Peter, an executive I just coached, sent me a 1:15 minute video he recorded of holiday greetings that he’s planning to send to his worldwide team. I forwarded it to Janet, our Lead Trainer, and she emailed back, “Oh, that is SO nice, so warm and sincere. I’d want to work for him.”
Peter reaches you with his eyes. His eye contact is so powerful, you forget you’re watching a screen. It feels like he’s actually there. Peter’s sincere message, simply delivered, walks straight into your heart.
It’s an experience too rarely created by corporate executives.
Peter is not trying to be “corporate”. What shines through is how uniquely himself he is … just as we all are, if we let ourselves.
For everyone who hears him speak, Peter is someone people want to work for. That alone qualifies him as a leader.
What Peter was doing in this video is one of the most difficult things to do. He was communicating what is called “Direct to Camera”. No humans in the room. Just Peter and the camera.
What does this have to do with you?
I have no doubt you have been extensively virtual this past year. Me too. I’ve been coaching hundreds of people, trapped in a machine-based communication medium that feels stripped of soul and humanity, teaching them how to make all their virtual communications meaningful to their audience.
You truly stand out when your communication to yours is rich with meaning.
But how do you do that, sitting alone in front of a cold screen and an unblinking lens?
You stop performing for the camera.
And start speaking to the person on the other side. One human. One pair of eyes. And you speak to them.
When your attention goes there, behind the camera to the person, the connection follows. The distance collapses. And what once felt flat suddenly feels human.
Your words land. Your presence carries. And the screen disappears.
In that moment, they don’t feel talked at. They sense that you know they’re there … and when they sense that, you fully reach them.
They lean in…because something real has just found them, and they can feel how special that is.
Be the cause!