Cultivate these essential qualities of professional speakers

What does it take to succeed in the competitive world of professional speaking?

It’s more than just talent.

What you need is the ability to work harder than your competition.  Those who show toughness and hang in there are the ones who make it.

Recently, though, I was reading about emotional intelligence and reflecting on how important it is for public speakers.

Here are the five personal characteristics, drawn from the research on emotional intelligence, that professional speakers must have to be successful:

The drive to succeed. This drive is what causes you to rehearse your speech and improve your craft relentlessly, to work harder than the competition and to keep going when everyone else has given up. It remains the first and most important characteristic. Without it, you won’t have what it takes to beat the odds.