When I worked as an engineer, I struggled with public speaking, inundating my audience with data, graphs, charts, and every buzzword that I could muster. “We need to shift the paradigm with this disruptive technology, which, at the end of the day, is sure to gain traction by year’s end.” Maybe I wasn’t THAT insufferable!

I thought I had to use jargon to get my point across and to hide the fact that I was sweating entire oceans under my shirt. I had to grab the audience's attention, but didn’t know how. I never prepared for speeches, but always wondered why they never went as well as I had hoped. Through trial and error, constructive feedback, and self-reflection, I developed a process that helped me get much better at giving speeches that got results. No more staring into space.

If you keep finding yourself making excuses; this assessment will help you understand the cause and better understand the severity of not activating.