Media Training Question # 15 – What If I Just Can’t Do This?

Sept. 9, 2010 - PRLog -- I have been blessed throughout my life as a media trainer.  It’s as much an avocation as a career and even during the entire time as a media trainer I had dedicated many hours a day to my nationally syndicated radio show, which was my passion, it was my concurrent work as a media trainer that kept me grounded, more centered, more present.  I have been gifted by the numerous people who have entered and exited my life as a media trainer.  Some of them come to me neatly wrapped and ready to roll, with a few minor adjustments, some come to me confident, but not comfortable with being front and center with the media, a concern that is easily managed.  And then there are those few who come to me with stone-cold fear in their hearts and with an undeniable trepidation that they just can’t interact with the media.  Of course they can, and they do.

I can tell you that my very favorite clients are in the last category for a variety of reasons, but the under the covers reason is very selfish, I’ll be very upfront about that, the journey from the first step to the final step isn’t just about transformation and transcendence.  It’s not even about courage and ability.  But when it’s all said and done, there is something so profoundly empowering about helping someone discover their personal power, a power so deeply hidden that when they find it they can hardly believe it’s them at all.  If you have ever experienced this personally you know words barely touch the emotion and affirmation of this experience.

The video I posted this time is a commercial, actually it’s a viral video from the people who make Pantene shampoo.  The video is subtitled in English because it was released for the Thai market, but that really makes no difference for us today, and when you watch it, you’ll know why.  But before you do watch it, unless of course you already have, I want to offer to you a small window into my world.

I was not born a media trainer, as you were not born a banker, per se.  It may have been part of some divine plan, and I am not here to dissect that, but it is safe to assume we come into this world with a set of opportunities, skills, notions, and maybe even priorities.  Some of it is learned and some of it is gifted, as we discover on that path to adulthood.  We become who we are sometimes by nature as much as how we are nurtured.  I don’t claim to have any earth shattering ideologies to confirm any of this, save my own internal observations and meditations.  But I digress.

You come to me, the media trainer, seeking a skill set that I have and you need.  You want to be sure that after you are media trained you have a skill set that will give you advantages and opportunities you didn’t have previously.  I can tell you with great joy that the media training process is truly an amazing and enlightening process that as a journey takes you from point A to point B in a pretty definable way.  Although the formula can and does differ from client to client, one single thread weaves its way into the process.  It’s called discovery.  A discovery of hidden messages and hidden talents; a discovery of paths and possibilities never before thought or explored.  I only wish you could all experience what it is like to help someone find their voice and to discover for the first time that the work they have dedicated their time, love and energy toward is coming to bear fruit.  It is truly a gift to be present during that transformation.  And, again, as you have probably already guessed, I take this very seriously. It’s just who I am.

So what does all this have to do with a shampoo commercial?  

Let’s go back to the favorite client.  This is a person best defined by brilliance and a genius that is slap me in the face great.  They are, or have been to this point without exception, people who exhibit great courage, intelligence, compassion and uncommon dedication.  But, they all share their real and honest fear that they can’t promote themselves.  They fear at the most naked level how terrified they are that the work they have done has all been for naught.  That they will never, ever be able to stand out and express in their own words what they have accomplished and why we need what they have to say.  These are real fears and I never judge someone by what they fear for I have fears as well that most of them and perhaps you would find down right silly.  The point here is that the mind that created their brilliant, inspiring message is the same mind that will set them free, but it is a process and it is a process worth exploring and then a journey worth taking.

This viral video was made not to be a television commercial but an internet marketing strategy.  It worked, but that matters not for the sake of my comments.  It is beautiful. It captures the very essence of my message here today and it allows and maybe even demands that you think differently about stale belief systems and preconceived notions.  You will, I can promise you will, want to share this video with many people,  You will find yourself watching it over and over again, and you will talk about it because it hits at all the basic emotions we care about.  The most cynical among us will probably care not about this video, but it is a true expression of what we can do if we set our mind to it.

It’s an old story really.  One of my favorite sayings is the famous quote by Henry Ford, “whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right”.    It is basic, true and teachable.  Teachable is the key here.

How many of you see yourself and your life and wonder, what if?  How many of you dig deep inside your soul for answers that seemingly never come?  How many of you, out of pure and unadulterated fear have NOT done something because you didn’t have the confidence to take the first step?  How many, let’s be honest?

We will always live in complicated and tenuous times and there will always be road blocks on the highway of life, that is a given, but to be able to say that you broke through old belief systems and archaic habits to achieve something thought by you alone as something that could never be realized is true freedom by any definition.  That, happily, is the world I get to live in from time to time.

How we get there I will save for some future post, but I have been fortunate to travel this great country as a radio show host, a motivational speaker, an author and as a media trainer, and in all four of those worlds I have witnessed this phenomena.  

Maybe if a shampoo commercial can help reset your idea of what’s possible, it works for you on that level.  Maybe I’m absolutely crazy to think that anyone watching a shampoo commercial can ever be freed from their self imposed prison, but I have seen some glorious things happen when I am able to tap into someone’s emotional luggage and help them see the contents in the light of day.  At some level the work I do as a media trainer is therapeutic, but not just for the client, sometimes it is for me, too.

Believe!

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Tony has spent the better part of the past two decades in and around the media. As the host of his own nationally syndicated radio programs for 15 years, Tony has interviewed over 25,000 guests and appeared as a guest on over 800 radio and national television shows. He founded of his own public relations firm and he went on to author two books and became a “go to” authority on a myriad of issues from weight loss to self empowerment; from politics to pop culture. Tony’s list of media training clients number over 2000, many of them well known celebrities and authors. He often works under confidentially agreements and enjoys of the challenge of helping people discover their voice.
Tony is respected and well known for his honesty and willingness to do what it takes to get to a core message. He works tirelessly with his clients and advocates for his clients in finding the most passionate and profound tenets of their message and then giving them the tools to deliver that message.