Ep. 062 — Speaking Confidence — 5 Secrets to Shifting from Me to Audience-Centric

Release date: May 4 , 2026

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.

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This Week’s Big Idea

The single most important transition you can make as a speaker is shifting from "me" to "you" — from thinking about yourself to thinking about your audience. This episode breaks down five practical secrets for making that shift, rooted in John Maxwell's philosophy. When you stop trying to perform and start trying to serve, something remarkable happens: the pressure drops, the connection rises, and speaking finally starts to work. This is the first of seven transitions every speaker must make — and it underpins everything else.

Key Takeaways

• Put the audience at the centre, not yourself. Everything you do as a speaker should orbit around them — their problem, their experience, their outcome.

• When your focus is on you, pressure goes up. When it shifts to the audience, clarity replaces self-consciousness and service replaces performance.
• No one in the audience is tracking your nerves — they're tracking their experience. Focus on how they feel, not how you feel.
• You don't need confidence to begin. You need courage. Confidence is the result of action, not the starting point.
• You're not giving a talk — you're borrowing their time. Every minute they invest with you deserves a return. That changes how you prepare and how you show up.
• Speaking isn't a transaction — it's an act of service. When that becomes your mindset, audiences feel it and respond accordingly.
• "Get over yourself." Blunt — but freeing. The moment you stop making it about you, the connection rises and the speaking works.

Quote of the Week

"Speaking is something you do for them — not to them." — Roddy Galbraith

Resources & Practice

Before your next speaking opportunity — big or small — pause and answer these five questions:

1. Am I focused on how I'm coming across, or on what the audience is experiencing?
2. Am I managing my feelings, or am I shaping the room for them?
3. Am I waiting to feel confident, or am I willing to step forward with courage?
4. Have I invested enough preparation time to honour the time they're giving me?
5. Am I trying to give a talk — or am I trying to serve?

Then ask yourself the big one: am I just trying to get through this, or am I willing to take a risk and really try to help?

The answer to that question is the difference between a forgettable performance and a meaningful one.

Get the companion guide here > MaxwellLeadership.com/TheSpeakersEdge

Learn about the Maxwell Leadership Certified Team: maxwellleadership.com/speak

Full Transcript (Ep. 062: Speaking Confidence — 5 Secrets to Shifting from Me to Audience-Centric)

Released: May 4, 2026

This transcript was auto-generated. It may contain minor errors. *Copy text adds attribution automatically

Roddy Galbraith:
"Hey guys, welcome back to the Speaker's Edge podcast — the podcast dedicated to helping you learn from some of the world's very best speakers and communicators so you can learn to master your message and inspire your audience every single time you speak. I'm your host for this podcast, Roddy Galbraith. And you are in exactly the right place if you want to be a better communicator. Because every episode, we build on the same simple idea: communication is a learnable skill. It's one of the best skills you can learn. It will do more for your business, more for your career, more for your self-confidence than any other skill you can develop. And it is absolutely a learnable skill.

We've got a great episode for you today. We're going to talk about the single most important transition you can make if you want to be a powerful speaker and earn influence with your audience. We're going to break it down into five different secrets. But before we get to that, if you haven't downloaded the companion guide, simply go to MaxwellLeadership.com/TheSpeakersEdge. And if you enjoy the show, we'd love it if you rate and review as well.

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THE MOST IMPORTANT SHIFT IN SPEAKING: FROM ME TO YOU

We're building on what we covered last week — John Maxwell's speaking philosophy and the two key things that make it stand alone at the top. If you missed that, go back and check it out. Today we're putting that philosophy into practice through what I call the first of seven transitions you need to make to earn influence with your audience.

That transition is from Me to You.

Me — the speaker, thinking about myself. To You — the speaker, thinking about the audience.

Here's a simple way to think about it. Imagine an archery target. In the centre — the bullseye — is Me. Everything orbits around the speaker: how I feel, what I want to get, and eventually, somewhere on the outside, the audience. Now turn that completely around. Put the audience at the centre. Then: what do they want? Then: how do we give it to them — what solution do we provide? And Me, the speaker, moves to the very outside. The audience is at the core. Everything we do exists in service of that centre.

That's the shift. Let's break it down into five secrets.

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SECRET 1: IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU — IT'S ABOUT THE AUDIENCE

Early in my career, I was in my 20s, working for a Swedish pensions fund company, and I'd been chosen as Master of Ceremonies for the Christmas party. Terrible choice. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I practised so hard I was going through my lines in the mirror in the restroom before anyone arrived. I'd had a couple of pints of beer that morning, which seemed like a good idea at the time — it really wasn't. And my entire goal — my one and only aim — was: "I just have to get through this without making a fool of myself."

Just get through it. Hope for below average. Stumble safely to the end.

Amazingly, I reached my goal. An unremarkable, just-below-average performance. Very forgettable. Not a total disaster. And I was thrilled.

But looking back, everything in that experience was about me. How I felt. How I sounded. What they thought of me. What I could get from the audience. And if you've been in a similar situation, you've probably felt the same way. When you're the one in the spotlight, of course it feels like it's about you. You're the one they're all watching.

But here's the problem: when your focus is entirely on yourself, the pressure goes up. You start monitoring every word, every pause, every reaction in your body. Every syllable gets judged. What feels like self-protection actually creates more and more pressure. And that's exactly what makes speaking harder than it needs to be.

The moment your focus comes off you and onto the audience, everything changes. Speaking stops being about how you're coming across and starts being about what they're experiencing. Clarity replaces self-consciousness. Service replaces performance. Responsibility replaces anxiety.

John Maxwell has said it clearly, in live interviews and on stage: "Get over yourself. It's not about you. It's all about the audience."

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SECRET 2: IT'S NOT ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL — IT'S ABOUT HOW THEY FEEL

No one in the audience is tracking your nerves. They're tracking their experience. Do they feel comfortable? Do they feel understood? Do they feel like they're in the right place?

We all know confident people who bore the pants off an audience. Confidence alone doesn't mean impact. What the audience is feeling matters far more than what you're feeling. When they feel at ease, they lean in, they listen, they encourage you. And here's the interesting thing: as they settle in, you settle in — not because you forced confidence, but because you created the conditions for it.

Your job isn't to manage yourself. Your job is to shape the room — to create an environment where people feel safe enough to listen. Focus on how they feel. You can still help people even if you feel uncomfortable. That's the big takeaway.

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SECRET 3: CONFIDENCE DOESN'T COME FIRST — COURAGE DOES

This brings us to one of the biggest myths in speaking: that you need confidence to begin.

You don't. You can start with courage. Courage is stepping forward while the uncertainty is still there. It's taking the opportunity before you feel ready. Confidence isn't the starting point — it's the result of the process. It comes after you've taken action, after you've discovered you're more capable than you thought.

So don't let your feelings guide you. You can't trust your feelings. Just because it feels wrong doesn't mean you can't learn to do it — and learn to do it really well. I struggled with panic attacks. I was terrified of speaking in front of people. Now I absolutely love it.

If you turn and run, you'll be running for the rest of your life. If you turn and face it, you'll see it for what it is, and you'll outgrow it. The action is this: step into the fear. Practice being courageous. Confidence will follow.

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SECRET 4: YOU'RE NOT GIVING A TALK — YOU'RE BORROWING THEIR TIME

This reframe changes everything. You're not giving a talk — you're borrowing their time. Every precious minute you use, they're investing with you. They could have spent that time elsewhere, with anyone else, doing anything else. They're choosing to invest it with you. They deserve a return on that investment.

That changes the responsibility. It's not about filling time — it's about honouring it. Cut what isn't necessary. Do the hard work of making your content efficient. Get clarity on what they want, what they need, and how you can help them. Treasure every second. You're handling something very valuable: their time. Not yours.

When people ask me, "How long should I spend preparing?" I always say the better question is: "How do you value the time your audience is giving you?" Invest as much preparation time as that time deserves.

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SECRET 5: SPEAKING ISN'T A TRANSACTION — IT'S AN ACT OF SERVICE

Speaking is something you do for them. Not to them. It's not a transaction — it's an act of service. When that becomes your focus, people feel it. They relax. They open up. They lean in. Because it feels safe.

Get over yourself. I know it sounds blunt, but it's actually freeing. The moment you stop making it about you, the pressure drops and the connection rises. And the speaking starts to work.

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To pull it all together, the shift from me to you is the most important transition you can make as a speaker. Five secrets to live it out:

1. It's not about you — it's about the audience.
2. It's not about how you feel — it's about how they feel.
3. Courage comes first; confidence follows.
4. You're not giving a talk — you're borrowing their time.
5. Speaking isn't a transaction — it's an act of service.

The question to ask yourself as you walk into your next speaking opportunity: am I just trying to get through this, or am I actually going to risk trying to help?

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If you're interested in developing your speaking, the Maxwell Leadership Certified Team is the best place to do it. Over 60,000 coaches in more than 168 countries. Go to MaxwellLeadership.com/Speak and jump on a call with a programme advisor.

Don't forget the companion guide: MaxwellLeadership.com/TheSpeakersEdge. Communication is a learnable skill. Keep learning. Learn to master your message and inspire your audience every single time you speak. Thanks for listening. I'll see you next week. Until then, take care. Lots of love. Bye-bye. God bless."