Future vice president Kamala Harris knows how to present her CV without appearing too arrogant or self-promotional. It’s a tough skill to learn when you need to talk about yourself.
Build credibility and trust, but don’t over-sell. Paint a vision, but don’t make it feel out of reach. Show leadership, but come across like one of us. It’s a tough balancing act.
For her vice presidential acceptance speech in August, despite the majority of her 18 minute talk being about herself, she spoke with empathy, elegance and humilty.
“You can change the world just by sharing your story”.
Using many of the rhetorical devices that made Obama a great speaker, Kamala specifically chose words and phrases that carried weight and hidden meaning, in order to relate to different demographics within her TV audience of 22.8M.
We may not be running for high office, but we can learn a lot from her about how to promote ourselves with strength and quiet confidence.
Jeremy Waite 