How to overcome a terror of public speaking

“One of the things you’re trying to achieve as the CEO is to achieve alignment around lots of different stakeholders, alignment with the team in terms of what the vision is and what you’re trying to achieve, alignment with the shareholders and stakeholders so you can take them along on the journey.”

“So if you can’t communicate effectively as a CEO in very simple terms – your vision, your strategy, what you’re trying to achieve – then it’s very difficult to get that alignment,” he says.

However, Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, who regularly speaks in front of big audiences, warns that it’s important not to become too polished.

“People want real people, they don’t want smooth talkers who’ve been very well trained in public speaking,” he says.

If his children ever have to do a speech, he tells them to “just be yourself” and talk in exactly the same way to the audience as if they were sitting in a living room having a chat with a friend.