend you use Excel if you're starting from scratch, if you have Excel, but anything will do. Any system is better than no system. So any system — somewhere to collect your story ideas.

Earl Nightingale said that ideas are like slippery fish. They need to be gaffed with the tip of a pencil before they escape. So you need to write them down as soon as you remember them. There's so many things that have happened to you. You've got so much great material that you've forgotten about. Whenever you remember it, write it down. When something comes to mind, write it down so that you can consider whether you're going to use it in the future or not. If you don't write it down, it might be lost for another 10 years.

So I'll give you a simple example of a story that I forgot for years and then it popped back into my memory and I quickly captured it for later use. So it was back in 2007. I was business partners with Bob Proctor at the time and I was introducing him Friday evening, Saturday morning, Sunday morning for a three-day event that we were doing in London. This is when we lived back in England. And so I needed to be there to introduce him Friday evening, but the only way I could get there in time because of the London traffic was to speed in on my motorbike.

And so I always liked to be safe when I was riding my motorbike. So I had leather pants and leather boots and leather jacket and leather gloves and crash helmet and everything you need to be as safe as possible on a motorbike. And because it was so hot — it was August and it was very hot — I just had my boxer shorts on underneath so I wouldn't overheat. And then I had my suit and shirt on the back of the bike. So I sped into London, got there with about 10 minutes to spare, managed to find a parking space quite near the venue, parked there, and I thought, well, I haven't really got time to get changed in the hotel. I'm just going to have to get changed here.

So I look around. There's no one around. So I start getting undressed, and I'm standing there in the road in just my boxer shorts, taking my suit out the back of my bike. And then I see this little old lady come up to the path about 20 yards down, come up to cross the road in a mobility scooter, and she looks to the right before she crosses the road. And then she looks to the left and then she sees me and she does a double take and then she reverses her scooter back and then she turns to me and then she comes bumping like 20 yards up the sidewalk to where I am. As I'm getting dressed as quickly as I can, I put my shirt on, I'm pulling my pants on, I'm just doing up the last buttons as she gets to me, and then she looks up at me through thick glasses and she says, "I thought it was too good to be true." And she turned around and then went back again, bumped all the way back down the path. And it tickled me so much. I laughed about that and then completely forgot about it. Completely forgot about it until years later. And then it popped into my mind and I thought, right, I must write that down.

Now, what I would encourage you to do is not judge where you're going to use the stories when you remember them. Don't think to yourself, "Yeah, that's good, but where would I use that? What would the point be? What audience would it fit?" If you think there's something about it that you might be able to use, capture it and you can decide those things later. So you make sure you write it down. Don't judge. And then you can use it at some point in the future.

Now, the types of stories you're ideally looking for are going to be examples in story form. Not always, but nine times out of 10, the stories you're going to share are going to be examples of what you're talking about. So it's the sort of story where you say, "Well, let me give you an example of what I mean." Let me give you an example of what I mean. So let me actually give you an example of what I mean. That's probably the easiest way, isn't it?

Let's say that we're talking about quite a controversial point really. Let's say everyone wants more money, don't they? And you hear the gurus when they talk about making money. You might have heard people say, "If you've got a money problem, more money is not the answer." I've heard lots of them say that. You probably have too. Maybe you have, maybe you haven't, I don't know. But just think about that. "If you've got a money problem, more money is not the answer."

Now, when I first heard that, I'm like, of course more money is the answer. That's exactly the answer. More money is precisely the answer that I need. But it's not actually true, is it? Or is it? What do you think? See, short term definitely it's going to make a difference. But long term it might make it worse. Might make it worse.

I'll give you an example of this. So we were in the pub back in England years ago and a friend of mine had just come back from seeing his accountant and his accountant had asked him if he had a pension. He said no. And the accountant was very shocked and so he said, "All right, I'll get one. I'll get one. I'll get one." And we were all laughing in the pub as he's sharing this story with us. And another friend of mine said, "Oh, that's interesting." And he said, "Well, have you got a pension?" And he said, "Yeah, yeah, I've had a pension for years." He said, "Well, how much is in your pension then?" And he said, "I don't know, about $250,000, something like this." And this was over 10 years ago now, so it's probably a lot more now. But I remember thinking at the time, isn't that interesting? Isn't that interesting? $250,000. What a lot of money.

Because what was interesting about this particular group of friends, me and my closest friends back in England, none of us really had jobs after we left school. We didn't go to university. We just kind of got into adventures and had fun for years. I didn't get my first proper job until I was 25. We did kind of odd jobs. But this particular friend with the pension, he was a very good salesman and so he worked for companies and they would put money into his pension that he couldn't touch. So like 5% of his salary would go into his pension. And even though he didn't turn up like the rest of us, he never got fired because he was really good. And so over that time that money had added up to $250,000. And I thought, wow, if 5% of the money that he earned added up to $250,000, what must the other 95% add up to? Must be an enormous amount of money, right?

Well, no. It didn't add up to very much at all. What's the difference? Well, it's us, isn't it? If we take money and we invest it, the laws of compound interest, if it's relatively well managed, it's going to grow. And in this case it added up to $250,000. But when we're involved, then, "Well, you know, I need to have a nice car to drive around with. No one's going to buy financial advice from me or no one's going to buy whatever it is you're selling if I haven't got a nice car. And I need a nice watch and I need nice clothes. And we can't work all the time. We need nice vacations and I need to have a second car." And the money burns a hole in our pocket in no time, doesn't it?

Because it's easier to earn money actually than it is to save money. One is self-exertion and the other is self-denial. We don't like self-denial. I forget who it was that said that, but it's a great quote, isn't it? We don't like self-denial. So it's not more money that is going to solve the problem. In fact, more money can make it worse because the more money you have, probably the more money you can borrow and the more of a pickle you get yourself into if you're not careful. So it's us that needs to change.

The Babylonians had the secret to making money: for every 10 coins you put in your purse, only ever spend nine. You'll always have a full purse. It's pretty simple really when you think about it, isn't it? But we explain it to ourselves in different ways and so we end up with a very different result.

So that's a simple example of what I'm talking about. It's us that needs to change. It's very difficult to accept that when we're in a mess. Whereas if we can use an example that's not about us but about somebody else, then maybe it helps us communicate that point in a way that they can accept and understand in a different way. Stories and examples can be very useful like that — an example of the point we're trying to make. An example that we can just follow along. And sometimes it's very difficult to explain it any other way.

Anthony de Mello said the shortest distance between a human being and the truth is a story. Now we'll caveat that by saying not just any story. They need to be very carefully selected and crafted for that particular purpose. But they can be very effective when we do that. Peter Guber said that a good story can be like a Trojan horse where we can smuggle ideas into people's minds. Now I think that sounds a little bit sinister. We can very ethically smuggle ideas into people's minds if we want to try and help them overcome their own irrational beliefs or unhealthy beliefs. So it can be used, of course, to manipulate people, but it can also be used to help them.

Now, the power of stories very often comes from using true personal stories — things that you've actually lived out. The trouble with true personal stories — things that you've actually lived out — is that you're stuck with the facts. You're stuck with what actually happened to a very large extent. You can't just make it up. If it's a true personal story where you're pretending that it's true, you can't substantially change a story and pretend that it's true. It has a different energy when you lie like that. So you don't want to do that. There's a lot of people that do that. There's a load of people with great stories that didn't happen like they're saying. If you want to influence people, we want it to feel right. So with personal stories, you're going to be sticking to the truth.

But there's other ways that you can use examples while you're collecting your own stories that may help you get started quickly. The first one of those that I want to talk about, number one, is other people's stories. Other people's stories. You hear other people's stories and they affect you. So maybe you can use them. Now, I'm not saying steal them and pretend that they happened to you. I'm not saying that. That's not integrous and that's not helpful. And particularly if you're going to end up speaking at an event where the person whose story you've stolen is going to be speaking, it can be very, very unhelpful. So you don't want to do that. Don't steal other people's stories. But you can share how you heard the story and how it impacted you. And that may be very helpful to people. Even John uses other people's stories. There's a great story that John shares where he says, "A friend of mine told me about when he took his son to McDonald's and ordered French fries." I call it the French fries story. It's fascinating. John tells us the story of how he heard the story and how it affected him. It's a brilliant story. He's not pretending it's his story. He's sharing how he heard it and how it impacted him and how it made him think. And then he shares his thinking.

So that's the key. If you're going to use other people's stories, you need to be clear and honest about the fact that it's not your story, but you're going to personalize it by sharing how it's impacted you. So then you're sharing your experience. And actually, it becomes your experience, doesn't it? It becomes your story because it's affected you.

I'll give you a simple example of this. This is a story that I'm sharing in the next few days in front of thousands of people. It's somebody else's story, but I'm sharing it and I'm sharing the impact it's made on me. So what happened was, years ago, a friend of ours attempted to swim the English Channel. Now, the English Channel is 21 miles at its narrowest point. It's one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The weather's often bad. It's wavy. And for it to be an official attempt, you can't wear a wetsuit. You have to wear a bathing suit. And so it's a big deal. It's a big deal. You need to be a good swimmer.

So a friend of ours was attempting it. I saw her in the gym a few weeks after this and said, "Oh, well, how did it go?" And she said, "Oh, it was a nightmare." I said, "Why?" She said, "Everything went wrong. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Right from the very beginning when I set off, I had diesel fumes from the support boat blowing in my face. And so I was being sick every 10 minutes. And for four hours, I was being sick every 10 minutes. Like way past the point where there's nothing to come out. Bent over, retching everything you can possibly expel out of your stomach, but whilst treading water in the sea at the same time. She said it was a nightmare. I couldn't eat anything. I couldn't drink anything. I kept going, but it was really, really bad.

Then I got stung by jellyfish all over my arms and legs. And in a funny way, it kind of took my mind off of the queasy feeling that I had from being sick. Then I got to the shipping lanes where the massive container ships are going past. I got past the first lane and then I'm in the separation lane and then I get through the next one. Then I can see France for the first time. But because I'd lost so much time vomiting now I'm being taken away by the tide. I'd missed the tide I was hoping to catch and now I'm being taken the other way as fast as I can swim. I'm going in the wrong direction.

And she said, this is the point where most people give up. But she said to herself, I'm not going to give up. She said, I put my head down and I swam as fast as I could for the next four hours. And then 15 hours and three minutes after leaving England, I arrived in France. And it was a little bit of an anti-climax actually. I was exhausted. It was like, wow, I've done it. I've done it."

I thought, oh my goodness, what a story. That's an incredible story of persistence with everything that you had to go through. And she said, "Well, not really. You know, it wasn't really like persistence." I said, "Of course it was, you know, with everything that you had to go through." She said, "Well, I was always going to give it everything I've got on the day because I knew that the charity that I was doing it for was following the tracker in the boat. All my friends were following. I was never going to say, 'Oh, well, actually, this is a little bit more difficult than I thought, so I'll try again next year.' I was always going to give it everything I had. If I could, then I was going to do that. So that's not where the persistence is needed," she said. "The persistence is needed when you're getting up at 5:00 in the morning to do a training swim on your own and no one cares whether you do it or not. And you get in the water while it's dark and you're swimming, the sun comes up, you're still swimming, when the sun goes down again, then you get out and drive home on your own when no one's watching. That's where you need the persistence."

I thought, oh my goodness, that is so true, isn't it? What a great story. What a great story. Anyone can do their best when everyone's watching. But if you haven't done the work when no one's watching, then your best isn't going to be good enough. That's where we need the persistence. I love it. I love it. Such a great story.

Now, that's not my story. That's my friend's story and I heard that story and it significantly affected me and it changed the way I think. And so I've shared it many times with people to help them learn from that story. So it's somebody else's story that I can use in an integrous way.

Now, in fact, I'm sharing that story at the International Maxwell Conference in a few days' time in front of thousands of people. I'm going to be putting up a number of people on stage sharing their stories in front of thousands of people. You may want to work on your speaking. You may want to stand up and speak in front of thousands of people. You might want to find out what it means to be a Maxwell Leadership Certified Team member. So if you want to find out more then follow this link: maxwellleadership.com/speak and you can jump on a call with a program advisor. They'll tell you all about the program. It's way more than just working on your speaking. It's very, very comprehensive. But speaking is the part of it that I'm most involved in and we're so proud of everything that we've learned over the years and how we can help you become a much more powerful and effective communicator. So follow the link, jump on a call and find out if it's right for you.

All right. So that's other people's stories. Then that can be a great hack for you, a great shortcut while you're finding your own personal stories and shaping those. It may be quicker for you to share some of the stories that have really impacted you and the difference that they've made on your life.

Another way that you can save time while you're finding your stories is with public domain stories. Public domain stories are stories that are in the public domain. If you search for great stories, then lots of great stories will come up. If you go on Amazon and search for great stories, then you'll see books about loads of different great stories. On Audible there's loads of stories that you can listen to. I was listening to the story of Nobel — you know, Alfred Nobel, who created the Nobel Prize. Fascinating story about him and his brother and dynamite. Really, really interesting. That's a story that's in the public domain. You could use a story like that. I love the story about Alexander Fleming and the discovery of penicillin — mold eating the bacteria. That's another one that any of us can use. You pick your favorite. Ignaz Semmelweis is another one — the savior of mothers. His is a great story. I might share that with you now actually just as an example.

But basically, you pick your favorite. You don't pretend it's yours, just like with other people's stories. You share the story. Be honest about it and how it impacted you. And then you're personalizing the story, sharing the difference it's made to you. And then that's going to help other people. Maybe it helps you bring your material to life.

So who was Ignaz Semmelweis then? Well, he was a doctor and scientist back in 1846. He got a job at the maternity ward in Vienna. And he was very curious. So he's looking at things going on. And he noticed something very interesting. He noticed that if you were having a baby, you were five times more likely to die in childbirth from childbed fever if a man delivered your baby than if a woman delivered your baby. Five times more likely to die. So he thought this was very interesting. This is very interesting.

So he started kind of looking into why this might be and then he got the news that a good friend of his had died after doing an autopsy. It upset him very much and so he looked into what happened and he found out that his friend had cut his finger while doing this autopsy and then he died of childbed fever. And so he thought that's interesting. You don't need to be a mother. You don't need to be giving birth. You don't need to be having a baby to die of childbed fever.

So he started looking into this and then he realized that one of the big differences between the women and men delivering babies: the women were midwives but the men were doctors, and doctors also went to the morgue and they worked on autopsies and they would come from the morgue and it would be a badge of honor to have blood on your apron as you come out because it showed that you had the money to do research — you were a proper doctor. And they'd go straight from the morgue into the maternity ward and deliver babies. And so there was this big disparity in the death rates. Five times more likely to die if a man delivered your baby than a woman.

So he thought there must be something. Maybe there's like maybe there's bits of corpse that are getting on their hands in the same way that his friend died and got it on his hand. Maybe there's bits of corpse that they're taking with them into the maternity ward. And it's the bits of corpse that are killing the women in birth that's leading to the childbed fever. And so he thought, what if we could wash those bits of corpse off before they went into the maternity ward to deliver the babies? I wonder what would happen then.

And because there was a smell as well from the corpses, one of the things that gets rid of the smell is chlorinated lime. And so he thought if we wash our hands with chlorinated lime, it will get rid of the smell, maybe it will get the bits of corpse off, and then maybe that's going to help the survival rates. And so he tested it and it made an enormous difference. Instantly the survival rate went up 10 times. Ten times.

So he ran around telling everyone, "You need to wash your hands in chlorinated lime. It makes such a difference." And when he saw people that weren't doing it, he would berate them and say, "You've got to do this. You've got to do this." And the doctors kind of didn't like this. They said, "Look, it sounds like you're trying to say this is our fault." And he's like, "Yes. This is exactly what I'm saying."

So he ended up getting fired from his job, ended up in a lunatic asylum, and two weeks after he got there, after being beaten up by the guards, ironically, he died from bacterial infection — the very thing that he was working so hard to save mothers from. And so, obviously, when he was dead, no one was telling people to wash their hands, so they stopped washing their hands. The death rates went back up to where they were before. It was 15 years later when Louis Pasteur published his work on germ theory that people started thinking maybe there's something in this washing our hands.

So Ignaz, the savior of mothers. A fascinating story. It's a great story but it's also potentially a great example of whatever it is that you want to teach. So what could it be an example of? What about the difference between having an idea and actually implementing the idea? It's not enough to have an idea, is it? As he found out, it's not enough. People aren't necessarily going to accept what you're saying.

How many entrepreneurs need to learn that lesson? They've got an idea for a business. That's very different from having a great business, isn't it? How many inventors have a great idea for an invention? That's very different from it being on every shelf in Home Depot throughout America or around the world. Or resistance to change maybe is another great point here, isn't it? The mainstream medical opinion was not ready — or at least in the way that it was presented — to accept his ideas. So maybe he needed to get them on board. Maybe he needed more diplomatic skills or connecting skills, influencing skills. Maybe it's about, if you push people, they push back. Maybe it's about what John talks about: "Have the meeting before the meeting." So you need to get the people on board before you present the ideas in the meeting. Maybe there's something about that as well.

So you decide. Whatever it is that you're speaking on, there may be great stories like this that can help you bring your content to life.

All right, so that's other people's stories. That's public domain stories. The last one I want to share with you is hypothetical stories. Hypothetical examples. Hypothetical examples — examples where you just make them up. You just make them up to illustrate a point. So these are the easiest to use. So easy. They don't have the power of a true personal story, of course, because you haven't lived it out. So you don't have the same credibility. It doesn't help you really connect with the audience in the same way and establish your credibility like a personal story does. But it still can be a great illustration of the point.

Now, I gave up drinking almost exactly two years ago. The 27th of March, 2023, was my last drink. So it's just coming up for two years. I know it was the 27th of March because it was the day before my daughter had a cardiac arrest. She was dead on the floor for six, seven, eight minutes. They managed to bring her back. She was in a coma for three days, went into ICU. She's okay now. It's an incredible journey. It's a story that I'll share with you later when we dig into personal stories in more detail in a later episode.

So I have a personal story about giving up drinking, but if I didn't have a personal story, I might choose to write a simple hypothetical example, or a made-up story, as an illustration.

So other people's stories tend to start with something like, "A friend of mine..." So you're introducing the idea without pretending it's you. Public domain stories, maybe it's, "Has anyone heard of Ignaz Semmelweis?" That could be a great way to lead into that story. You're not pretending it's your story. You're being very open about it.

Hypothetical stories tend to start with something like, "Picture this..." or "Imagine this..." So imagine you're an alcoholic. Imagine you're an alcoholic. You drink every day. You've blown your life up. Your wife hates you. The kids won't talk to you anymore. Your neighbors won't talk to you. Your friends have given up on you. You've lost your job. You've lost your house. You're living in your car on your own, but you just can't stop drinking.

Who can reach you in that state? Who can reach you in that state? Not your friends. Not the people that loved you. They've given up on you and they don't have the credibility. They've tried and it didn't work. They don't have the credibility to help you. If anyone can reach you in that wretched state, in that pit that you've dug for yourself, if anyone can reach you in that wretched state, then it's going to be another alcoholic, isn't it? Or another addict at least. It's going to be someone that's made an even bigger mess of their life than you've made of yours, but they found a way out so that they can show you the way out. And you know that they get your pain. You know that they get your pain.

So that when you say to them, "Look, I know you mean well, but if you only knew how wrong it feels for me to be sober, you would never ask me to do it," they say, "Yes, I would. Yes, I would. Because I know you won't always feel like this. I know you will learn to love again. You will learn to laugh again. You will learn to live without having alcohol every day. I know because I've done it and I'm doing it. And I'm going to help you do it too. I'm going to be with you every step of the way." That's the only person that's got any real credibility with you, isn't it? Someone that gets your pain. And you know they get your pain.

Now what I think is really lovely about this: you have a story. You have a story. I'm not saying you're an alcoholic. Some of you might want to cut back a little bit. I'm not saying that you're an alcoholic, but there is something that you've been through. You've been through something. If you haven't just been through something, you're about to go through something in all likelihood, or you've been through something in the past. But you've been through — that's life, isn't it? We all go through things. Some things bigger than others. You've got a story about something you've been through. And someone somewhere needs to hear your story. And they need to hear your story from you because of what you've been through. Because what you've been through has uniquely qualified you to be of the most help to them when they're at their most desperate.

When are you at your most desperate? When no one can help you. How can you be of the most help to someone else? If you can help them when they're at their most desperate and no one else can help them, but you can because they can take help from you because of what you've been through. So the painful, awful things that we go through can actually qualify us to be of the most help to someone else when they're going through the worst time. We can help them. We can reach them because of what we've been through. Isn't that lovely? Isn't that beautiful? Really, a peculiarity of life.

So that's a hypothetical story talking about giving up drinking, helping somebody else give up drinking. You can just write it in any way you want. Any way you want.

So in the last episode, we talked about you've got to have something to say. Stories and examples — particularly of all different kinds — can really help you make it more interesting, can really help you bring it to life and give you the credibility to help other people. The more you do it, then the easier it becomes, the better stories you have. The best way to have great stories is to work on lots of different stories. So keep going, keep developing, and you'll find that it gets easier and easier and easier.

And as I said, in this episode, we looked really at four different types of illustration. We looked at personal stories, which are the best of all because you've got that credibility. John says ten to one personal stories — it's the only really good one you've got is your personal stories. So they're best. But then we looked at other people's stories that can work very, very well (but don't steal them and pretend they're yours). We looked at public domain stories and they can be great too — you've got a very wide pick there. Write them down every time you hear one that you think you might want to use. And then the easiest of all to get started with: hypothetical stories where you just make it up.

Of course, you can also maybe play a video. That could be a good example. Or put a picture up or maybe quotes that you like. Or you could have a guest come on and help you or a guest testimonial or something like that. All of these are great ways to make your point, but also, depending on the content of the story, great ways to connect, establish your credibility, make it more memorable, make it more enjoyable for your audience.

And then remember the seven point checklist to really help you put together a message when you're pushed for time and you want to make sure that you've ticked all of the different areas that you should be including. Number one, we said make a point. Remember, it needs to be purposeful. So make a point. Number two, make it memorable. They're not going to remember everything, but they should remember something. Number three, make it interesting. Information on its own is boring. So take them on a journey, typically. Number four, make them feel something. Emotion is so much more powerful than logic. Number five, make it funny if you can, or at least lighten up a little bit. Number six, make it shorter. It's definitely too long at first. The more you work on it, the more your audience will appreciate it and they will reward you with their attention. So take the time to make it shorter. And then number seven, make it count. Make sure you include that call to action.

Examples are a great way to do all of these things.

All right. So in the next episode then we're going to be talking about the magic of the first time. So probably the things that you're teaching you've taught before, but it's the first time your audience has ever heard it. So we're going to look at strategies to make sure you can capture the magic of the first time every single time you speak.

Don't forget to download our companion guide if you haven't done it already: maxwellleadership.com/thespeakersedge.

And remember, developing your communication skills is one of the most important things you can do. I believe it will do more for you than any other skill you can develop — more for your business, more for your career, more for your self-confidence, more for every area of your life — more than any other skill you can develop. And it is a learnable skill. So keep growing, keep developing. Teach your kids to develop their communication skills. Model a very healthy relationship with speaking. Most people have a very unhealthy relationship with speaking in front of other people. So keep working on your own speaking and model it for your kids and your loved ones. The more you do it, the easier it's going to get. And you will learn to master your message so that you can inspire your audience every time you speak.

I'll see you in the next episode. Thanks for listening. Take care. Bye-bye. God bless.

Ep. 005 — The Power of Examples

Hosted by Roddy Galbraith

A Maxwell Leadership Podcast Network production

Weekly highlights from The Speaker’s Edge — a Maxwell Leadership Podcast Network production hosted by Roddy Galbraith. Learn how to communicate with clarity, confidence, and impact — in business, on stage, and in life.

This Week’s Big Idea

Key Takeaways

• Other people’s stories (and explain how they impacted you)

• Public domain stories (history, science, etc.)

• Hypothetical “imagine this…” stories

Struggle is what builds connection. People respect your success, but they love you for your failures.

Build a story bank now. Capture moments, quotes, scenes, mistakes — don’t wait until you “need” them.

Quote of the Week

Resources & Practice

a. Start a simple story bank (spreadsheet, Notes app, anything). Add 3 memories right now where:

b. Run Roddy’s 7-point checklist on your next talk:

Full Transcript (Ep. 004 — 10 Steps to Develop Your Keynote)Released: March 31, 2025

This transcript was auto-generated. It may contain minor errors.

Responses

The Speakers Edge

Weekly highlights from The Speaker’s Edge, a Maxwell Leadership Podcast Network production hosted by Roddy Galbraith. Learn how to communiate with clarity, confidence, and impact — in business, on stage, and in life.

3 FREE videos to walk you through your message makeover!

Full Transcript (Ep. 004 — 10 Steps to Develop Your Keynote)
Released: March 31, 2025