We talked in the last video about Maya Angelou and the trauma she overcame on her path to eloquence. The road other great communicators have taken to oratorical comfort has been less traumatic, though certainly not without its anxieties. Warren Buffett's Folksy Charm, for example, has helped him win over everyone from shareholders to reporters to members of Congress. But as an undergraduate at the University of Nebraska, he was so scared of speaking in public that he actively tried to avoid classes where that was a requirement. It wasn't until after he graduated, began working as a stockbroker and then completed the second public speaking course he signed up for. The first one he chickened out of, that he began to develop what would become his trademark style. Unshowy, unhurried, and wonderfully conversational. You wouldn't believe what a good feeling you get when you listen to Warren and his business partner, Charlie Munger, one attendee of Buffett's annual meeting for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders observed. Another added, "You feel like you're part of a group of people who share the same values, solid, honest people, hard workers." That's an amazing thing to say about someone who accumulated a fortune greater than the GDP of many countries. What seems to have helped Buffett is also something that helped Angelou. Being at heart, a teacher. "I'm not a writer who teaches." Angelou, who spent over 30 years as a professor at Wake Forest University, told USA Today in a 2008 interview, "I'm a teacher who writes." Buffett took a similar position in 2018, telling financial journalist Andrew Sewer, that he would rather be remembered not as one of the world's wealthiest investors, but as a teacher. "That would be very flattering," he explained, "if the word teacher was on my tombstone." A CNBC documentary about Buffett has taken at least one step in that direction. It's called Warren Buffett, investor, teacher, icon. Not every teacher, of course, treats the chance to speak like the start of a conversation. Some aren't out to establish a bond, build a relationship, or engage in an open exchange of ideas and information. They just want to hear themselves talk. But if you listen to speeches by Angelou and Buffett, you get the sense that they approached opportunities to address an audience, as opportunities to relate to that audience, to get to know them, to connect. Oprah Winfrey, who had Angelou as a guest on her show several times once said that Angelou's presence was like a warm bath after an exhausting day. No pretensions, no ego, just a genuine and comforting capacity to pass along a few insights and bits of advice. That's not a bad goal to shoot for in all kinds of speaking situations. Don't try to impress your audience, don't set out to sound smart. Focus instead on being helpful. Treat your words like a gift you really want to share. In the end that might be the quality that links Angelou and Buffett the most. There's a generosity in the way they address people. A big heartedness that communicated equal measures of warmth and wisdom. Channeling even a little of that the next time you're in front of an audience could go a very long way.
