In this solo segment of the "This Moved Me" podcast, host Sally Koering Zimney explores how the act of speaking publicly forces us to confront deep personal truths. She shares a coaching anecdote about a client who struggled to project her voice, using the physical cue of speaking from the diaphragm to uncover the client’s hidden belief that she lacks authority. Sally argues that speaking is a metaphor for inner work: the vulnerability of the stage surfaces self‑doubt, feelings of inadequacy, and fears about wasting others’ time. She emphasizes that authentic speaking requires courage, integrity, and a strong internal voice—qualities that are also life goals. To help listeners, she offers reflective questions about the thoughts that arise when fear surfaces and how they can continue to build authenticity and courage. The episode closes by reminding speakers that audiences are generous when speakers are generous with them, and invites listeners to apply these insights in their own speaking practice.
Chapters
Hey everybody, and welcome to This Moved Me, a podcast about creating talks that move the world. With me, your host, Sally Koering Zimney. Together with some fabulous guests, we will have a casual conversation about the art of public speaking, because a good talk can move the world and it'll be fun. Yeah, I would think making alien cows meaningful. That's not a small task. I love your giggle. Wow. Oh my gosh, so waiting for everybody to figure out the alphabet. Alright, movers! Woo! We are at speaking truth number 5. We have 3 more including today. And I hope this has been helpful for you to just remind you of the importance of the work that you do and help battle back some of those things that get in the way as we are doing this work, this really incredibly important work. Today's Speaking Truth is that speaking brings us to the truth of ourselves. Oh my gosh, when I started this work, I did not imagine that I would be doing a do as much emotional work with my speakers as I do. Uh, and I do, uh, and that's because if we're doing this right, it's part of it. It just is. I had a conversation with a woman I was coaching recently who was struggling to really kind of be loud enough and project. And so I said to her, and just kind of thinking really tactically. I said to her, "You need to speak from here," and I kind of pointed to her belly, like her diaphragm. "Not here," and I pointed to her neck. Speaking from up here at your neck, it's the weakest voice we have. It's hard on the voice, we run out of air and stamina, and it's just harder for us to be loud. And she kind of looked at me and nodded. But my intuition told me that there was more going on than just like the skill of using your diaphragm to help support your breath. So I asked her, "Um, how's it going here at work? Like, what's going on?" And after a moment she said, I think realizing what I was realizing, she said, I don't feel like I have the authority to speak. And I looked at her, pointed to her belly, and I said, speak from here. Own your voice. Your voice matters. And she started to cry because we had voiced something true and something that she struggled— struggles to really believe about herself. And who knew that her speaking coach would bring her to that realization? But the truth is that it's a metaphor. Speaking is often a metaphor for what's going on, and the process of digging into it and trying to be better at it brings us face to face with difficult truths about ourselves. Conversations with my speakers don't sound like conversations about speaking. They're often about who we are and what we struggle with. I hear things like, "I don't feel like I have the authority to speak," or "I just don't want to waste their time," or "Who am I to be doing this?" or "I'm not blank enough," "I'm not I'm not funny enough. I'm not smart enough. Or what will they think if I blank blank blank? When we step out on stage, it's vulnerable. And so that vulnerability makes us face the waves of self-doubt that we as adults have gotten really good at silencing and putting aside, but the process of speaking brings it all up again, and we've gotta, we've gotta face them, we gotta battle them through. Speakers, in order to do this, need a really strong internal voice. Speaking requires of us to act with courage and live with integrity, share our authentic selves, and these are not just speaking goals, these are life goals. And it's no mistake that they are the same. A good speaker has done this kind of work and come out on the other side a little closer to the truth of themselves, and an audience can see that. Or, or not. And I think we can feel that and sense that. We can't hide. And so knowing that, we've got to dig in. So some questions for you to ask yourself: What one runs through your head when you are battling a fear as you bring your voice out into the world? And if speaking requires us to dig deeper and make sure that we are speaking with integrity and courage and authenticity, well, what, what are you doing to continue to build these things and challenge yourself to be the best person? That you can be. Because when we do that, we will be better speakers too. All right, that is it for me. Speaking truth number 5. Man, that is a big one. It's taken me a long time to articulate this piece. Now that I have, I just feel like it is so incredibly important and The speakers who get the most out of my time with them are speakers who get this and walk into this knowingly and say, "Yep, I'm gonna figure this out." And that's baloney. I'm not gonna let that get in my way anymore. Yeah, I'm with you. All right, next up, speaking truth number 6: audiences are generous if you can be generous with them. I like it! See you next time! Hey movers, it's Sally. It's Wednesday. I'm back to share with you— it's not Wednesday, it's Monday. Oh my gosh.
