Speak Like a King

The King’s Speech

Recently, my family and I watched the movie, The King’s Speech, for the second time. I enjoyed it the first time through, but this time I was fascinated my Geoffrey Rush’s character, Lionel Logue. As I watched, I realized Lionel was showing up in the life of the Duke of Windsor in a way no other person ever had. He showed up as a coach. The Duke had spent his entire life strapped with the identity of a stutterer. Except for his wife and children, every other person he encountered, could see nothing more than a stutterer and their interactions with the Duke were limited to their focus on a stuttering problem. Anyone who met the Duke saw this problem as something they had to ignore, tolerate, apologize for or fix. Many so-called experts with their massive egos were thrust upon the Duke more than eager to make a name for themselves by forcing their own brand of an external solution to the Duke’s stuttering problem.

Director, Tom Hooper did an outstanding job of demonstrating how this only compounded the issue. Lionel Logue did nothing of the sort. He brought something infinitely more powerful than his ego. He brought belief in the Duke. He saw in the Duke what the Duke didn’t yet see in himself. He held firm to the knowledge that this man’s true identity was not that of a stutterer. He saw a King.

Rather than imposing his will as a “Fixer”, he entered the conversation no other person could see. The conversation had been taking place inside the Duke his whole life. Mr. Logue didn’t invent the conversation, he just shed light on it. He demonstrated almost immediately that the Duke had the ability to speak fluidly. Then he proceeded in drawing out the King that was inside the Duke. He stayed in the conversation even when the Duke didn’t want to stay in it. It wasn’t pretty, but he persisted. He didn’t bring a solution, he brought relationship. He aligned himself with the King inside the Duke and was present with the King at the most pivotal moment of his life. He didn’t have an agenda. He had belief and the willingness to act on that belief for the benefit of the King. It is a great thing that he did, because England needed a King.

Do you have a Lionel Logue in your life? We not only need a Lionel, when need to guard ourselves against the ego-driven experts who want to talk about everything but the real conversation and want nothing more than to advance their own agenda.

Every conscious entrepreneur needs a coach – a real coach who can have the real conversation. I always have a coach, but I select a coach who is in tuned with the conversation of my life. When I was a YMCA professional, I was once assigned a “coach”. Unfortunately, I was unaware at the time that what was happening was not coaching. Within the first 5 minutes, this person informed me that I needed to fire one of my employees. From that moment forward, she centered every conversation around getting rid of that person. We spent the entire relationship focused on the externals rather than the internals. Now, I know better. Not only that, but it is my absolute privilege to join the conversation taking place in the lives of others. I want to be more like Lionel and I want more Lionel’s in my life.

As an entrepreneur, remember that you are an employee of your business. You spend plenty of time, energy, and money working in your business as an employee. You must do that. You also know that entrepreneurs must also work on their business. To do that, you must regularly back away far enough to remain strategic. But the pinnacle of growth for your life is being a conscious entrepreneur who works on the business owner. The work you are doing is staying in the internal conversation long enough and often enough to make the unconscious conscious and draw out the real you that the world needs.

I am not a fixer. You don’t need fixing. I am here to help bring out the best in you, so you can habitually create new levels of success from the inside out. I will help you find more strategic clarity, align your activity with your purpose, and stay focused on those things that keep you moving towards the results you want. Not only that, I can help you be more empowered to create that for others.

Let’s keep the conversation going.

Warmly,

Rick Burris