We are back with another exciting episode in our Synergy Shorts Series featuring our all-time favorite guest, Vinh Giang!
This episode has not only stolen the spotlight as our most downloaded but has also become a fan favorite for its profound insights on effective communication. Vinh, a renowned international keynote speaker, shares his unique perspective on how communication shapes our lives, careers, and brands.
Key Highlights:
- The Music Metaphor: Vinh uses music as a powerful metaphor for communication, illustrating how the right words, like the right notes, can move people.
- Mastering Delivery and Content: Learn why mastering both what you say (your content) and how you say it (your delivery) are crucial for effective communication.
- Influencing and Persuading: Discover strategies for influencing others and persuading them to take action through your message.
- Building Connections: Vinh emphasizes the importance of connecting on a deep level for genuine communication.
- Practical Tips for Improvement: Get practical advice on improving your communication skills, including exercises you can do at home.
Whether you're aiming to inspire change, make a lasting impression, or simply connect more meaningfully with those around you, this episode with Vinh Giang offers invaluable lessons.
Tune in to start transforming the way you communicate and watch as new doors open in every facet of your life. Don't miss out on this journey to finding your voice and making it heard!
TIMESTAMP:
[00:00:28] - Great Communication
[00:01:21] - Balancing Content and Delivery
[00:02:00] - Communication as Connection
[00:02:17] - The Role of the Listener
[00:02:59] - Empowering the Next Generation
[00:03:52] - The Power of Effective Expression
[00:04:15] - Self-Awareness in Communication
[00:06:15] - The Impact of Lack of Self-Awareness
[00:07:10] - The Importance of Review and Reflection
[00:09:06] - The Influence of Personal Network
[00:09:34] - Stories of Resilience and Grit
[00:12:19] - Overcoming Self-Doubt
Where to find VINH GIANG
Join the conversation on Synergy IQ on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram (@synergyiq).
Access SynergyIQ Website to get to know more about us.
Say hello to our host Daniel Franco on LinkedIn.
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:27:18
Daniel Franco
Communication is your is your niche. Yeah. You talk talk about communications, both from a personal point of view to a communicate within a corporate environment, business environment within relationships, all of the above. But communication is so much more. It's body language. It's self-awareness, it's confidence. It's all of the above. What is your definition of great communication?
00:00:27:20 - 00:00:51:09
Vinh Giang
I use music as my metaphor. Great communication happens when you're able to move people with your music and you can move people with your music. There's two areas that you've got to get good at. One is the music itself. You have to write great music. Second, you have to play the music really well. Okay, So I look at it like that.
00:00:51:09 - 00:01:14:00
Vinh Giang
It's a great communication is when your music moves people to either take action, move people in a way that you influence, you persuade, write. So that's great communication and the message gets across. You get the point of the music you got. I've learned something. I get this. So I use music as my metaphor and what I find is there's always this debate in the communication world.
00:01:14:03 - 00:01:38:24
Vinh Giang
Is the content more important? Meaning, is the music more important, or is the delivery the way you play more important? And the real answer is BOTH. To me, great communication is when you are exceptional at what you do technically, and you're amazing at being able to communicate that across. To put it concisely, communication is CONNECTION. Being able to connect very deeply. You're very good at this because us sitting here, we don't really know each other that well.
00:01:38:27 - 00:01:49:10
Vinh Giang
But look at the level at which we can connect right now. So I base communication on somebody's ability to connect and you're connecting very well with me. And I think that's just goes to show how great you are at communication.
00:01:49:11 - 00:02:12:15
Daniel Franco
I'm really passionate about, number one, building, trusting relationships. And you talked about that. It's about holding the room or holding the space for someone to be able to feel comfortable to speak like I believe. Communication isn't just to the person who's speaking, but it's the person who's receiving. I’m really interested in your the work that you're doing with corporate world and how you educate.
00:02:12:16 - 00:02:33:21
Vinh Giang
I'm so grateful to be working with brand like Microsoft. So they bring me in to work with all of the new hires every year. I'm responsible for training the aspirers, which is the new hires that they bring in 5000 people every year, 4000 to 5000 every year. They're engineers, so they bring me in to help these engineers communicate in a way that is more influential because A - they're young.
00:02:33:22 - 00:02:48:18
Vinh Giang
But the reason Microsoft hire them is because they're young and they're brilliant. But the problem is when you're young, you're afraid to voice your opinions, you're afraid to voice your ideas. So you've got great music, but you don't know how to bring that music to life. So that those who are more superior than you, often older than you will listen.
00:02:48:18 - 00:03:07:03
Vinh Giang
And one simple example is if a young person doesn't speak in a confident manner and has lots of filler words and non words in their language and don't use their body language well, don’t storytell, then, even if they have a great innovative idea, that innovative idea dies on the battlefield with them. So what I teach them to do is, sure, you've got an idea.
00:03:07:03 - 00:03:24:15
Vinh Giang
I empower them to be able to bring that idea to life, to play the shit out of that music so that when others listen to it, it gives that idea a chance. It gives them a chance to be heard, whereas so many ideas fall on deaf ears because A either person either lacks courage. B Because the person plays the music poorly.
00:03:24:16 - 00:03:34:20
Vinh Giang
Or C,, I mean, they don't feel empowered or don't have the skillset required to be able to bring it to life. I help them learn how to play their music more effectively in a way that's influential, so it's heard.
00:03:34:24 - 00:03:39:25
Daniel Franco
Would you say that lack of self awareness is the main contributor to poor communication?
00:03:39:26 - 00:04:01:06
Vinh Giang
Yes. You are unaware of how you come across. You have no idea how you're using the instrument. This is how I know because when people listen to an audio of themselves, they freak out. man, I hate the way I sound. Everyone says that, which means everyone doesn't review how they communicate. People don't even like how they look on camera, which again shows me that, well, it's because you don't review how you communicate.
00:04:01:11 - 00:04:17:20
Vinh Giang
This is real time what you and I are doing. I can’t be aware of how I sound and everything all at the same time while I'm doing. It's too hard. Why do you think professional athletes watch their game back? I've I've only just started journaling more in my life. Probably two or three years ago. And when you journal, that is a way for you to review how you're living.
00:04:17:20 - 00:04:36:14
Vinh Giang
And I've never done that before. 2 to 3 years ago, I review the way I communicate. I've been able to get onto global stages with this technique, but I didn't use it for life. So when I realised that gap in my thinking, I immediately started journaling. And that has changed my life because now, you know, I had a really shitty month, a few months ago and instead of going, well, what made me feel shit, I don't know, I’m not really sure.
00:04:36:20 - 00:04:54:08
Vinh Giang
Now I can see my thoughts, my way of thinking that has contributed to me seeing life in a shitty lens. And I think I knew exactly actually what caused that. And it was because of how I read the situation, but I read it wrong. Yeah. So allows me now to improve the way I see things that happen for the future.
00:04:54:10 - 00:04:58:01
Vinh Giang
So I think the process of reviewing and building self awareness critical for all areas of life.
00:04:58:06 - 00:05:03:27
Daniel Franco
How important is that to you hanging around the right people and seeking the knowledge of those who are close? You know.
00:05:03:27 - 00:05:20:10
Vinh Giang
You're the direct reflection of the top five people you spend time with. Now, obviously there's a professional version of that, and I think there's a personal version of that because I've got personal, you know, top 15 and I'm never going to remove any of them. Yeah, they're my that's my tribe. That's my core is my family. I love them, my friends, my family.
00:05:20:12 - 00:05:38:17
Vinh Giang
But then professionally, I'm fairly strategic with this. I align my professional top five with where I want to go, because what happens often is we keep the same personal five, of course, and that really changes. But it does sometimes change. But then we also keep the same professional five. Make room for new teachers, correct. For new mentors.
00:05:38:24 - 00:05:51:20
Vinh Giang
And the most beautiful thing about great mentors is they know when their time has come to an end. They know when they sit down, they say to you, and I had one of my mentors do this. He goes, Hey Vinh, you've outgrown this mentorship and I have to set you free this these coffees. Now, I have nothing to teach you.
00:05:51:20 - 00:05:57:21
Vinh Giang
You're teaching me way more. And it's you need to find someone new. And to find people like that is truly rare. Do
00:05:57:21 - 00:06:21:02
Daniel Franco
You feel like that? Grit, determination and resilience that you got from your old man has been passed through? And and that's just sort of seeping through your blood right now? Is that kind of where that zest for life come from is knowing that you've come from refugee parents who are refugees to living a life where, you know, I mean, Australia is one of the luckiest countries in the world.
00:06:21:03 - 00:06:22:22
Vinh Giang
Heaven on earth. Man. Yeah, it really is.
00:06:22:22 - 00:06:23:24
Daniel Franco
Absolutely.
00:06:23:26 - 00:06:33:01
Vinh Giang
Yes. And it comes through the stories that he's told me that has made up who I am is I thought a lot about this because I think, you know, I didn't go through those experiences.
00:06:33:03 - 00:06:33:11
Daniel Franco
So it was.
00:06:33:11 - 00:06:51:25
Vinh Giang
A why does it impact me so much? You know, I didn't live through the war. I didn't nearly die because of the war. And so I've always thought, I mean, it's not genetic memory. What the hell is it? And the more I think about it, the more I start to understand what makes us up as people. As what is your identity?
00:06:51:27 - 00:07:13:25
Vinh Giang
My identity is made up of stories that I tell myself. It's from those stories I form the values and from those values, I'm able to extract certain beliefs about what's possible, what's not possible. But it all starts with stories. Yeah. And when I was young, my dad filled my head with stories. Stories of adversity, story of overcoming hardship, stories of poverty.
00:07:13:28 - 00:07:15:29
Vinh Giang
So I'm made up of those stories.
00:07:15:29 - 00:07:17:21
Daniel Franco
The foundation is set, isn't it?
00:07:17:21 - 00:07:35:15
Vinh Giang
It's. Yes. So my dad telling me the story since I was young that you can go from nothing. It's just starting again in your late twenties. Starting again with nothing, you know, country and not even speaking the language then to be able to do the life that was great. I mean, what we went abundant when I was young, but it was still amazing.
00:07:35:16 - 00:07:45:03
Vinh Giang
Yeah, but to do that, that was a story I was fed. So you can do that. You can escape a war. And so that whole idea of anything is possible.
00:07:45:03 - 00:07:46:11
Daniel Franco
So the door was open.
00:07:46:14 - 00:08:03:26
Vinh Giang
Yeah, my mind was full open. Yeah, because my dad would always told me to see what we've been able to do. Nothing that is halfway across the world to this. So then all of a sudden for me, that was a part of my DNA because it was stories that I've been fed already. Yeah, see, that's the importance I think, of, you know, what stories are we feeding ourselves?
00:08:03:26 - 00:08:21:05
Vinh Giang
What story do you see yourself? What stories are you keeping and replaying in your head? Because in my head I replay that story a lot. So there a lot of gratitude comes from that. Yeah, and a lot of grit comes from that because I kind of that's a part of me. But it's also very easy for me to play a different story.
00:08:21:08 - 00:08:32:17
Vinh Giang
One of hate and this still happens a lot in my community when I think back to Vietnam, they think, you know, yeah, damn, these people, there's so much hate still. So I could play that story and then I'd be very different.
00:08:32:23 - 00:08:37:00
Daniel Franco
What helped you push through while getting up on stage and really not believing in yourself.
00:08:37:06 - 00:09:05:24
Vinh Giang
Yeah, okay, well, two things. First thing is, I'm not just me. I'm my dad. I'm my wife, I'm my son and my father in law. I am. There's a part of you that's with me now after this session. I'm not just me. So I get a lot of comfort in knowing that what makes me valuable as a human being is not just Vinh Giang.
00:09:05:27 - 00:09:23:17
Vinh Giang
It's all those who've come before me. It's the wisdom that my grandparents have instilled in me is the wisdom that my mentors have instilled in me. It's the wisdom that all the books that I've consumed have instilled in me. So what gives me confidence on stage is I'm not standing there alone. I'm standing there with a hundred or more people behind me.
00:09:23:17 - 00:09:39:20
Vinh Giang
You just can't see them. So that makes me feel less imposter syndrome. Your support group. Yeah, well, because I'm not just me, I'm not self-made. I think if I believed that I was self-made, then yeah, I'd feel a lot of anxiety. But what keeps the imposter syndrome at bay is. Hang on. No, this is not just me speaking.
00:09:39:22 - 00:09:57:29
Vinh Giang
Some of the lessons I've shared with you today, I've learned from my mother, my mom, and my dad. I've learned from the wonderful books that I've read and we've mentioned the titles, Right? So that gives me a lot of that calms my mind. And my wife has to always remind me of that. The second thing that gives me a lot of comfort is imposter syndrome is not my enemy.
00:09:57:29 - 00:10:27:21
Vinh Giang
It is my friend. Because if I don't feel imposter syndrome, I so imagine, imagine. I think I am the shit and I'm sitting here. You feel the vibes of I'm the shit. But imposter syndrome stops me from becoming that because imposter syndrome reminds me that I'm human. It reminds me that, Hey, man, you got to get better because I stop seeing it as this crippling foe that is there to crush me.
00:10:27:23 - 00:10:49:00
Vinh Giang
But I see it now as a reminder to How are you being better, How are you improving? So I use it as a friend. Now it's me. It's a friend, a gentle reminder, as opposed to a crippling. But sometimes it's still crippling. But it's a lot less crippling now. Yeah, it's more become that kind of slightly mean friend.
00:10:49:03 - 00:10:55:27
Vinh Giang
Yeah. If you want something really magical, it's going to take a shitload of work. Very good.
00:10:55:28 - 00:11:11:13
Daniel Franco
Thank you so much for your time today. We're very lucky to have you. And thank you for everything that you're doing. Obviously, you're changing people's lives every day, both in South Australia and Australia in the world. Keep up the good work and really appreciate everything you do.
00:11:11:15 - 00:11:12:17
Vinh Giang
Thank you. Bye bye. Thanks for having me.
00:11:12:20 - 00:11:29:13
Daniel Franco
No worries. Thank you, guys. Take care. All the best. It's for listening to the podcast or you can check out the show notes if there was anything of interest to you and find out more about us at Synergy IQ dot com. I use I'm going to ask though if you did like the podcast, it would absolutely mean the world to me.
00:11:29:14 - 00:11:38:08
Daniel Franco
You can subscribe, write and review and if you didn't like it, that's alright too. There's no need to do anything. Thank you guys. All the best.