Preparation Triumphs Over Authenticity in Communication Skills

Kevin Sullivan

11-13-2024

Over the years in media and presentation skills coaching, I have worked with executives who tell me they don’t want to prepare too much for fear of losing their authenticity. In fact, the opposite is true. Authenticity, as it turns out, is overrated.

Sound preparation relaxes us to the point where we can be our authentic selves – and we’ll also remember the key messages we want to deliver, enabling us to both fulfill a business purpose and provide something useful for the audience. Even the most talented communicators and leaders, when ill-prepared, tend to ramble, repeat themselves and forget something. 

Here is a quick roadmap that will help you prepare for any communications engagement – a media interview, presentation, sales pitch, staff meeting, or a simple conversation in the hallway:

• Who’s my audience?
• What do I want them to know or better understand? What do I want them to do? A good shortcut here is to envision the headline or takeaway you want to see and speak to that.
• Rely on a “home base” message – your essential core message that focuses more on the “why” and “how” than “what.”
• Anticipate the questions you’ll be asked and prepare for them. Note: The easy questions are opportunities, so prepare for them, too.
• Finally, have a short story or anecdote handy that reinforces your key message. Painting a picture will make your message relatable and memorable.

In Matthew McConaughey’s terrific memoir, Greenlights, he tells a cringeworthy story of overconfidence and lack of preparation while shooting the forgettable 1995 film, Scorpion Spring. It was his seventh film, and he had become extremely confident in his abilities. So confident, he decided he didn’t need to read the script for his one scene in advance. He believed he was talented enough and experienced enough to wing it and be naturally great. He was told his character was from Texas and wore a leather jacket. He knew the character. That’s what mattered most.

When he pulled out the script right before shooting began, he was horrified to learn that his scene wasn’t just a few lines. It was a monologue – and it was in Spanish. He made everyone wait while he tried to quickly memorize his lines in a language he didn’t know. The outcome was not good. McConaughey was embarrassed.

“I have never watched Scorpion Spring,” he wrote. “I did learn a good lesson that day, though. We have to prepare to have freedom. We have to do the work to then do the job. We have to prepare for the job so we can be free to do the work. Knowing my man does not mean I know Spanish.”

Entrepreneur and bestselling author Seth Godin said, “Authenticity is a crock. It’s a trap.” Being authentic does not necessarily mean you’re at your best—and your customers, clients and colleagues deserve your best. 

Plan to prepare and the result will be more Interstellar and less Scorpion Spring.