Robert Zajonc (pronounced ZYE-unts) was an American social scientist who explored the interplay between feeling and thought—between emotion and cognition.

He was interested in determining which influenced the other more strongly.  On balance, he came down on the side of emotion.

In one widely reported study, he found that smiling or frowning can alter blood flow to the brain as facial muscles relax or contract.

This in turn affects the parts of the brain that regulate feelings, helping induce happy or sad emotional states.

Could smiling help speakers with stage fright?  I think so.

The Buddha is depicted most often with a slight smile on his face—and he had true inner peace.   Little Orphan Annie knew that, “You’re never fully dressed without a smile,” and now we have the work of a renowned scientist to confirm the fact—on balance, it’s better for us when we smile.

I attended a great seminar this weekend at the Integral Yoga Institute in New York City. The teacher was Boris Pisman.

Boris teaches Yoga philosophy, and described one aspect of Yoga as the ability to learn how to handle anxious thoughts.

He said that Yoga makes an assumption that there is a natural state of mind in which human beings are free from anxiety.

Boris, who is a wide reader, mentioned a study called the White Bear Study (Schneider and Wegner, 1987, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.)

The paper documented the fact that, “people can, but only for brief periods of time, suppress thoughts of white bears,” Schneider said. “But on removal of suppression instructions, people are typically flooded with the thoughts they were supposed to suppress.”

“These observations suggest that attempted thought suppression has paradoxical effects as a self-control strategy, perhaps even producing the very obsession or preoccupation that it is directed against.”

Consider a person who is fearful of public speaking being encouraged not to think about the terror of facing an audience.  The White Bear Study suggests that thought avoidance, or suppression, is a poor choice for such a person.

Further studies point to the “remarkable health effects” of disclosing a thought rather than suppressing it, and the negative effects of depressed people trying to suppress self-critical thoughts.

It seems we are better off entering  into dialogue with a thought than we are chasing it away.

In fact, concentrated thinking about the negative thought, along with writing down descriptions of what you fear about it, and reading aloud the description, have been proven to be highly effective ways of curing anxiety disorders.

As Boris was careful to point out, these findings are not cure-alls for everyone, but they have worked for many people if the therapy is sustained for a certain length of time.

Stage fright can be a chronic anxiety for even highly successful people.  These methods may prove to be helpful to those seeking to gain mastery over their fear of speaking.

Sims Wyeth is a private speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in executive speech coaching and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

I recently received a call from a regional sales leader who said that he was unable to express himself to senior management. 

He speaks effectively to his peers and his direct reports, but said that he has trouble organizing his thoughts when speaking to his boss’s  bosses.

I did not meet him in person, and did not try to figure out what was bothering him over the phone.  I suggested he shop around.  But I am curious.  What’s going on and what can he do about it?

What’s Going On?

Let’s speculate.

1. He’s projecting an image of harsh,  judgmental authority onto the senior leaders, which is causing him to tense up with anxiety.
2. He knows that some senior leaders have a reputation for being tough on presenters–they may use presentations as a stress test for “separating the men from the boys.”
3. He is not taking possession of his own strengths and feels like a child standing before angry parents–in a word, powerless.
4. He knows he is comfortable talking about his accounts, but lacks the ability to speak in broader terms about long-range strategic issues.
5. He can speak about his accounts, but worries about the Q&A.
6. He simply hasn’t spoken to them often enough to get comfortable in their presence.
7. He’s over-reacting.  Everyone is nervous speaking to senior leadership.  There’s much at stake.

What Can He Do about It?

1. First of all, get a basic check-up on his presentation skills–how to organize his information to appeal to his audience, and how to project himself effectively.
2. Rehearse his presentation with simulated real-world pressure.  This means getting people to sit and listen to him stumble through his first efforts.
3. Rehearse enough so that he transfers his knowledge and delivery skills from his cerebral cortex (which is good at learning new stuff) to his cerebellum (which is good at orchestrating lightning fast physical and mental tasks.)
4. Get some support from his immediate boss.  If the company believes in him, they should help him break through this challenge.
5. Get to know some of the senior leaders.  This could be difficult, but who knows what would happen if he called up one or two of them and asked them for some career guidance on how to make the presentation most useful to them.  They might see it as enterprising and thoughtful. 
6. Do some visualizing of the senior leaders as normal, fun-loving folks–people who have his best interests at heart, and who want to see him succeed.
7. Develop his self-esteem and confidence.  Read this article on bnet.com for some insights on how to do this.

It’s hard for many of us to step in front of an unfamiliar audience that we imagine knows more than we do, has more money and education than we do, more power, and in fact, could make or break us (or at least it feels that way.)

This guy was up-front and honest with me, and I respect him for that.  He’s out there trying to solve his problem–to take his skills to another level.  Actually, this is one of those instances when the word “skill” may not be the right word.  This might be more about personal growth.