Improve Your Communication Abilities. Dr. Michael Gerharz

Dr. Michael Gerharz Audio

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[00:00:00] Dr. Michael Gerharz: it feels like it might be a , much more worthwhile goal to, to ask yourself to pursue the journey of getting it right rather than being right

[00:00:26] Catherine: Hello there. I'm Catherine, your host of this variety show podcast. Your positive imprint is transforming how we live today for a more sustainable tomorrow through education and information. Your own positive actions inspire change. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram, your positive imprint. Connect with me on LinkedIn. Visit my website, your positive imprint.com and learn more about the podcast and sign up for email updates.

[00:00:55] And thank you for listening on apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, [00:01:00] Podbean, Pandora. Well. Your favorite podcast platform. Music by the legendary and talented Chris Nole check him out, ChrisNole.com c H R I S N O L E. Thank you again for listening and for your support of this podcast.

[00:01:19] Your positive imprint.

[00:01:21] what's your P. I.

[00:01:23] Catherine: Today's guest. Dr. Michael Gerharz was raised in Germany. His mentor was a teacher that he had who evaluated his writing and communication skills with precision.

[00:01:35] And he found that clarity in his words made the the difference for him in getting his messages heard. He learned the art of communicating. Earning his doctorate from the University of Bonn, Germany, Dr. Gerharz moved into the world of executive coaching where he works with people wanting to change the world and helps them create slogans and the right words.[00:02:00]

[00:02:00] Dr. Michael Gerharz can help you light the path by creating messages that incite action and create movement. Get inspired, identify your own voice and identify your own positive imprint and become active. I know it's hard sometimes. And let me share a quote with you from the Greek philosopher Democritus.

[00:02:22] He said this around 485 BC. Very simply said. "Speech is the shadow of action". Well, my guest today says the same thing and here are Dr. Michael Gerharz's words. "When using words to help make change more WOW won't help. The WOW only makes your audience cheer louder with YAY. What a great show. But to make change happen, you want your audience to shout,

[00:02:54] oh, what a great idea." Dr. Michael, Gerharz [00:03:00] welcome to the show.

[00:03:03] Dr. Michael Gerharz: Hello, Catherine. It's a pleasure to be here.

[00:03:06] Catherine: Oh, thank you. And we've met, we've been talking, I've been learning so much about you. You have this great insight into the world of leadership and words . That's such a great, not just a skill.

[00:03:21] But it's an art to be able to bring that to others and to help them. So thank you for that. .

[00:03:28] Dr. Michael Gerharz: Thanks a lot. Yeah. And actually I stumbled into that by accident because well, I'm so sort of the most unlikely guy to stumble into the world of communication because , my background is a computer scientist.

[00:03:42] And when I tell people about the background, the most common reaction is a, surprised stare because I mean, aren't computer scientists supposed to be the pale guys sitting down in their cellar, [00:04:00] hacking all the night through eating pizza and running away crying when someone speaks to them? Well, apparently not. At least I don't identify with that sort of image of a computer scientist.

[00:04:12] And certainly my friends didn't as well, but yeah. Nevertheless, what I, what I learned sort of the hard way was that yes, communication is often getting in the way of bringing great ideas, brilliant ideas into the world. I've had my fair share of boring presentations and brilliant ideas fail because of boring presentations, which was one of the reasons that I took a detour and left the field of computer science to actually go on the route of asking myself and helping others to find the answers to 'how can I communicate my ideas in a way that not only I see the brilliance of it, but, but also my, my audience, my customers, the team I'm working

[00:04:57] Catherine: with.'

[00:04:58] That's so interesting. And I want to [00:05:00] get to what you just said. And also the quote that I used in the introduction, because something you just mentioned has so much to do with that quote, but first you are from Germany, you were born and raised in Germany. And so, you know, listeners being that this podcast is international it's

[00:05:22] so impressive and wonderful and fabulous to be able to hear a little bit about culture and how life might be different in different parts of the world. Or the same, because , we are all connected in some way today. Certainly by communication and technology. Yeah.

[00:05:42] Dr. Michael Gerharz: I have three children. We have a dog, we live in a beautiful house with a garden.

[00:05:47] My kids are going to school. We have Netflix. And Disney + and enjoy watching those shows. We enjoy reading great books. We enjoy playing music [00:06:00] and making music together as a, as a family going on walks, um, through through the forests or, or at, uh, down at the river Rhine, which crosses quite nearby to my town.

[00:06:12] And that's how everyday life looks like. And of course, then there's the broader, broader situation

[00:06:20] Via the internet. And that's actually something that I'm very happy about. More modern technology brings us so close together that although we live in totally different places, we can spend the time together having meaningful connections, building strong bonds, and even having connections

[00:06:40] like the one that we currently do across the ocean, across the Atlantic ocean in totally different parts of the world and still feel connected.

[00:06:51] Catherine: So let's go to "speech is the shadow of action." What you had talked about before we got into a little bit about [00:07:00] yourself and Germany, there's another quote. So Ernest Hemingway, he said, "never confuse movement with action". And I think that that's definitely what you're saying is, you know, you have the movement happening

[00:07:17] but where's the action.? You take it from here and how you are helping to light the path for people around the world with words.

[00:07:28] Dr. Michael Gerharz: Yeah. I mean, so many things have shifted in recent times and the internet, certainly it has play plays a major role in, in that, uh, in that shift that we are seeing that empowers people who have an important story to tell. To be able to tell that to a large audience that wasn't even accessible to the most successful keynote speakers, just 10 or 20 years back when a hall would be filled by just a few thousand people.

[00:07:59] And today I can [00:08:00] publish a video on YouTube that reaches a hundred million people. Just by the power of the words that I'm using and the story that I'm telling, uh, telling in that video, and this is something that we see happening today in which has a huge impact on the role of communication for leaders and leadership.

[00:08:22] , it was always the case that leadership is to a large degree a communication process. That's one of the most important tools that a leader has, but, but the way that we communicate has shifted a lot by this let's call it democratization of being able to tell your story, because when a few decades back

[00:08:46] so it's sort of in the times of our grandparents, it was sufficient to just have the authority to speak it because leadership was still largely based on the hierarchical level that you were [00:09:00] on. And you could on the, on the top layer, you could just command and control and teams where we're expected to follow.

[00:09:05] When you told them what to do. That has changed a lot. I mean, our parents had sort of the try the curve and sticks model, where they use incentives to motivate people with external incentives. Like let's call it either by force or by candy. So if you do three things very well, you get, get some sort of bonus.

[00:09:24] Uh, but that's all external. And what has shifted today is that we have an abundance of people who are able to tell a story that, that we can choose to which stories we attach. And today it is much more important than it has ever been to tell a story in a way that resonates with what is important to the people that we are trying to reach, that resonates with the values that they subscribe to with what, what matters to their life. And when we fail to do so, when we still just

[00:09:58] consider [00:10:00] giving a speech as giving it, rather than thinking that through to the end, that is the purpose of a speech is not to give it, but to be received by the audience and even more to incite action, change their minds so that they feel inspired to take action. And when you still get stuck In the stories that you tell from your own word, only bragging about the things that are awesome from your perspective and not resonating with what what's important to your audience, relating it to their life

[00:10:31] then you're going to have to confront a much more difficult time in the future. Trying to resonate with what's important to people's lives will lead us to much more valuable valuable team that then we would have if we just stick to forcing them to what we want them to do.

[00:10:49] Catherine: I think that you've hit on some really important points.

[00:10:53] Realities are different

[00:10:56] and how do we reach those, those [00:11:00] realities so that those people understand as Democritus said and what you said, that's the first part of the, WOW. But that's not the entire WOW. Right?

[00:11:09] Dr. Michael Gerharz: You get right to the heart of the matter with that question. That is really the crucial shift that needs to happen when we relate that to a great movie

[00:11:20] that we are watching. What great movies do with us is that they allow us to live another person's life. A life that we would never be able to live ourselves, that we probably wouldn't even dare to live there, but any way, by looking at that person, we get to live that life. So and what happens is that, although we look at the hero, what we see is us.

[00:11:49] And that's the big difference between a speech that resonates and one that doesn't because the latter, although they might [00:12:00] tell a similar story, the latter, while talking to themselves, we never get through over that threshold to seeing us in their story, because they are so focused on themselves that they forget to, to open the door for us to project our life into their story.

[00:12:19] And a few years back that that was sufficient probably when attention is something that, that you can buy, like in the seventies and eighties, where everyone was basically watching the same program and we could just buy the attention of our audience by buying the advertisement slot before the news or a large one pager ad in a magazine. What we needed to do because when attention is ,scarce when selection is scarce , we just need to be the one who's front, front, and center to their eyes, but we don't have that situation anymore.

[00:12:56] So what we need to do is to [00:13:00] to find a way to get the attention of people who aren't willing to pay attention to something that has no importance for them. And that means that that people who have an important story to tell who have something who have a product that actually has an impact on their life, who are, whose

[00:13:22] style of leadership is actually attaching to what matters to their team as a person has a much higher probability of, of getting through. And that bridges back to where you started your question to, what do we need to do when we want to shift that perspective and get from just telling a story from our own limited worldview to telling a story that relates to our audience's lives.

[00:13:48] And the thing that actually has changed a lot that today we need to actually level up our ability to show and find empathy for others, to see the [00:14:00] others and to find the others, which is also in a way a very old finding it's, it's nothing new that before talking, you need to listen. And when you want to, when, when you want to reach someone, when you want someone to look to see you the easiest way

[00:14:17] to achieve that is to see them first, to give them the feeling of I see you. I hear you. And when I do that, when I open the eyes for who is that person I'm talking to, not the target group, but the person whose life I wanted to affect for whom I've built that product to actually improve their everyday life-

[00:14:39] who is that? What are the things that they are struggling with so that I have a chance of getting specific. Telling stories about a life that they can relate to. They see themselves in so that when I tell my story, they look at me, but they see themselves. That's where, where the most effective [00:15:00] stories are to be found today.

[00:15:02] Catherine: I love listening to you and how you phrased everything. You can get visuals and your words are the way you communicate. It is just perfect for understanding. And you mentioned the word empathy. So not everybody has that. How, as a coach in communication, how do you teach empathy? Or can you teach empathy?

[00:15:33] Well,

[00:15:34] Dr. Michael Gerharz: first of all, I'd like to w get to what you mentioned that well, not everyone has empathy. I mean, I, I tend to doubt that. There, there might be some medical conditions, like sociopathic behavior that people actually aren't physically able to show empathy, but that's the vast minority [00:16:00] of people. The vast majority of people actually is able to feel empathy.

[00:16:05] If we are able to feel anything, we are able to feel empathy.

[00:16:09] Catherine: Oh, I like that.

[00:16:10] I like that. The

[00:16:11] Dr. Michael Gerharz: thing we are not used to is to look through different so to say different glasses; to change our perspective; to actually stand up from the table I'm sitting at and changing it around, for example, Amazon uses for their product.

[00:16:28] That's probably one of the reasons why they're so close to what their their customers actually desire is because they, in every meeting, they have an empty chair there, and that is reserved for the customer. Starbucks does the same. They even have mentally added two chairs, one for the customers and one for the employee.

[00:16:47] And whenever a decision is about to be made, they will ask themselves, will that make my employee and my customers proud? And if it doesn't, then there's reason to discuss that. [00:17:00] Then there's reason to ask yourself, 'why am I doing it if not for the people I seek to serve?' And with the people that help me to serve those people, because those are the ones that I should make proud.

[00:17:11] And if I, if I manage to do that, the rest, especially the bottom line will take care of itself. One of the most important things that I do when I work with clients is that I first of all, listen to their story, try to have them say it in their own words, without the marketing department intervening or without the public watching whether every word is just perfect.

[00:17:36] And then asking questions. That's probably even more important than the first one - asking questions, the obvious ones, the non-obvious ones, but also, and that's probably the most important of all three, the two obvious ones, the ones that you don't ask maybe anymore, or that your team doesn't dare to ask because you're the boss and they don't dare question you [00:18:00] or, or you just fear the answer of what happens when the answer is not as we wish it to be. But that's actually necessary work.

[00:18:10] If we want to reach our audience, we need to ask the question because they're asking it anyways. And today choice is so wide that, that they go on to find an answer that is more suitable to them than ours, that they probably won't like. So if we don't ask, our customers will ask those questions so that it it's important that you are the first to ask you the question, how does it relate to my audience?

[00:18:37] How, how is it perceived by them? And that's the third step that's really a consequence of, of those two, that you change glasses, that you change seats, that you look at your own words from another person's perspective. And that's what I'm trying to do to be that sort of mirror for them to, to reflect upon so that they [00:19:00] can see I'm not not the one who tells them what, what are the right words.

[00:19:03] I'm just trying to make them see what their, what their words are doing to the persons they are trying to reach.

[00:19:11] Catherine: That is just so phenomenal let's do talk about light the path and what you're doing, but first, is there anything that you want to add that we haven't, that you weren't able to share that you really want to bring into this conversation that we're having?

[00:19:33] Dr. Michael Gerharz: I'm totally confident in the way that you guide us through, through that conversation.

[00:19:38] I'm super happy with, with how you extract the most important thing. So I'm just curious of where you are leading the conversation next.

[00:19:47] Catherine: Oh, okay.

[00:19:50] Well, so now I want to talk about, uh, the world of perspectives because you just raised some really [00:20:00] awesome awesome parts of everybody's reality or the perspectives.

[00:20:05] You are a renowned international speaker. You go to different places to speak, and it's not all going to be, okay, this is going to be a medical group. These are going to be lawyers, uh, et cetera, sometimes they're mixed. So how do you get your perspective so that you're allowing still that

[00:20:30] philosophical thought for people to narrow in on what the words are that you are saying and accepting your ideas so that they can take action..

[00:20:44] Dr. Michael Gerharz: Yeah. I mean, first of all, although we might be, might have very different occupations and we might have different passions ranging from medicine to literature, to, to IT, to [00:21:00] banking, to sports.

[00:21:01] In the end, we are all humans and as humans, we can relate to other humans. And that is the first, the first crucial step that we need to take, that, that we don't speak about, about products, about things so much then to speak about what people do with the things, how people use the sort of sports training that you were developing or how people are affected by the new treatment that you've developed or how they are using the new software that you were developing and how it changes their lives.

[00:21:38] And so by relating it to humans and, and painting pictures of humans lives before and after they encountered your idea, your product, your, your vision for the future helps them to relate to them what they do. And then of course, what's, what's important if you, if you really want to, to get close to the people, reach out to [00:22:00] them or engage with them, interact with them.

[00:22:03] Try to try to find out a little bit about the culture of that tribe of people of that group of people. What do they care about? What are their current struggles? Probably even read one or two magazines from them to find out what are current problems that they're dealing with so that, that you can find the empathy of how they look at things, how they look at the world.

[00:22:25] And even probably if you have the chance to talk to some, many of them so that you can actually find find the stories that they can connect to because it is the, the things that they are dealing with in their daily lives

[00:22:44] does that help?

[00:22:45] Catherine: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And that, that brings me to uh, quite another part of, of what you do so well.

[00:22:55] So you talk about what their interests are and, and, uh, what [00:23:00] inspires them, what makes them move? So one of the things that you do is, you do put forth questions, both in German and in English. You ask the public specif very specific questions about - I'll give one example because there's many, but I'll give one. Books.

[00:23:21] So you want to know what people are reading out there. What types of books inspire them? You really wanted to know about me and what made me move and so, and that was one example. And I know I don't, I think I gave you Melinda Gates book. I don't remember,

[00:23:36] but I did. Okay. 'The Moment of Lift.' Yeah. So I think that hearing you and having you here, I am learning a lot and your perspective on life and your professional work and your studies

[00:23:59] really [00:24:00] have brought you forward to where you're allowing others to have their moment of lift and I think that's an incredible place to be. So what are some of the other books that people, you know, brought to your attention that inspired them or that, or even if it was a romance novel, cause maybe they were inspired by the romance or the relationship in the book?

[00:24:22] Dr. Michael Gerharz: Yeah, there were two, two actually novels that I read recently that had a great impact on me. One was a German book. I'm not sure whether that's available in English. It's the translation will be at 'The Book of a Summer.'. And it's about the person who who who felt that he wasn't living the life who was a successful person.

[00:24:47] He was business owner, but who he felt that he wasn't living the life that he was meant to live in, which was the life of an author of a writer, novelist, which his uncle was. [00:25:00] And through the course of the book, he found out profound truth about life and himself that led to quite as I will put it, unusual answer to that question.

[00:25:12] I mean, there are a lot of books about pursuing your dreams and how that's sort of the only answer that exists to that question. That yes, you should go for that truth. But he found actually a surprising answer to them that might be much more tangible for a lot of people out there who just feel that there is that dream, but

[00:25:35] would who also feel that it might not be that they are Picasso, who is solely focused on, on his art or Hemingway who's solely focused on his writing. That's also not, not them. And that was a very pleasing story for me. And the other was by Celeste Ng. I don't know how her, her last name is pronounced. The book is 'Everything I Never [00:26:00] Told You' that, which is about sort of love going wrong. The love of parents for their children going wrong, which, and it's about two parents who try to, to enable everything they didn't have during their upbringing and their life and making that happen for their daughter. And in doing that out of love

[00:26:25] missing to see her as the person that she actually was, with the needs that she actually had. And that was a really moving book for me. That that was recommended to me recently.

[00:26:38] Catherine: Well, I'm so glad that you're diving into some of those books. And I find my podcast when I meet people like you and others, I find the people I have just so inspiring.

[00:26:50] And some of the things that they say are, I will have maybe a paraplegic or an amputee on the show and they say, that's [00:27:00] not what identifies me and what identifies me is the work, the things that inspire them and that they are able to, inspire others. Talking to you and, and hearing all of this has just been enlightening and certainly will help me to improve as well

[00:27:18] So now you have a podcast. And so I want you to be able to share a little bit about that podcast because it really is a fabulous podcast.

[00:27:27] Dr. Michael Gerharz: Thanks. So to me it appears that I'm just thinking out loud. Although, of course I try to make it concise and I deliberately chose the format of two minutes twice a week because I feel that we have an abundance of podcasts.

[00:27:41] We have podcasts that specialize on the things that we currently do in diving deep into specific stories and showing the human side. But somehow, I felt that we have a lack of podcasts that do the opposite, that really are there to fill the gaps in- between [00:28:00] those, those podcasts or the way between here and the bus stop, where I just need that extra kick

[00:28:07] before I dive into that meeting where I just get that extra stroke of, uh, let's say let's call it insight that that provides me with a different perspective on the things that I normally do and makes me stop to ask myself, might there a diff be a different way? And that's what I try to do to show you a way that might be

[00:28:34] different from what you currently do and invite you to try that out and to have a look at whether doing things a little bit differently than you'd normally do that might just increase the impact and get you the influence that you deserve.

[00:28:50] It's called "Leaders Light the Path" and in any podcast platform. Or visit my website.

[00:28:55] MichaelGerharz.com/podcast. You'll reach that podcast, but you also [00:29:00] find that by searching for Leaders Light the Path on all the podcasting platforms from Apple podcasts to Spotify, Amazon music, you name it. Yeah.

[00:29:09] Catherine: Okay. And for the listeners, it is in English for the listeners. M I C H A E L G E R H A R Z .COM

[00:29:21] MichaelGerharz.com Leaders Light the Path now, Dr. Gerharz are there any last minute inspiring words that you'd like to share?

[00:29:38] Dr. Michael Gerharz: Yeah, yeah, probably about a thing, a question that I stumbled across. When I recognize that this year actually is the, is going to become the 42nd birthday of "The Hitchiker's Guide the Galaxy". Oh my gosh. Famous novel Douglas Adams. The radio [00:30:00] show is actually one year older, but the book has been published 42 years.

[00:30:03] And as you might know that the number 42 plays a major role in that novel because it turns out that 42 is sort of the answer to the question, to the universal question about life universe and the rest. The only problem is that nobody knows the answer. And I find that to be a very timely observation because I find that we are, we are living

[00:30:31] in a time that's obsessed with answers with people who feel they are being right and doing everything to, to, to maintain that status of being right while 42 years back Douglas Adams has so beautifully and eloquently taught us that it's sometimes much more difficult and I feel also much more worthwhile

[00:30:54] to take a step back to ask, so what was the question actually? What are we trying to find out? [00:31:00] And that it's, it feels like it might be a more, much more worthwhile goal to, to ask yourself to, to, to pursue the journey of getting it right rather than being right. So to be able to ask the right question, rather than try to have all the answers already, because in the end, we're all on a path and nobody knows

[00:31:22] the answer to most things. The world would be a much nicer place if, if we try it more to get things right, rather than to be right and fight for our positions rather than shift perspectives and try to understand the other person's perspective.

[00:31:38] Catherine: Thank you so much for those words.

[00:31:41] What tremendous insight and inspiration, and you've provided so much. And I, I appreciate that you are providing this service to the world and that you're painting a picture for us all into a better community and better communication with each [00:32:00] other.

[00:32:00] Dr. Michael Gerharz,. Thank you so much for being here on Your Positive Imprint

[00:32:06] Dr. Michael Gerharz: thanks. It was a pleasure,

[00:32:08] Catherine: your positive imprint. What's your P.I

[00:32:10] Learn more about Dr. Michael Gerhartz from michaelgerhartz. com. And once again, that's G E R H A R Z. Listen to his podcast, Irresistible Communication, also found as Leaders Light the Path. And, since the launch of this episode, he has published a book and it's available on Amazon, and it is a bestseller.

[00:32:36] Congratulations, Dr. Gerharz. The title, The Path to Strategic Impact, What Great Leaders Understand About Strategy Communication and Others Don't. Path, by the way, is path. Plain and simple, actionable, transformative, and heartfelt.

[00:32:53] Your positive imprint is a free podcast. If you'd like to buy me a coffee to help fund the production of this [00:33:00] podcast, here's how go to buymeacoffee.

[00:33:04] com. Slash. Your positive imprint, and any support you offer will be greatly valued. Thank you so much for your support and for listening to Your Positive Imprint. So try to change your perspective in order to understand the reality of others. And until next time, enjoy listening to over 200 episodes of Your Positive Imprint.

[00:33:29] Catherine: Check out my YouTube channel,

[00:33:31] your Positive Imprint, what's your P. I.

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