During this show, America’s #1 business coach and the former U.S. SBA Entrepreneur of the Year sits down with best-selling author and former pastor of the Higher Dimensions mega church, Carlton Pearson to discuss how to become the best presenter, speaker and communicator possible. Since changing his religious views, Carlton Pearson has been labeled as a heretic by the evangelical church and he was featured on ABC News during a story called “Nobody Goes to Hell: Minister Labeled a Heretic.” He’s written a best-selling book and has been featured on the ABC News Dateline program titled, “To Hell and Back.” Carlton’s life is now being turned into a major motion called Come Sunday. The picture will feature the academy award nominated actor from 12 Years a Slave, Chiwetel Ejiofor who will play Pearson, Martin Sheen who will play the part of Oral Roberts, Danny Glover and a cast of familiar A-list actors.
So this is the primetime thrivetime show on your radio. My name is Clay Clark I’m the SBA Entrepreneur of the year and finally my allergies are gone. I am so thankful so grateful and so excited to be joined here with you.
The thrivetime show for anybody who has just found our show for the first time is a show that’s entirely focused on you becoming the most successful person that you could possibly become its business school without the B.S. and occasionally inside the box that rocks. We get to invite on guests that have achieved massive success. I mean we’ve had we’ve actually done videos and teamed up with NBA Hall of Fame basketball player David Robinson who is one of the partners with thrive15. We’ve interviewed Michael Levine who is the former P.R. consultant of of choice for Nike for Pizza Hut for Charlton Heston for the Clintons for the the Bush family for Michael Jackson for Prince I mean just unbelievable some of the people we have on the show. Our next guest is a guest that everybody in Tulsa are many people in Tulsa know. Our next guest is Carlton Pearson. Now Carlton Pearson is a guy who’s given over 5000 sermons and his life is being turned and turned into a movie called Come Sunday. His life will be his life will be portrayed in the upcoming movie Come Sunday. Martin Sheen who is the obviously the father of Charlie Sheen and the Emmy winning and Golden Globe winner will be playing Oral Roberts and who is Carleton’s mentor and Carlton Pearson will be played by Chiwetel Ejiofor. I’ve been practicing that for like seven months now, Chiwetel Ejiofor. This is the guy who is the main character from the movie 12 Years a Slave.
He played the part of Solomon Northrup and was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in that movie. Powerful movie. Danny Glover is going to be in the movie Candler Rashad is going to be in the movie it’s going to be an all star lineup. It’s coming out here in the next five six months it’s in post-production. Again that movie is coming up here and it is called Come Sunday now Carlton Pearson though before he became famous for basically changing religions after he had built a mega church he’d also established himself as one of the premier and elite speakers of our generation. He was a guy who helped introduce T.D. Jakes into the limelight there on the television program. He was personally mentored by Oral Roberts and Oral Roberts was mentored by Napoleon Hill. So my my best my my favorite author who I named my son after his name is Napoleon Hill and Napoleon Hill was the personal apprentice of Andrew Carnegie let me fall that that lineage with you again Andrew Carnegie. He meant toward Napoleon Hill as a business coach. I love these stories. But Andrew Carnegie mentor Napoleon Hill. Napoleon Hill became the best selling author of All Time. Now Napoleon Hill was the mentor of Oral Roberts the founder of Oral Roberts University and Oral Roberts himself mentored Carlton Pearson. Now Carlton Pearson has helped me with my speaking career has given me advice and mentorship throughout the years I’ve had him coach me through speaking and as a business coach. I love to find people who are doing what they do at the best religiously. I know many of you will disagree with what he says.
I can also say that I religiously disagree with what he’s saying but he is a powerful master of public speaking and I wanted to interview him about just that raw interviewing him today about religion interviewing him about politics when we are interviewing him about how to become the best public speaker possible. And now ladies and gentlemen my interview with Carlton Pearson. Why are so many people afraid to do public speaking. What’s that all about? Talk to the business coach people.
Well there’s a nudity if I use that term that is associated with exposure of your thoughts of your breath of your soul and your self speaking is is divulging and people tend to be private by nature. If you’re not accustomed to it you feel like you’re exposing yourself for people to vote for or against you. Nobody likes that. That’s an innate thing that all of us when we have any problem as babies screaming when we come out of the womb because we’re hungry we want something we want to be fed. We want to be changed and that stays with us all through life. We want to be fed our eagle our spirit our mind. And we want to be changed because we feel like we have constant things to eliminate out of our system.
Now if somebody has there is somebody who is a wanting to speak and they have the shakes you know before they get to speak the first time they’re shaking their wedding they’re manifesting whatever way that they showcase their nervousness. What advice would you have for somebody that just can’t seem to get gain control over the shaking the sweat sweetness he stuttering all those things that tend to showcase that a little bit on the nervous side when you don’t know that’s going to happen and it happens five minutes or 10 or 30 minutes or you walk on the stage you don’t have a lot of time to do personal therapy but I always did.
Your body starts ventilating hyperventilating. So that means that breathing has something to do with addressing the nervousness so sort of hyperventilating just ventilate. Finally just breathe. Take deep breaths. Close your eyes and focus on yourself and your soul and not the crowd. Not even what you have to do. I just focus on me and my vows and I validate myself.
Now when you ever have you’ve spoken obviously to groups of thousands of people all over the world what’s the biggest audience that you’ve ever spoken for the biggest number of people at one given time 250,000 in Accra Ghana and were you were you nervous.
Talk to me about what were you were thinking when you were speaking for 250,000 people.
I was pretty overwhelmed because that many people live in with an energy of expectation drawls out of you you don’t hardly have to do anything but open the portals of your soul and yourself and your mouth. And it just comes because they come there with expectations. It’s a difference. It’s a different kind of thing if you’re if you’re campaigning and you’re trying to convince people that you’re there that that they should vote for you in that setting. That was with the Oral Roberts and we had gone there together and there was such anticipation. There was another quarter million around the stadium. We are told wow they could hear us but we couldn’t see them. We could see these people. And there was such expectation and anticipation and such hope. And and I’ve never been in a situation that was more and more syncopated. There was there was there was some kind of synergy there because of the expectation of the crowd. You have to be able to feel the crowd out to sense their attitude toward the event. The substance of what is going to be presented and you the presenter. You’re juggling all of that at one time and you learn how to do that better with experience.
Now approximately when was that when was that event in Ghana that would’ve been 19.
90 or right when we were building the city of faith nine between 90 in 95.
Wow. OK. So if anyone is listening here kind of in summary and they’re struggling with the fear of public speaking what action items What advice what should they do if they are struggling with the fear of public speaking?
Well if you have not spoken then you’re not going to speak tomorrow or at the mall at the moment use you start personal therapy about self actualization. You look at yourself you study yourself you get to know yourself. You go into the dark corners and regions and reaches of your consciousness and find out who you are not who you impersonate and you discover the impostor kick him or her out and get in touch with the actual factual functional punctual you would you recommend that somebody who’s never spoken before and is just that you know it’s a kind of a career limiter.
They know they want to become a public speaker and they’re they feel overwhelmed with even the thought of it but they know that they feel like that for them to self actualize and to become the best them that they need to be that they need to master public speaking. Would you advise them to just start volunteering to speak in places. Would you advise for them to just hook a microphone up selves and start talking to an audience of one or what would you say which they be doing on a very practical level to develop those speaking skills.
Start in the mirror stand and look at yourself in the mirror. And there’s there’s a scripture in Genesis This is Adam and Eve were naked and felt no shame. That’s where the most powerful intriguing scriptures in the whole Bible. How can you feel naked. How can you be naked which means you’re vulnerable and you’re exposed and you don’t feel any shame or you don’t you don’t feel you don’t blush that’s that comes from facing who you are and who you are.
Well I think we’ve heard the word nudity more than we’ve ever heard on this show before. But on the thrivetime show while we had brother Carlton on the show we’re going to be hearing more from him after the break is that he became one of the most prolific evangelists in motivational speakers of his era and he helped launch the Azouz a conference which obviously he did launch. He was the founder of the Azusa conference that filled up the maybe center year after year. And he has made a big impact on my life teaching me how to become an effective speaker. And one of the things that you have to learn to do to become an effective motivational speaker or speaker is you have to learn how to develop confidence and that is a deep topic. And how do you do that. How do you get in front of an audience of your peers and deliver a presentation that actually not only impacts people and touches them emotionally but it also can teach them practical skills and then how do you do that every Sunday. I mean I give over 5000 sermons. How do you do that. We come back Carleton’s going to be teaching us more about how to become the best speaker that you could possibly be. Now for me personally I will tell you when I received the Entrepreneur of the year award from the Small Business Administration I had no intention of becoming a business coach becoming a business coach wasn’t something that I had planned on. I didn’t dream of visions of becoming a business coach or it just wasn’t something in my my mind.
I was a guy who started the company called d.j connection. He was an entertainment company where before I sold it we’re doing about 4000 events a year. Well when I received the award from the Small Business Administration as well as the young Chayim young Metro Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year Award and a variety of other words a plethora of awards more and more people began to ask me to speak. And I don’t know about you but if you’re not used to public speaking or you haven’t ever aspired to become a public speaker the thought just the thought of doing the presentation is nerve racking. I remember I used to get up there and I would just shake the paper. I would just just shake the paper and I remember just I would just my my my but my voice would quiver and I would just get up there and. OK I’ll let you know I just so nervous I was so stressed and then you go through that whole apologetics tour you know where you get up there and you sound you know folks you know I’m not that great of a speaker you know I’m not that good you know. I didn’t prepare that much. You know you kind of go through that and then you remember these moves where you’re supposed to not look anybody in the eye. You’re not supposed to look at the exits. So now you’re doing something weird that no one’s ever done before in any life to other people I mean how many of us are around people who look at exits while talking to us.
How many of us have good friends who when you’re engaging in a conversation with them they begin looking at exits. It’s weird. So now you’re making the audience feel weird. You’re shaking you’re getting nervous here you’re doing this you’re apologizing you’re shaking your crippling crumpling the paper and then they get nervous because you’re nervous and the next thing you know there’s this tension in the room and it just gets weird. You know in fact more people there’s all sorts of studies that show more people are afraid of public speaking than they are of death. I don’t quite understand that. But there’s a lot of people who are very much afraid of public speaking. Indeed you know Warren Buffett said that the Dale Carnegie Institute of Public Speaking made the biggest impact on him of anything else in his life up to that point. The Dale Carnegie Institute courses on how to become a public and effective public speaker made a bigger impact on him than any other courses up until that point in his life. That’s from Warren Buffett. So we come back Carlton Pearson is going to teach us the powerful lesson about how do you develop confidence as a speaker. So throughout time show with Carlton Pearson.
All right Thrive nation Welcome back to the Thrive time show on your radio today we are joined today with the man the myth and the legend. Brother Carlton Pearson his life is being turned into the upcoming movie that’s going to star Martin Sheen who will be playing the part of Oral Roberts and his character Carlton Pearson he will actually be played by. I’ve been practicing this for at least a month practicing the pronunciation of this and it’s still not helping but it’s still edgy. For now he’s the main character from the movie called 12 Years a Slave where he played the character of Solomon Northup and he went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for that part. Also Danny Glover is in the movie. And it basically explains Carlton Pearson’s decision to switch teams. He was a guy who’d given five thousand sermons. He had a mega church. He was the head the senior pastor and founder of higher dimensions church and then he switched religions on us. And so he’s been a friend of mine. He’s been a mentor of mine he’s taught me a lot about speaking and he gets deep. And so during today’s show we’re asking him everything there is to know about public speaking and we’re not going to get into religion. We’re not going to get into politics although he does operate consistently in those two avenues we are talking about specifically public speaking and why would you want to know how to become an effective public speaker. Well you know that Warren Buffett Warren Buffett probably the most successful or one of the most successful investors of our time.
One of the most prolific billionaires of our time. He has said that the Dale Carnegie Institute training that he received on how to become an effective had to become an effective public speaker made the biggest impact on his career of any training that he has ever received. Let me play the audio of Warren Buffett talking to you about just how important it is to become an effective communicator and public speaker.
Dissuasion that’s the next remarkable skill of Mr. Buffett counseling people.
My mom says when he was in his 20s he was reasonably socially hit out mean like it did in large crowds. He’d much rather not be there and you know he just would rather be reading and working on his stuff.
So Buffett learned how to deal with people who self-help guru. Dale Carnegie.
I was terrified of public speaking when I was in high school and college I couldn’t do it and I’d throw up a number nine so I took this Dale Carnegie course. And as soon as I finished that I was 20 years old. I went out the interest of. And I said I want to start teaching cause I want to get up in front of people and make sure I didn’t lapse back.
He promised anyone could win friends and influence people if they did things like giving people aspirations to live up to. Instead of nagging them. And using their first name all the time.
I actually had the Diploma in the office and I don’t have my. Diploma from college. I don’t get my diploma. Graduate school got my Dale Carnegie diploma. Because it changed my life.
Well Dale Carnegie is schooling Dale Carnegie is training changed. Warren Buffett’s life. Did you hear that. Warren Buffett just said that becoming an effective public speaker changed his life. And now ladies and gentlemen more of the interview with Carlton Pearson developing confidence you want to speak about a subject you’ve earned the right to speak about. Can you kind of explain to me what it means to me. Because you’ve obviously spoken at thousands and thousands of events but you’ve also attended events but there’s been other speakers some speakers that hadn’t earned the right to speak. Maybe they got there to speak but there was kind of a a let down and say not to be critical other speakers but you know talk to me about what it means to earn the right to you know to speak about a subject that you’ve earned the right to speak about.
Well anything you feel like you’ve mastered know a master’s degree takes about 40000 hours when you spend 40000 hours at anything. That’s first that’s just being a human being you Master being a human being or father or the roles that we play. But when you stand in front of the mirror and project into that mirror or you are your own audience and if you’re comfortable Some people literally are not comfortable talking to themselves or they’re comfortable thinking to themselves but they don’t verbalize they think it’s a form of insanity. Standing in front of a crowd is a form of his head. You stand there and you’re going to manipulate a crowd for four or however many minutes you have to first be able to manipulate yourself if you cannot stand and look at yourself in a mirror. Even nude then you’re not quite going to make it on the stage because you have to dress if you’re going to get the people’s attention.
Now I had the pleasure of attending your church for years when you were the pastor of higher dimensions church and I always got the feeling that you knew about 10 times more or 100 times more than I did about anything that you spoke about. I didn’t get I mean you didn’t get up there and start talking about search engine optimization or you know it was a church obviously but it seemed like every topic that you talked about you just knew that you knew that you knew it seemed like a judgmental way but it seemed like you knew 10 to 100 times more than the audience. Were there things that you did the week of the speech the week of the sermon the week of the talk are the things that you do to really earn the right to speak or to become an absolute expert on that subject.
Yes it it has to do again with my whole life now is about self actualization confidence confide in us to confide this to tell somebody about a secret or private matter while trusting them not to repeat it to others. Now when you talk to yourself and you can find yourself and you expose and express and experience yourself that’s the first step to exposing Kaspersky and exposing others when you’re standing on that stage you must first experience your life starts and stops with how you experience yourself. It’s not how the people experience you but how you experience you. If it’s not obvious it’s not what your mother thinks about you or your parents or your or your friends. What do you think about you. Why do you think that about you and how do those thoughts about you add to or subtract from the quality of your life your self-expression.
Now I’m listening right now and I want to become an expert at some point. Like I say I’ll say I’m listening and I just say I really want to become the absolute expert of a niche. So let’s say I’m listening and I am maybe a financial adviser and I want to become an expert financial speaker. I want to I see myself doing that.
What advice would you have for somebody who wants to become an expert in a given field what kind of action steps where they need to do to become an expert experience expert comes from experience when you experience yourself or experiment with yourself. Again that’s looking in the mirror all the time you’re always looking at a mirror or you’re always looking at yourself you’re already basically talking to yourself. Your fears hurts your pain your path. When you. That’s how they feel who you are. As my angel says people don’t remember what you say they remember how you make them feel. Feelings are powerful and but the universe doesn’t judge you so much by what you feel but by what you think about what you feel and what you think about what you think about what you feel and then what you think about that. So feelings and thought are twin partners on the stage and yet again his mind is blowing my mind.
If you’ve ever wanted to become an effective public speaker you don’t want to miss out. Come back after the break with more from Brother Carlton Pearson whose life is being turned into the upcoming movie called Come Sunday. And he’s a guy who’s given over 5000 sermons he knows a little something about public speaking. Stay tuned.
All right Thrive nation welcome back into the conversation it is the business coach thrivetime show on your radio.
My name is Clay Clark I’m the former SBA Entrepreneur of the year and current business coach for America. And today we have for you a special treat we have Carlton Pearson on the show.
I know he’s a controversial figure and for many of you, you love him, many of you you hate him, but he is the guy who built to the higher dimensions church before switching religions. And so his life is being made into a movie about what many would call his heresy it is called Come Sunday and come Sunday is going to star Martin Sheen who will be playing the part of Oral Roberts his mentor and Oral Roberts will end up in Carlton Pearson himself will actually be played by.
And I again I’ve been practicing the pronunciation of this name for at least a month now. But Carlton Pearson will be played by Chiwetel Ejiofor and he is the actor from the movie 12 Years a Slave who was nominated for an Academy Award as a result of his performance in that movie and also the movie will star star Danny Glover.
So he’s got an all star cast of people portraying his life story. But today we’re not talking about religion or politics we are talking about the art to becoming an effective public speaker how to become a better communicator.
And I can think of nobody better than brother Carlton Pearson when it comes to teaching us how to become an effective public speaker.
He worked with me early in my career.
He sat down with me many times and gave me feedback and tips and business coach mentor moments. And now we’ll have an opportunity for him to help you as well so more with the conversation of my interview with Brotherton and with Brother Carlton Pearson. So what why do you need to speak. I saw you do it countless times on Sunday. You seemed like any given Sunday you could you could deliver an unbelievable talk.
That would just be totally transparent. It would keep me pumped up from Sunday till about Tuesday and Wednesday Wednesday I’m going I need to get back on a Sunday. Thursday Friday I’m just holding on I’m just holding on trying to just keep on holding on. And then a Sunday bam it’s like a firecracker and you’d energize the audience motivate the audience. But it seemed like you always spoke from something you delivered. Even if it was the smallest story a story maybe that was you know doesn’t seem like a profound you had a way of making even the most simple things profound. Why is it so important to talk about something that you’ve lived from your actual story of possible.
I adopted the philosophy years ago that people would rather see a sermon than hear one any day. You don’t just preach a sermon you perform a sermon you you’re literally delivering part of yourself your soul into that crowd. They feel that they have been given something that you are and a speaker’s dream because you come with anticipation you come expecting and you get what you come for. I knew after years of drawing people that they liked to hear me speak so it was never intimidating to me because it was like being intimate with your wife. You know she’s expecting you’re expecting her there’s this one this and that happens when a pastor is with a crowd. And that same kind of week now when you’re speaking around the country to crowds that don’t haven’t experienced you in person there’s a fresh first flirting that goes a little flirtation. You first flirt with the crowd you caught the crowd which means you are Correa’s to them. And by the time you finish you’ve married and and gone to intimacy to where you’ve produced something together.
Now again you I you have told me this before and it might seem to me it seemed sort of bizarre when you first told me but you talked with your audience you need to build rapport. And you said you need to have communion. And I was thinking of it in the in the religious context of OK you’re having wine you’re having bread you’re talking about God’s blood and his bread represents his body but talk to me about how you flirt how you court how you build rapport how you build that common union or maybe even give us some examples. I mean just walk me through if you’re walking into an audience today maybe you can role play with us I mean just walk me through. How do you do it when you speak in front of an audience. What is your process for building that common union. And that report how do you do it.
Well first you have to have an attitude of intimacy. I like to define that into me see. They’re saying that to you and you’re saying that to them nonverbally you’re not actually saying that but you’re showing that it’s foreplay It’s like being intimate in the bed. There’s the foreplay and speakers there’s three there’s three the three basic aspects of speaking. Tell them what you’re going to tell them tell them and tell them what you told them. So there’s there’s a commonness Here’s what we’re going to say here’s what we’re going to do. Then we do it. Here’s what we did that that little principle stays with you everywhere. It can be more simple you make it more intimate. It is to become intimate with the crowd so you go in there. This almost sounds erotic. You you are erect because you’re going to inject or ejaculate into that crowd and there are all these ovaries all these eggs out there that are ready to be germinated. You’ve got a tournament and you’ve got to turn them up and you know how to turn them off you get them going so that somebody germinates you don’t birth it there necessarily but that there’s germination there’s fertilization in that crowd and the people leave knowing they have climaxed. They have had.
OK I’m going to put you on the spot. I want to ask you this. OK so let’s say in private audience right now and you’re doing a speaking event. And now let’s go with Florida OK. Can you imagine you’re going to Florida and they’re asking you to speak about let’s say the subject is about your world views. Now you’re kind of that universal world view that you’ve adopted. OK. And they don’t know who you are but they know of you. They’ve heard that they’ve heard about a book you’ve written. They’ve seen you on maybe CNN or something. Walk me through kind of give us an example of what you maybe would say to an audience of 100 people in Florida. What do you do. You’re on the stage how do you start.
Some people struggled to grasp the practical how do we do nothing grabs attention like a question because everybody is on a quest there wouldn’t even be that there’s an inquest or a request or a question. So if you start the encounter with a question you turn the focus off of you and on to them and then they start becoming responsible for the encounter. Otherwise they’re there. They’re viewers and not participants. You want to get them to become a participant so you start with a question like what’s what’s what’s working for you all you hundred people ask you I’m going to ask you what’s working for you. Well that gets them to thinking is my marriage work is my business work and how’s my body working. My my. They really become engaged with themselves and then you are in there helping arbitrate the discussion or the argument or the conversation because the people always are arguing with themselves. You are an arbitrator. Think about their arguments not yours. They go about their argument and engage it.
Now when you speak one thing is you’re very well read or at least you appear to be well-read I’ve ever been with you while you’re reading that because of a weird thing to watch a man read but you are a well-read person you’re well-versed it seems as though you’ve studied the origin of words the history of man philosophy theology. There’s a lot of things you’ve studied and there’s this there’s this concept in speaking called the Law of credibility where if you’re going to say something you need to really prove what you’re saying or provide some sort of factual basis or examples I want to I want to get into the law of credibility. You did such a masterful job as a pastor for years and I’ve seen you do it in other other venues as well. But why is it so important that you as a speaker have fully researched and know what you’re saying is in fact credible. First of all you owe it to people to impress them. Stay tuned. More about public speaking and how to become an effective communicator with Carlton Pearson when we return.
You know where it is. All right we’ll get back to the Thrivetime show on your radio. My name is Clay Clark I’m the former SBA Entrepreneur of the year sent here as a business coach to help your financial issues disappear. But on today’s show today’s thrive time business coach show we have a super guest on the broadcast. We have a guy who has delivered over five thousand sermons and whose life is now being turned into a major motion picture called Come Sunday. His life will be it will star the actor the made actor from the movie called 12 Years a Slave. You’re seeing that movie a phenomenal movie that was nominated for an Academy Award. The lead actor from that movie his name is to tell a for he will be playing the part of Brother Carlton Pearson and Martin Sheen will be playing the part of of Oral Roberts who was the mentor of Carlton Pearson. And then you’re going to have Danny Glover in the movie and you’re going to have condoled Rashad you’re going to have starring as is Gina Peerson Carlton’s wife in the whole movie is basically about his literal fall from grace. His decision to go from being the head of a megachurch to being a person who no longer even really espouses the Christian beliefs anymore. And so today’s show I know many of you are sensitive to the subject of today’s show.
We’re not going to be talking about religion and we’re not going to be talking about politics but we are going to talk about is something that Carlton Pearson is an absolute authority on and some that absolutely will impact your ability to succeed in the world of business and that is effective communication and effective public speaking. So Brother Pearson is now going to be teaching us more about how to develop confidence as in your speaking abilities how to become a confident speaker. I was able to interview him sit down with him at the man cave where we were always learning earning and burning. And I interviewed him and coming up next here we’re going to more from that insightful interview with Brother Carlton Pearson about how to develop your speaking skills. Get your pen and pad ready. The guy goes deep.
You are there another one to express but to impress if you know your job you do it with confidence. It has to do with the way you present yourself. They have to know that the person on this. Like if you started something you know very nervous. And then this is for them. Are you just you are discrediting yourself and you’re making the people carry you never make the people carry you carry the people even if you think they’re too heavy.
Now you you have you have this disability I’ve seen you do it where you seem to set the expectation for the audience within the first. I don’t know if you if you’re intentional about this or not but the first five or 10 minutes it seems like you’re able to develop a common union with your audience engage them and ask them. It seems as though you can ask them a question you can engage them but you also can create this expectation where people want to hear what you’re going to say because you’ve set the table. How do you build that expectation.
You make yourself interesting. If you you have to set the bar higher for yourself than you do for them. Make them reach up and look up and think up and then get up. But you’ve got to put something up there or out there. People like to look up but they also look down not only when they’re depressed but when they’re looking for something most people are looking for themselves. Not you know I think what you have to say so you have to to locate there help them locate themselves and you earn their respect. When you make them feel better not bitter better about themselves. Sometimes you start by complimented me on it’s I’m so glad you. What a beautiful room of people. I feel your energy. You’re very positive. I got such expectations here today that you’re going to make this easy for me. You’re commanding people. I can sense you’re going somewhere. You’re here with a mission. Oh my God. You just start just stroking them a stroke of them and you’ve won them almost 10 seconds.
Now did you were you taught this by Oral Roberts or somebody else or did you learn this or how did you come about that.
These these these moves I don’t know. I don’t know how it’s taught it but I do know I learned that that one of the things I used and you maybe think of something when you asked about. I used to see him come out on the stage and before I ever came to or you’d see something get going to happen to you. He would open the heat and open their television show. That makes the people you give the people a promise or commitment and instantly they start believing that something good is going to happen to you. Turn to your neighbor to say something good is good. Then you start getting them to feel comfortable with each other when you ask for them to participate. If you just let them listen they get bored faster if you make them become participants and say you’re not just here as a spectator. You do have a vision but I want you to participate in the energy in the room. There’s energy in this room now all would say oh there’s faith in this place tonight. Glory to God there’s going to be miracles I can sense it. I felt it when I walked in the door. All the energy is so high the anticipation. You are great. Oh it’s going to be easy to get miracle. You just stroking them. So whatever the subject matter is boy I feel the high energy in this place. Everybody get your head just for a second. I asked you to do something you may not become. Stand up straight. Do you know start getting them to relax.
How did you. Did you observe oral because when you entered when did you attend Oral Roberts University from 1971 to 75.
You had some impressive hair by the way back in the day. You had a seriously impressive afro I want you to know that I’ve seen that on TV. It’s documented. That was quite a large mop. There was a work of art. It was impressive. Who was it. So when you came to are you and you hit it off with Oral Roberts when you watched him and you were trying to kind of teach his speaking skills. Do you think the ministry would have taken off if he would not have been an excellent speaker.
No. Not like it did. He had pride because he was a stutterer from birth. His command of the language and articulation became very important to him. He pulled me aside one time and he said if you’re going to speak you got to slow down son you’re talking too fast and you must enunciate every word. Speak with clarity. We really live service and we didn’t or didn’t have a lot of time to sit with me unless it was planned so he would tell me what it needed Tell me why we’re sitting in the crowds there. Now watch this. Watch this movie and see what he did. Watch how I do it. I didn’t know he was grooming me to succeed or to be a major part of the succession if not the success or of his ministry. So I noticed his diction and then I ask him about that he said for radio for communication.
Yes not just about you speaking it’s about them hearing when you were taught these moves. What are some of the moves that Oral Roberts taught you where he said hey son look at this area. I’m an Ahmadu this watch this. See it this way. I just did this. This is what happened I mean what were some of the moves he taught you.
One of the Move the first time he did that the sound guy was just screwing up the whole evening. I mean he wouldn’t get anything right. And I was trying to lead the music and I kept having to tell him to turn it up Turn it down do this. And he he got frustrated and just stood up and walked over there to the mike. I mean I came back and sat on it between songs he said let me tell you to do this watch me before you leave the next song. He got up in and blasted the guy. He said You give me exactly what I want. Get somebody who will sound man Mr. sound man I need you to do this. And it was stunning the whole choir crowd got quiet and I got froze. And then he sat back down. He said how do you like that?
So now what’s another move or else we’re kind of going back to the past we’re going back and again this is I know it’s tough because I mean you had to I mean you physically felt heavy with that much hair on your head at that point. But that hair helmet I mean you walked me through. Walk me through. What were some other moves that he taught you.
I watched him when went during the specials and the television. Usually when we singers got finished. Everybody went to get a coke went to go to bathroom.
I found a corner somewhere on the set and I did not move he only talked about 18 minutes and I sat there and studied every move from his breaths from his intonations for how he looked at the camera he said to me one time see the camera not as a crouch don’t see it as one person speak to them like you’re speaking to one individual have a conversation with them and every person in the crowd who felt like nobody in the room but you and them that’s how you connect.
That was when I asked him about television some years afterward. But I had noticed that he would do that looking right in the camera and his eyes and the voice inflection but the gestures the looks high moved his hands how he dressed how he stood whether he had boots on or flats. If he was comfortable or not he was always making sure he was comfortable. He cleared his throat a lot because he had flammable acid reflux. I’d have to clear his throat. You could hear that he lost his lungs sometimes refilled it’s still the tubercular remain so he was very conscious of his lungs delivery how he felt.
So the moves I’m kind of document the moves one is is he taught you to speak slow and to enunciate. Now I grew up as a starter as well couldn’t really talk very well until the sixth grade. And I think anybody who’s an ambitious speaker the first rookie move we do is to talk to fast educate us on how you’ve learned to slow down what you would maybe be telling yourself if you’re speaker right now what we should be doing if we know that our Achilles heel is speaking too fast. When we come back after the break. Brother Carlton Pearson will be teaching us even more about how to become an effective communicator. Stay tuned it’s the prime time show on your radio. Your number one business coach.