9 lessons on how to become a master communicator, trainer,

8
Larry King Shares 9 Lessons on How to Become a Master Communicator 'I'm the kind of person you don't want to sit next to on the plane. I do it in real life.' “You’ve got to tell the Oprah story,” John Dickey, new CEO of Ora TV, told Larry King as we all sat together in King’s trophy room in Beverly Hills. King shared that Oprah Winfrey told him that while on safari in Africa, she asked a local about various celebrities, to see whom they knew, since they didn’t recognize her. The local finally stopped her and asked, “Do you know Larry King?” That is the kind of reach King has achieved with his 60-year career in communications. His story is the American dream realized: A Jewish kid from Brooklyn dreams of being on the radio so he starts cleaning floors at a local station. One day a disc jockey calls in sick and King changes his name, jumps on the air, has a rocky start and then goes on to conduct more than 60,000 interviews. He’s received a Peabody award, multiple Cable ACE awards and numerous Emmy nominations. He’s been inducted

Upload: tahir-chaudhry

Post on 10-Jan-2017

142 views

Category:

Career


5 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: 9 lessons on how to become a master communicator, Trainer,

Larry King Shares 9 Lessons on How to Become a Master Communicator'I'm the kind of person you don't want to sit next to on the plane. I do it in real life.'

“You’ve got to tell the Oprah story,” John Dickey, new CEO of Ora TV, told Larry King

as we all sat together in King’s trophy room in Beverly Hills. King shared that Oprah

Winfrey told him that while on safari in Africa, she asked a local about various

celebrities, to see whom they knew, since they didn’t recognize her. The local finally

stopped her and asked, “Do you know Larry King?”

That is the kind of reach King has achieved with his 60-year career in communications.

His story is the American dream realized: A Jewish kid from Brooklyn dreams of being

on the radio so he starts cleaning floors at a local station. One day a disc jockey calls in

sick and King changes his name, jumps on the air, has a rocky start and then goes on to

conduct more than 60,000 interviews. He’s received a Peabody award, multiple Cable

ACE awards and numerous Emmy nominations. He’s been inducted into the National

Radio Hall of Fame, the Broadcasters' Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood

walk of fame. King has also written for multiple newspapers and magazines and is a New

York Timesbestselling author.

At 83, King is still going strong with his show Larry King Now, which airs on Ora TV, a

digital network he co-owns with billionaire Carlos Slim. He has become a

communications industry icon and arguably the leading talk show host of all time, on

both television and radio.

Page 2: 9 lessons on how to become a master communicator, Trainer,

Related: Larry King's 8 Ways to Make Your Cash Flow Bulletproof

If you’re wondering if I was intimidated when I sat to interview him -- the answer is

absolutely. As an entrepreneur and writer, I knew he could take me to school on the art of

speaking, writing and interviewing. What were his tips, tricks, advice? How did he parlay

radio success into television success into his own network?

He answered all of that and much more during our hour-long interview, but here are nine

lessons on mastering communication from the King himself.

1. Just get started.If you dream of becoming a speaker, author, broadcaster or other brand of professional

communicator, King advises to get in as soon as you can. His career got its start because

when he had met a CBS staff announcer by chance, he immediately shared his desire to

get into radio and asked how he could break in. He was advised to go to Miami, a newer

radio market with more opportunities for beginners. Once there, he took a job at a small

station serving as an assistant, running errands and cleaning.

The lesson: Take whatever jobs you can get to break into the industry, King says. And

once you’re in, "Work your ass off. Do whatever they say. Work weekends. Show up

early and don’t give up.”

2. Keep gaining experience.King said yes to every communications opportunity that came his way, eager for the

practice and chance to improve his speaking, writing and interviewing skills. His local

success led to his first national gig -- the first ever national radio show. Not long after he

was invited to join the then young CNN.

3. Stick with the basics.

Page 3: 9 lessons on how to become a master communicator, Trainer,

King says he believes that one of the reasons he is successful is that he never lost touch

with where he came from and he stuck with the basics.

“I’ve been transmitted differently, but I haven’t done anything different," he says. "Who,

what, when, where, why. I ask questions.” He gave a great example from one of his

favorite interviews:

“Now Frank Sinatra is sitting there, the number one personality in the world. I’m sitting

there. The light goes on. All I said was ‘Welcome to the Larry King Show. My guest is

Frank Sinatra. Why are you here?’ I didn’t go through any pretensions or ‘my old friend’

baloney.”

Today, it’s common for a communicator to wear an increasing number of hats: a host

who is also a producer, a speaker who is also a consultant, a writer who is also a

coach and so on. However, King advises to delegate as much as you can. He relies

heavily on those around him, from technicians to producers and publicists, so he can

perform when the light goes on.

Related: What 60,000 Interviews Taught   Larry King

4. Know your role as a communicator.There is a time to tell your story or opinion, and there is a time to sit back and simply be a

conduit. Though King wrote books and has been a keynote speaker, he spent most of his

career listening. He says that he believes listeners love him because of his “street

questions” approach and his ability to leave himself out of the conversation, something

King says modern hosts no longer do.

“It’s the role of the interviewer to draw [guests] out," he says. "I was never more

important than the guest. I never say 'I' in an interview. I’m there as a conduit.”

Page 4: 9 lessons on how to become a master communicator, Trainer,

5. Stay curious.To be a skilled communicator, you must stay curious, King says. It’s also important to

stay hungry. Ask questions, read as much as you can and become an observer of people

and trends.

“You have to be curious," he says. "I’m the kind of person you don’t want to sit next to

on the plane. I do it in real life.”

6. Be present.King’s advice for communicators is to stay in the moment.

“Tune out yesterday’s interview. That’s over. Tune out tomorrow’s interview, that’s still

to come," he says. "If I’m doing a strike worker at a plant today and a president

tomorrow, I’m not thinking about the president.”

He also added that staying in the moment means truly listening. If you’re thinking of your

response while the other person is talking, you’re failing at communication.

7. Trust your instincts.King’s intuition kicked in during his first real celebrity interview in 1958.

“One day the great Bobby Darin walked in ... [and] about a third of the way in, I felt a

groove, something clicked there," he says. "Other people started to come in.”

King’s gut felt the same click 10 minutes into his first broadcast on CNN. He listened to

his intuition throughout his career, which led to his pivotal decision to stay at CNN -- a

risky move since the network was a small startup at the time -- even though he could earn

more elsewhere.

Related: 16 Inspirational Quotes From Walt Disney

Page 5: 9 lessons on how to become a master communicator, Trainer,

“No matter what industry you’re in, if you’re happy, don’t leave," he says. "Don’t do

something just for money and trust your instincts.”

8. Just be yourself.Know your strengths. Are you a better writer? Interviewer? Are you better live or taped?

King knew early on that he was talented and “at home in a studio.” He credits his success

to this knowledge, paired with some early advice he received from Arthur Godfrey.

“You can’t make the viewer like you, so be yourself.” King recalls. “The only secret

is there is no secret. Be yourself.”

9. Never give up.King went on to assure aspiring communicators that, even though it’s a competitive

industry, if they have the skills and the commitment to stick with it for the long haul, they

will make it. To succeed, King says, you have to have the “comeuppance,” explaining

that even now, he’s wondering, "what else can I do?"

“You’re going to get rejected, you’re going to get fired," he says. "Never give up.”

The journey, with its highs and lows, has been the reward for King.

“The best part [of my career] was the climb, each little rung," he says. "Better than

making it -- climbing it. The pursuit, the ups, the downs. That was it.”

Watch more videos from "The Pursuit" on   the show's   YouTube channel.  

Related: How to Scale From a Small Business to a Billion-Dollar Empire

Entrepreneur Network is a premium video network providing entertainment, education

and inspiration from successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders. We provide expertise

Page 6: 9 lessons on how to become a master communicator, Trainer,

and opportunities to accelerate brand growth and effectively monetize video and audio

content distributed across all digital platforms for the business genre.

EN is partnered with hundreds of top YouTube channels  in the business vertical and

provides partners with distribution on Entrepreneur.com as well as our apps on Amazon

Fire, Roku and Apple TV.