Dahle Communication

Tim Tebow and Messaging

Being a Denver Broncos fan means that I've seen a lot in my life. I was 6 years old when they drafted John Elway and watch him lead the Broncos to five Super Bowls, winning his last two. Since that time, the Broncos have been good, then bad, then horribly bad - but I have never seen anything quite like the Tim Tebow phenomenon.

While there have been multiple posts, articles, interviews and commentaries about Tim Tebow and if he will or won't be an effective NFL Quarterback, I wanted to look at something different.

Why is Tim Tebow so popular? He was a tremendous college quarterback and is a phenomenal role model. But we've had those people in sports before. Why is it that for a long time, Tebow led the NFL in jersey sales, yet was not a starting Quarterback?

There are two things at work here (at least in my mind):

1. His religious openness.

This is something that I think has garnered Tebow a lot of admiration, and a lot of consternation. There is a saying that there are two things that you never bring up in polite conversation: Religion and politics. However, Tim Tebow has openly worn his religion on his sleeves (and sometimes his face). This openness has found him a loyal following around the U.S. as well as people who dislike him because he is so open about it.

2. His flaws.

As any analyst at ESPN, FoxSports or any other sports network will tell you, Tim Tebow has a lot of flaws as an NFL quarterback. However, I think some people like that. Pretty much everyone who watches football has flaws - either personally, professionally or otherwise. We are all flawed human beings and I think that people enjoy rooting for someone who isn't flawless and perfect. But what Tebow does is have a passion to win, which miraculously, gets him to win.

Tebows messaging is simple: he works hard, is open about who he is (including his flaws) and just wants to keep improving. People like that. People want to follow someone like that.

There are a few things that you should keep that in mind when you are preparing your speeches.

1. Be yourself. You can't try to emulate other speakers or presenters. Being yourself is important in almost all aspects of your life - giving a speech is one of them.

2. Keep improving. Don't just assume that the one practice you gave is good enough. You want to try to keep improving, so practice, get some help and work on being a better speaker.

This past weekend, once again Tim Tebow showed me a few things. He showed that he definitely has some flaws, but he keeps on working hard and wants to get better. And at least now the Broncos are interesting, which they haven't been for some time.

 

A touching and inspiring speech

This is one of the most touching and inspiring speeches that I hear every year. Jimmy Valvano was a college basketball coach and in 1993 created The V Foundation, which funds cancer research. A few weeks after giving this speech he died from his battle with cancer.

Each year, ESPNRadio does a huge fund drive where 100% of the donations raised goes to cancer research. You can bid on a variety of prizes and events or just donate money. Just this morning, you could bid to play a round of golf with Herm Edwards or pick your choice of what College Football game you wanted to go to with the College Gameday group and hang out with them all day.

Beyond the amazing fund drive that happens each year, the speech by Jimmy V is by far the most powerful. Everytime I hear it I get a bit emotional having someone close to me die from cancer. As a speech, he makes you laugh, he makes you cry, but mostly, he makes you want to do something. That is the power of speech - it can get an emotional response and get a call to action. Take some time today to listen to this speech and if you can, please donate what you can to the V Foundation.

Thank you.