Stuck in your Career? Here’s a Tip that May Scare You
By Karen Catlin It’s happened to all of us. A promotion denied. Feeling stuck in our careers. Frustrated by the recognition others get while …
By Karen Catlin
It’s happened to all of us. A promotion denied. Feeling stuck in our careers. Frustrated by the recognition others get while we’re working just as hard, if not more.
At some point, you decided you had to change something to push forward your career. Maybe you started blogging or tweeting. Perhaps you started building more relationships with people at work. Now you’re ready to do even more to increase your professional visibility. As scary as it seems, you know what you need to do. Start speaking more in public.
A few years ago, I set a goal for myself: to speak in public once a month. It was aspirational. I had not done much public speaking, and I was definitely nervous thinking about doing it at all, let alone twelve times a year. But, I knew public speaking would help me build my personal brand and grow my career. (Hat tip to Rich Mironov, who also has this goal and encouraged me to think big.)
Since then, I’ve spoken in public a lot. I’ve spoken at conferences, shared my stories on panels, run workshops, and given a TEDx talk. In my busiest month, I gave five presentations. With all this practice, I’ve lost most of my stage fright, and I’ve come to love speaking in front of an audience. Frankly, I’ve surprised myself on both counts.
Now I want to help others grow their career through public speaking. Whether that means speaking up in meetings, volunteering to deliver presentations to customers, or getting on stage at a conference, speaking in public can be like rocket fuel for your career. It can provide the visibility you might need to be considered for that next big opportunity.
I’m happy to announce that I’ve partnered with Poornima Vijayashanker of Femgineer to create Confident Communicator, an 8-week online course to help you become a relaxed and confident speaker through video lessons and 1:1 instructor feedback. Sign up here to get a sneak peek at the upcoming course.
Deadline to register for the course is Friday February 10, 2017, and the course beings Monday February 13, 2017. Hope to see you there!
About the Author
Karen Catlin develops powerful women leaders in the tech industry by coaching leaders and advising companies on how to attract and retain female talent.
