Why avoiding public speaking is worse than doing it! It is career-limiting, stressful, and harder than you think.

Verbal communication skills are valued by employers. They consistently rank highly on lists of the top "soft skills".  For example, the LinkedIn Learning 2020 Workplace report found that employers ranked "persuasion" as their number two soft skill requirement. And you can’t persuade without good verbal communication skills.

Public speaking is an important sub-set of verbal communication skills. But many people I come across,  tell me they actively avoid public speaking.

There is a great story about a child with a fear of public speaking in season five of Rita – a popular Danish Netflix show. It features the kind, quirky, socially awkward headmistress Hjørdis who is also one of the school’s two teachers.

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