Allison Shapira on Authentic Public Speaking

Allison Shapira, MPA, CSP, is a former opera singer turned entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and international expert in leadership communication. She is the Founder/CEO of Global Public Speaking LLC, a certified woman-owned small business that teaches speaking skills to leaders so that they can build better client relationships, inspire their teams, and confidently lead their organizations into the future. She teaches a graduate-level course at the Harvard Kennedy School and has spent 20 years developing leadership communication programs for Fortune 50 companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. She has worked with prime ministers and their cabinets and CEOs and their leadership teams, teaching them authentic leadership as a way to inspire their constituents and teams. She also travels around the world with the nonprofit Vital Voices Global Partnership, teaching leadership communication to help women leaders grow their business, run for office, or launch a nonprofit. Allison is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and a Certified Virtual Presenter. She holds a master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and is an internationally-renowned singer/songwriter who uses music as a way to help others find their voice and their courage to speak. As an avid tech enthusiast, Allison has incorporated artificial intelligence into her keynotes, workshops and coaching to help people improve their speaking skills. More broadly, she is researching the intersection of AI and authenticity and what that means for the future of human connection. Allison is the author of Speak with Impact: How to Command the Room and Influence Others (HarperCollins Leadership), which was a Washington Post best-seller, and the new companion e-guide Speak with Impact VIRTUALLY. She has spoken at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit, the Most Powerful Women in Banking LEAD Conference, and was a finalist for 2017 Woman Business Owner of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners, San Diego Chapter. A lifelong learner and world traveler who has taught public speaking on nearly every continent, Allison can ask for directions in ten languages but can only understand the responses in four. One of the proudest moments of her life was singing the National Anthem for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Allison had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “[There is so much value in public speaking in] not reading every single person’s body language” (8:05). “[Our perceptions of] body language expressions can be accurate, but they’re not necessarily related to us or what we’re saying” (9:05). “What I’m doing is co-creating a reality between me and each member of the audience” (10:30). “I’m always very intentional about the energy I’m creating with myself so that I can perform at my best” (12:20). “’It depends’ is one of my favorite answers because very few issues are binary” (15:45). “I’m always someone who’s loved to learn new things. I love going from not knowing to knowing” (16:10). “Why you?” (24:35). “You’re not the center of attention. Your message is the center of attention” (26:00). “I do [need validation]” (29:05). “I don’t just do this work as a job. The work that I do is an extension of who I am and what I believe and how I want to show up in this world” (29:35). “It’s hard to balance the strategy of running the company with the creativity of making new content” (31:30). “AI is going to affect every part of our lives in ways we can control and ways we can’t control” (34:20). “When you’re speaking, you’re actually engaging the audience in conversation” (41:10). “[Executive presence is] a way of speaking and acting that makes others take notice and listen” (41:30). “Confidence comes from a belief in our ability to affect a positive outcome” (43:05). “The amount of time you spend preparing for a presentation is based on two key factors: how well you know the material and how important the occasion is” (45:50). “Opera music is so rigid and folk music is so make it up as you go” (52:05). “Public speaking is closer to folk music than to opera” (52:45). “We are sometimes too close to who we are to really tap into what drives us the most” (57:05). “I am a super empowered, growth-oriented citizen of the world” (57:55). “When we tap into our own emotions, we actually tap into the emotions of our audience” (1:01:25). “The more personal I am in my songwriting, the more the audience relates to my journey” (1:02:25). “Clarity is a muscle, and we learn how to build that muscle” (1:05:15). “Your energy affects the energy of all the other people in the room” (1:05:25). Additionally, you can connect with Allison on LinkedIn. I’d also encourage you to purchase Allison’s book, Speak with Impact: How to Command the Room and Influence Others, anywhere books are sold. You can also subscribe to her newsletter here, find her personal website here, and find the Global Public Speaking website here. Thank you so much to Allison for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.