TJ Walker recalls watching the 1974 Watergate hearings on his family's Indiana dairy farm as a kid, mesmerized by John Dean's articulate testimony. That moment sparked his lifelong interest in public speaking, media, and politics. He uses the story to show how role models shape communication skills.
Where were you the first time you heard someone or watched someone speak and you thought, wow, that person has a tremendous command of the language, whether it's English or whatever your first language is. I remember where I was, I was on a dairy farm in Indiana. My uncle was a dairy farmer outside of Lafayette, Indiana. It was the summer of 1974, and that meant the Watergate hearings were going on. This was a huge scandal involving the United States President. At the time, there were all these congressional hearings. And I still remember John Dean, the White House counsel. Part of it is he did use big words. To the best of my recollection, I do not know, sir, rather than I don't remember. But he just struck me as so articulate, so educated, so intelligent, and it sparked an interest in me in politics, media speaking, and the law. Now, at the time and for many years, even through college, I thought I was going to go to law school. Thankfully, I decided not to do that, but I kept my interest in media communication, public affairs. And that's why I do think it is important to start looking around for role models. Not that you agree with them politically, necessarily, or theologically, but look for role models. And that can often motivate you to want to go deeper in your own learning when it comes to your presentation skills. Okay, so why do I tell that story? I don't tell that story very often, but sometimes, if I'm going to spend, for example, a couple of days training a group of people, they do want to know more about who I am, where I came from. So when they can envision this little boy sitting on a dairy farm, watching on a little screen, it's probably black and white, the Watergate hearings. It just gives them a sense of where I was, how I learned, how I got interested in this. So it's not the most important message, but it's occasionally a piece of the puzzle to give people a sense of who I am.
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