Author Steven D. Cohen isn’t satisfied enough with you buying his new book, “Lessons From The Podium: Public Speaking as a Leadership Art.”
No: Cohen, a 2004 UF alumnus, is on a mission not only to inspire you with this slim volume but also to endow you with the same ability to “change hearts and change minds.”
“Every student and professional has a passion, and sometimes that passion is hidden,” he said. “What I want to do [with this book] is provide them the opportunity to make their passions come alive.”
The work Cohen has penned is a quick read (it’s a little more than 100 pages long), but the brevity of the text ensures a more direct and approachable message.
Cohen understands that his audience, students and young professionals, often are crunched for time and do not have the luxury of reading dense texts that dissect the science of public speaking and are the primary go-to guides on the market.
Instead, Cohen has outlined in his book various realistic parallels that the reader may draw on to better understand the power that speech can have on the masses, compartmentalizing his message into five simple segments: Lead Through Speech, Connect With Your Audience, Use Your Voice, Construct Memorable Messages and Deliver Specialized Speeches.
After graduating from UF, Cohen attended Harvard University to pursue a master’s degree in public policy. It was there, while he was teaching a graduate seminar on speaking, that he first began to theorize the concepts of speech that he would later publish in his book.
“When I listened to these students, I realized they had big dreams, and I wanted to give them the power to sell them,” he said. “Speech gives you the power to change hearts and change minds.”
But it was not only in the classroom where Cohen began to construct his thoughts on the nature of public speaking. Cohen combined the lessons he’d learned from teaching seminars with the examples he saw during his leisure time where he attended multiple concerts.
“I just love music: classical, jazz, R&B, etc.,” Cohen said. “When I’d go to concerts, I noticed how similar performing music and public speaking were. The idea is that you want to give your notes to people; everything that comes out of your mouth is music, and there’s a powerful combination there. If you can think like a musician, you can lead.”
In a world where we are reminded continuously of how powerful the art of speech is (look no further than the example set by our current president), this book can help take anyone from the crippling nerves that so often sabotage even our most eloquently written speeches and grant them the ability to convey their message without fear or hesitation. Doing so allows the speaker’s true message to be heard.
“I want people to walk away from this book feeling inspired,” Cohen said. “I want to make them feel empowered to act. This book provides an opportunity to learn about something you really need but is not often taught in undergraduate classes. It gives you a new power, which I call ‘exercising leadership.’ That’s what matters: If you can get people to listen to you, get your message across, then you’ve gotten out of UF what you need for the real world.”
— CARTER LYLES
