I’ve been delivering tons of virtual and in-person presentation skills workshops and coaching. Extraordinary executives, brilliant engineers, top sales professionals, fascinating attorneys, individual contributors, early in career, the complete spectrum of corporate life.
They’re dynamic, charming, funny, warm, open, personable …. that is, until the workshop starts.
Then they each take turns giving their 1st presentation, before any coaching.
Suddenly life, personality and charisma drains out of them, they become very corporate. Very businesslike, deadpan. Dry data, cautiously stated conclusions, serious, matter-of-fact, completely restrained and inhibited self-expression. Conservative.
Stepping carefully.
No personality.
None.
Zero. Zip.
Suddenly it’s SERIOUS.
I remember a student I had a couple years ago who, when I asked her to tell me her goals for the workshop said, "I want to get my Mojo back. I used to have Mojo and somehow I lost it."
Such a good goal!!!
Mojo is a fabulous word. It captures a quality no other word conveys.
It comes from West Africa where it originally meant magic. Today it means personal magnetism, those incredible moments when you are in complete control, when you’re completely in the zone, it’s FLOWING, you’re expressing yourself in a powerful way that compels the audience, generating great attraction, audience drawn to you like a magnet, it sweeps everything out of its path and sweeps everyone along.
When your Mojo’s working, you’re feeling GOOD. And the audience can’t help but feel good too, and absolutely love you.
It has nothing to do with content. Nothing at all to do with WHAT you’re talking about.
It has everything to do with YOU.
Mojo is that quality that is entirely you.
No two people have the same Mojo.
There’s NO such thing as corporate Mojo. You can’t be “corporate” and have Mojo at the same time. Mojo is not a group thing.
Mojo is INDIVIDUAL.
What I've observed in all my years of coaching is that everyone has Mojo, but most people have lost it. Especially when they work in large corporations and they give presentations, it’s gone.
Since Mojo is an expression of a style that is uniquely yours, ANY conformity immediately kills it.
And large corporations “seem” to demand conformity. That’s why corporate presentations all tend to look alike. Business people, trying hard to impress, afraid of being “evaluated”, afraid of “stepping on toes”, straining for approval and stuck in being extremely “corporate”.
Don’t fall for it.
You may work in a large corporation, yet who you ARE is not corporate. Who you are is YOU.
Many people think they won’t be acceptable being exactly who they are, which is why they start to conform to what they think the corporation wants of them. You also don’t see many people around you truly being themselves when they give presentations, so you don’t really have examples that show you that you CAN do it and that it IS the way to win. But you can and it is.
Let’s talk about what Mojo isn’t. It isn’t self-conscious. It isn’t anxious. It isn’t nervous. It isn’t self-doubting. It isn’t self-deprecating. It isn’t deferential. It isn’t trying to impress. It isn’t seeking approval. It isn’t imitating someone else. It isn’t “trying”... And it most definitely isn’t corporate.
In a large corporation Mojo is as rare and as welcome as a breeze of cool fresh air is to a hot, stuffy room. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief, leans into it and enjoys the heck out of it.
So what does it take to get your Mojo back?
First you have to master the fundamentals. These fundamentals are what give you the base on which your Mojo can solidly sit. That’s why I make sure fundamentals are rock solid.
It’s about your fundamental ability to own the room (virtual and in person), to make a powerful connection with your audience, to have a strong presence, to create rapport with a whole group at once, get your point across so it’s compelling and communicate in a way that inspires people, this is the foundation. That’s the base.
Once you have these fundamentals down, you are IN CONTROL. That’s when you add in your personal style, that magic Mojo ingredient called YOU. And at this point, your Mojo will come back to you. It just flows all by itself once you are in control.
That’s the secret to getting your Mojo back.
Mojo is you.
Getting your Mojo back is the same as getting yourself back.
It feels GOOD.
Mojo is never gone. It just goes to sleep.
Perhaps it’s time for you to go and wake yours up?
If the world looks a little gray and your enthusiasm is diminished, and you’re missing that spark you need to ignite your Mojo, I recommend organizing a learning opportunity for your group and for you. There’s nothing that inspires and ignites that spark like a great learning experience. I know. I see it every day. I want the world to feel this good. I definitely want you to feel this good.
Be the cause!