Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Cossolotto.
Hi Matthew, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Early on, I had an interest in public policy issues and international affairs. So, it made perfect sense that I would major in Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley. It also seems natural that I would decide to spend my junior year studying abroad. Looking back, I regard my study abroad experience at the University of Lund (Sweden) as life-changing. I highly recommend studying abroad to all students. After college, I found myself working as an aide to a freshman congressman named Leon Panetta—one of the most accomplished and truly honorable public servants we have.
Since those early, formative days on Capitol Hill, I take some pride in knowing that my leadership communications career has spanned the corridors of power and influence on both sides of the Atlantic—from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, to the Speaker’s Office in the U.S. House of Representatives. I have also coached and penned speeches for senior executives in a wide range of organizations, including UCLA, PepsiCo, MasterCard, IBM, and other Fortune 100 corporations.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. I’ve had my share of ups and downs and unpredictable twists and turns on my career path. For as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a writer. A good deal of my writing over the years has involved writing speeches for others to deliver. Being a political or corporate speechwriter has its advantages. It can be an appealing profession, but there’s something to be said for writing articles or speeches, or books under your own. My very first foray into the realm of being a published author was not exactly a resounding success. The Almanac of Transatlantic Politics did not fly off the shelves of bookstores. The same can be said for my second book: The Almanac of European Politics. Don’t get me wrong. I’m proud of both of those books. It’s just that they never quite found their audience.
Something of a turning point happened a few years later. That’s when I made a promise to my mother on her deathbed that I would finish writing a book she had been encouraging me to write and dedicate it to her memory. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said: “You do that, Matthew. You do that. This makes me very happy.”
When I made that heartfelt promise, I knew right away that failure was not an option. I knew I had crossed the proverbial Rubicon. I’m proud to say I kept that promise. But here’s the rub. The book I promised to write wasn’t really in my comfort zone. It was a self-help book, and at the time, I didn’t think of myself as a self-help author. Something tells me that my mother did think of me that way. I think she encouraged me to write this book precisely because she knew it was outside my comfort zone and that it was something I was destined to do. I believe she saw me as a personal empowerment teacher, trainer, and coach long before I thought of myself in those terms. Thank you, mom!
Making that promise put me on my current path as a personal empowerment author, speaker, workshop leader, and coach.
It also helped to shape my overriding mission: to help millions of people around the world replace negative, disempowering habits of thought with positive, empowering mindsets. I believe my most recent book—The Joy of Public Speaking: Find Your Voice and Reach Your Peak Potential—will play a key role in enabling me to fulfill that mission.
The book builds on my experience as a speechwriter and speech coach.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Early in my speechwriting and speech coaching career, I began to explore ways to empower my clients to enhance what I call their PodiumPower! I soon created The Power of SPEECH—The Six-Point Checklist for Powerful Presentations. And I used that checklist in my executive speech coaching services and workshops.
I discovered along the way that effective, authentic public speaking is more than a leadership and success skill. It’s also a potent tool for personal empowerment. My focus on the connection between speaking and personal empowerment distinguishes my approach from most other speech coaches.
All of this has led to my current focus: teaching leaders and aspiring leaders how to become more authentic, compelling speakers and adopt empowering success habits so they can advance their careers, enhance their leadership skills, and make a positive difference in the world. When all is said and done, I would boil my core message down to one succinct sentence: success is an inside job, both on and off the podium. What goes on between your ears—your habitual internal dialog—will determine your level of success as a speaker and in life. I believe the most powerful motivational speech in the world is what you say to yourself. Your consistent, habitual self-talk will determine whether you succeed or fail, whether you reach your peak potential in life or fall short.
That’s why I focus my books, coaching, and speaking programs on the tools needed for empowering mindset shifts. This approach applies to all three power tools in my Triad Empowerment System—Habits / Speaking / Promises—and my trilogy of books on these topics.
The Joy of Public Speaking is the first book in my personal empowerment trilogy. The next two books in the series are: Harness Your HabitForce, which spotlights the seven habits of FAILURE and SUCCESS, and Embrace Your Promise Power, featuring an extensive foreword written by Jack Canfield, co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series.
Whether you’re an experienced, novice, or terrified speaker, The Joy of Public Speaking highlights powerful mindset shifts, profound insights, and practical tips to give your career, leadership skills, and self-confidence a big boost. The ability to speak confidently and comfortably to audiences of all types is a widely recognized leadership and success skill. Yet, opinion surveys confirm that most people rank public speaking as one of their top fears, along with spiders, snakes, and death itself.
The Joy of Public Speaking embraces a simple proposition: People who learn to enjoy public speaking tend to be better at it than those hobbled by anxiety, trepidation, or outright terror. In the book—and in my speech coaching and speaking programs—I help readers and clients recognize self-defeating attitudes, feelings, and habits and replace them with empowering mindsets to fast-track their success on the podium and beyond.
One of my goals as an author, speaker, and coach is to help my clients turn stage fright into stage delight. The encouraging fact is most of us actually enjoy talking with others—friends, relatives, colleagues, and even complete strangers. This brings me to a key insight in the book and in my various programs: there’s no such thing as public speaking—there’s just speaking. That realization is where the “joy” of speaking comes from. It’s an important step on the seven-step path to the joy of public speaking that I unveil in my book. I urge readers and clients to employ what I call “the gentle art of mental joyjitsu” to make powerful mindset shifts that will propel them on a life-changing journey to joy.
I created a graphic to promote my speech-related programs. It’s the letter “O” with two legs and feet. I call it a Standing O with the tagline: You deserve a Standing O.
What do you think about happiness?
I agree with President John F. Kennedy’s philosophy. He subscribed to what he called the Greek definition of happiness: The full use of your powers along lines of excellence. I think that’s what brings me the most happiness — knowing that I’m making the full use of my powers, whether it’s as a speaker, author, coach, or speechwriter. I feel enormous joy when I’m fully engaged with clients and students, making full use of my powers to help others to reach their peak potential. That’s why I use “Reach Your Peak Potential” as a tagline as part of my logo. In my programs (which I call Personal Empowerment Programs or PEPTalks), I often ask for a show of hands: How many feel they are falling short of their potential in their careers or in life more generally? I’m always surprised to see that just about everybody raises their hand. This seems to be a near-universal feeling. There is a nagging gap between our actual performance and what we know and believe we’re capable of — our true potential. The bigger that gap, the greater the feeling of falling short. And that feeling can be very disempowering. So, my mission is to help others close the gap. I’m happiest when I know that I’m reaching my peak potential by helping others reach theirs, on and off the podium.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.MatthewCossolotto.com
