Episode #242: Naomi Osaka And The Public Speaking Mindset

“Naomi Osaka would have earned at least $200,000 dollars if she made the Top 16 in the French Tennis Open and would have had a $1.7million payday, if she won the tournament. Speaking to the media after each round, is why she gets paid the big bucks, so she should harden up and get to work”. Some other commentators have focused on her “bravery to talk about her mental depression and her decision to forego the money, to take care of her mental health”. I don’t fit neatly into either category really, because I get the “part of the job” responsibility in her chosen profession and I also salute her for talking about her mental health struggles, as a 23 year old young woman, facing a cynical, mercenary sports press. For me, although she may be a sportswoman, her issues also apply to the businessperson who faces the very same dilemmas. You are getting paid to represent the firm in the public arena, even if it is killing you.

I am not an expert on Naomi Osaka, but I do recall reading her comments about a year ago about her disinterest in becoming a skilled public speaker. At the time, I thought that was a curious idea for someone in her line of work. It is typical though isn’t it. We start working in our chosen career and then as we rise through the ranks, we are given greater responsibilities and that includes speaking in front of others. Did we sit down at a young age and survey our future career path and conclude that at some point in time, if we do well, we will have to give internal presentations, deal with the press, handle shareholders or represent the company by giving public business speeches. No! We just went to work every day and then one fateful day, the bell rang or the alarm went off and we had to make that first talk.

I doubt whether leading tennis academies allocate any time to instructing their future stars on how to deal with the press, sponsors or the public. It is the same in companies. No one ever thinks about investing in your future, by training you on how to handle speaking in public. In the same way that this inability or choice to not deal with the requirements to speak in public could be a career ending outcome for Naomi, it can also mean we are passed over at work, in favour of those silky smooth, confident, more professional speakers inside the firm.

Recently she wrote about withdrawing from the French Tennis Open, “I am not a natural public speaker and get waves of anxiety before I speak to the world’s media”. I read in the press that she is worth $77 million, from sponsorships etc. She has the money to get media training, presentation training and every other form of training needed to enable her to become a master of her environment and be able to deal with the gutter sports press. Are businesspeople investing in themselves to become masters of their environment? No. Like Naomi they are just suffering.

No one is born a natural public speaker. I know this to be true. For the first 30 years of my life, I was terrified of public speaking. Like a whipped dog, I hid in the shadows, praying I would not be called upon to speak in public. As I rose through the ranks in my career, there came that point, that day, when the bell rang and I had to get up and speak to an audience. Did I go and get training? No! It was some number of years before I took the plunge and got the training. When I had the training, what did I think about it? I immediately realised I was an idiot and I should have done this when I was much, much younger and at the start of my career. Now, over 500 public speeches later, I enjoy it.

What was different between the old me and the new me? My mindset changed and I stopped embracing my fears and inadequacies. I stopped running away from the inevitable. The training gave me skills and the coaching brought out my confidence. Repetition did the rest. But your mindset has to be right to be able to get the training and to access the repetition. Naomi Osaka is seven years younger than I was when I did my first talk. I hope someone looking after her gets her a good coach and she can slay this public speaking demon limiting her career. If you are in business and that same demon is confronting you, get the training and slay your career limiters too.