James LaughlinHigh-performance leadership and executive coach. Covering all aspects of life and career.

What does it take to become a GREAT speaker? New Episode dropping tomorrow!

4 Oct 2023 · 1 min

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0:36

A monologue by James Laughlin exploring what makes a great speaker. The speaker argues that speaking skill is learned (not innate), emphasizes using simple language (citing average reading comprehension age in New Zealand as 12–14), and recounts a traumatic personal history—growing up in an orphanage, surviving brutality, developing a class A heroin addiction, and reaching a turning point toward change.

Chapters

Are good speakers born? No. No, they're not. The average reading comprehension age in New Zealand is 12 to 14 years old. The key is simple language. I want to know the secret to what I just did at the age of five in an orphanage. You had to be brutal, you know, because you were raised in this brutality. My escape from that, to cover the pain of all of that, was to end up with a class A heroin addiction. That was my most punishing experience. Not knowing whether it would kill me or not. I was crawling on the floor half dead. My turning point was when I decided to.