Many of you know that a little more than two years ago—just before COVID hit—I did my first- ever TEDx talk in Sonoma County. The title of my presentation was “Curveballs and Blind Spots: Navigating Uncertainty.” Wow—was that ever a prognostication of what was to come!
Overall, doing the TEDx talk was a fabulous experience. The preparation was very challenging, but I had a blast sharing my “Big Idea” with an audience of nearly 1,000 and meeting all the other inspiring speakers. And the experience turned out to be the genesis of my new book: When the Curveballs Keep Coming: A Leadership Playbook for an Uncertain World.
At the time, of course, I had no idea how many curveballs I would face along the way to successfully delivering that talk. Now, looking back more than two years later, I thought I would share some of my own “curveball moments”—and how I overcame them.
Curveball #1: The Performance Review
I have done quite a bit of public speaking throughout my career, but had never gone without the safety net of having notes, which is the rule at TED. I was fortunate to find a great speaker coach, Elizabeth Bachman, to help shape and polish my delivery.
Before my first rehearsal with Elizabeth, I drafted and redrafted my talk over and over, to the point where I felt confident in the message. I knew I needed some work, but I felt I was on the right track. As I read it for her at our first Zoom meeting, I thought my delivery was pretty darn good. But Elizabeth immediately countered: “OK, that was good. NOW – I want to see a performance!”
I have to admit, this was a curveball that set me back a little. It was still early in the process, and I was hoping for a bit more positive support. But Elizabeth is good at what she does because she is direct, no-nonsense, and wants her clients to be stars.
So I dug deep and tried adding more emotion and energy as we worked through countless Zoom rehearsals after that, with Elizabeth continuing to hurl mini-curveballs my way (“OK, do it again; and again; and again…”). At times I lost confidence and felt like I was never going to make it. But I did—and I know that I would never have been able to take the stage that day without her tough love approach.
Curveball #2: Smoky Skies
In the fall of 2019, as I got closer to the program date, I felt both nervous and excited. I continued to rehearse almost constantly, and recruited everyone around me to sit and be my audience for 15 minutes. I had one final Zoom rehearsal with Elizabeth, and she exclaimed: “That was excellent—you got it.” I was ready!
But Mother Nature had other plans. The Sonoma County area where the TEDx event was being held has dealt with devastating wildfires over the last decade, and 2019 was no exception. I had been watching the news for weeks before the event, hoping the fires would miss the area. But just one week before the event, the town of Santa Rosa was ordered to evacuate, and the TEDx event was postponed indefinitely.
This curveball, of course, cannot compare to the terrible losses suffered by the people of Sonoma who had to get out of harm’s way. But, after all my hard work, it was hard to accept the uncertainty as to when (if ever) the program would be rescheduled.
Curveball #3: Let’s Just Change…Everything
The Sonoma TEDx program was eventually rescheduled for two months later, in late January 2020. Over the holidays, I had to dust off my talk and get back in rehearsal mode. I was rusty at first, but remembered all the advice and counsel that Elizabeth had provided—and how well-prepared and confident I had been.
On the Friday before the program, I showed up at the theater to do a trial run on the actual stage, with lights and microphones and everything. I was the first speaker to arrive, so I took the stage first. Better to get it over with early, I thought, so I could relax and get ready for the real deal on Saturday.
As I stepped onto the famous “red circle” on the stage, I started speaking…and then, a few minutes in, stumbled and forgot where I was in my talk. They said, no problem, relax. Let’s take it from the top. I started again and made it through to the end.
Then the onsite staff offered feedback. I won’t go into detail here, but let’s just say that their thoughts on pacing, tone, and animation were all completely the opposite of the tips that Elizabeth had given me. I nodded yes, OK, fine, I’ll try that. But I felt sick to my stomach, almost like I was disconnected from my body. How could I seriously take this feedback into consideration with less than 24 hours before my “real” talk?
I didn’t sleep well that night. I tossed and turned, thinking about how I could change my delivery at this late time. But, at some point during the night, I realized there was little I could do. I decided to just be myself, make a few self-deprecating comments to lighten up my talk and engage the audience, and hope for the best.
Curveball #4: Following Frank
On Saturday morning, we arrived at the theater, and I headed for the Green Room to wait with the other performers. There were eight speakers that day; I was number four. I knew that the speaker before me, a guy named Frank, was a circus performer/speaker/entertainer. I wasn’t sure what his talk was about (maybe I should have been concerned when he offered to teach us how to juggle while we were waiting in the Green Room), but I figured he had been vetted like the rest of us.
Before Frank left the Green Room, I told him, “Be sure to warm the audience up for me.” Little did I know! I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I could hear the audience laughing. Then, about half-way through Frank’s talk, the speaker contact approached me and said: “When Frank gets on his unicycle, that’s when you should go backstage and get ready to go on.” Huh? When Frank does what??
Backstage, I could hear the audience howling with laughter as Frank rode his (yes) unicycle back and forth while simultaneously throwing things into the audience. He is a circus performer, after all.
Well, this was a curveball I had no answer for. All I could think of was: “Talk about a tough act to follow!” So that’s exactly what I said to the audience as I stepped onto the stage. I guess that was the icebreaker that we all needed. Once they laughed, I relaxed, and I went on to (finally!) deliver my talk.
Lessons Learned
Is there a lesson here? Well, I certainly learned that the curveballs will keep coming. The sooner you acknowledge that, the sooner you can start to look at unrelenting uncertainty from the perspective of opportunity, rather than defeat or resignation. And then you will be able to make uncertainty work for you.
Even if you have to follow the unicycle guy!