DO YOU NEED A LITTLE YIN(feminine brain) TO YOUR YANG (logical left brain male brain) ?

In the world of influence, leadership, inspiration, speaking, sales and presentations, there is one fact that will never change: People justify on FACT but BUY off of EMOTION.

With sales metrics and stats and figures, it is easy to PROVE that something works. But until you have an emotional story, or can TELL an emotional story, quite simply, the sale may stall or go flat.

How does a CEO, an ACCOUNTANT, a SPEAKER, a LAWYER, or a NUMBERS person draw that emotion out of the people? How do they draw it out of themselves? How can they ENSURE that they are reaching into the hearts of the listeners so they hit a home run?

According to Wikepedia:

In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (also yin–yang or yin yang, 陰陽 yÄ«nyáng "dark–bright") describe how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.

In Chinese philosophy and religion) two principles, one negative, dark, and feminine (yin) and one positive, bright, and masculine (yang) whose interaction influences the destinies of creatures and things.

But how do you get it? How do you KNOW that your stories have the WOW factor? How can you make SURE that when you share your thoughts, that you are reaching people in their hearts, so much that they want to JUMP out of their seats and rush to the alter type of scenario so you are selling what you are presenting?

It’s EASY! Technology makes this concept SO completely easy!!! It’s about relying on someone who has the YIN to your YANG. It’s about reaching out to your associate that has the YIN aspect. The emotional brain. Not the overly emotional brain. Not the one you run from because it’s full of drama. It’s the brain that can stretch YOUR story by adding words and a few lines that take it deeper into the listeners emotional base.

One of my clients was the astronaut Mark Kelly. Mark tells a compelling story about hearing that Gabby Giffords was shot and he was on the plane when CNN announced it. In his speech he shared that when he heard it, it was “bad”. 

Working with a speech coach was a brilliant move on his part. Mark is an engineer. He has war stories that are thrilling and exciting. But when it came to telling warm and fuzzies, there was a lack of emotion in his speech that failed to reach the hearts of the people in the audiences.  It reached the HEADS, but not the hearts.

I took that story of him on the plane and stretched it. “How did you feel Mark? What did you exactly do? What emotions were flooding you at that moment when you heard Gabby was shot and now had passed?”

(Cruel I know. But I knew it had a happy ending. )

Mark reached deep. He shared how he went into the bathroom of the plane and started crying. And that he was crying so hard that his daughter said it looked like his whole body was crying because he was shaking so hard.

So, we incorporated that into the speech. In the speech we wrote the script exactly as he experienced it from the inside out.

Now when Mark shares from the stage, and talks about the emotional journey with Gabby, or how he learned success by watching his mom fail over and over until she succeeded and the pride he felt about her, there is genuine love directed at him and for him. The audience swarms him with a feeling of appreciation and respect that he can share from such a deep place of vulnerability. What started happening is that the meeting planners ran out of the room to tell his agent that he was the BEST speaker they had ever seen. They were SCREAMING about how amazing he was the start of what got him booked for years and years with a strong word of mouth.

It was his story, and my YIN that got him there. It was his willingness and intelligence to understand that with the feminine, the masculine can be that much better. His paycheck and success as a professional speaker is proof, that the YIN is an important addition to any speakers’ speech.

What about you? Are you as good as YOU can be? Are you making the most of EVERY presentation that you have to deliver? Do you need a little YIN for your YANG when you present to your company? To help them buy into your thoughts as a leader, and grab ahold of them and make your dreams a reality?

I have another client who was a Controller in a Medical firm. His accounting brain was fantastic to line up the numbers but here is how he dealt with two ladies returning from pregnancy leave:

Dear XYZ:

Now that you are back, I want to let you know there have been a lot of changes. I expect you to follow through and accept these changes but please ask me if you have any questions. We have a lot of work to do so I am looking forward to you accomplishing these list of new rules with your team. Sincerely, Bob.

My response from the letter (which was actually 2 pages long) was: “BOB, if I got this letter, I’d report you and then I’d quit. A lady coming back from maternity leave isn’t going to respond to this sort of letter. She’s going to chuck it and then try to get you fired. So, I rewrote the letter:

Dear XYZ:

It is so nice to have you back on the team. We have all missed you and we’re so happy that you now have a new addition to your family. We will work hard to incorporate you back into the mix at your own pace. Please let me know what I can do for you during this transition.

I’m sure you have heard that we’ve been setting new goals while you’ve been gone. I am looking forward to sitting with you to discuss these and to get your ideas about how you can add to what we are doing and what suggestions you have for the team. We can meet when you have about an hour so please let me know as you ease back into your job.

Again, welcome back and looking forward to creating excellent synergies going forward!

The results of this letter was 100% better than had he sent the original letter. Neither of the ladies had a negative response and they actually were surprised and grateful for their boss’ response. It was kind. It was supportive. It was encouraging collaboration. These are competencies of an INSPIRATIONAL LEADER.

 Since I was coaching all of them, I was able to see the gratitude from the ladies point of view, and also the surprise from the male boss who had not had that sort of response before from them. He appreciated the new way of communication and invited me to review other emails he was sending to his team to add a little finesse, and inspiring tone to them.

Do you have a YIN WORD MASTER?

If not, perhaps it’s time you incorporate one. None of us can be all things to all people but the synergy of a YIN WORD MASTER to synergize with your amazing ability to make a persuasive argument is the icing on the cake and quite possibly the ONE ingredient you can’t add on your own.

If you’re so inclined to reach out to have a conversation, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss your needs. I love helping others reach greatness, and combining my efforts with yours, to rock the audience and to bring them to their feet.

We all have special talents, and I have just revealed mine. I welcome to work with you to enhance your already brilliant words of wisdom, to make them polished, compassionate, and tender hearted. Your audience will feel, and you will be recognized as the Inspirational Leader that you desire to be by combining the YIN with the YANG.