A short motivational talk by T. Harv Eker advising speakers and trainers to prioritize authenticity over perfection. Eker argues that being genuine, vulnerable, and relatable builds audience trust, repeat attendance, and sales, while a polished but inauthentic performance alienates listeners.
When most people think of speakers or trainers or seminar leaders, they think of this perfectly polished, perfectly sounding, perfectly looking person on stage with the perfect vocabulary and the perfect gestures and the perfect hair and the perfect on and on and on. I mean, I mean, come on, you are on stage in front of hundreds or even thousands of people. You better look and sound as perfect as possible. And yes or yes. And the answer, of course, is no. Be authentic. I repeat, be authentic. Authentic is a thousand times more important and more impressive than perfect. You have to be and sound like you and only you. No airs, no ego, and absolutely no perfection in the way you look or the way you speak. It's perfectly okay if you say um or ah or you stumble or even forget what you're talking about. In fact, really great trainers don't try and memorize everything. You know, when I train, first of all, I use a music stand with notes right in front of me to guide me and keep me on track and keep me on time. And I hardly memorize anything. And if I'm away from my notes and I get a little off topic and I forget what I was, you know, you know, what I do? I asked the audience, hey, what were we talking about? And you know what they tell me? And we laugh and we all work together and it's all good. And no one, no one cares that I'm not perfect. In fact, they welcome it. Why? Because they are not perfect. Just the idea. The idea of perfection makes people uncomfortable and not like you. And that's not just on stage, my friends. That is everywhere in life. Everyone knows it's impossible, so they wonder what you're really like and what you're hiding behind that mask of perfection. Your perfect appearance, your perfect words, your perfect smile, your supposed perfection reminds people of their own imperfection and brings up their insecurities. It's subconscious, but they feel it. And in the end, they just don't trust you. Does that make sense? The truth is, they don't really care much about you. They care about them. And that's not selfish. That's just human nature. So what if you're not perfect or polished or even good looking? None of that affects their life. What's important is what you are teaching, the knowledge and information you provide and what result it's going to have for them. It boils down to this. When you are not authentic, your audience, they can smell it. Sure, they'll smile and they'll clap for you, you know, at the time, but just assure they will never buy your product or come back to learn more from you. On the other hand, when you are authentic, when you are vulnerable, your audience relates to you and they connect with you. It's what gets them to trust you and want to learn more from you and pay for that additional learning and that ongoing relationship is one of the key ways you create success and wealth in this business.
