172. Using Effective Communication and Coaching to Good Advantage

“I was required to take a speech course as a freshman at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. That truly was the spark that made me realize that I wanted to dedicate my life and career to the teaching of communication. It amazed me to see how a speech presented well could change someone’s opinion in ten minutes, and even their behavior.”

Teaching on a university campus in the mid-1960s, “I found that whatever I said wasn’t automatically accepted just because I had degrees and a title. I won’t say the audience was cynical, but they were alert, and you had to have documentation or research to back up what you were saying. That was challenging. I enjoyed that part of it.”

Dr. Lampton cites the importance of having and being a good coach or mentor. “That’s the kind of thing that makes my work so rewarding, to watch people develop their skills. They might have had them innately, but needed the practice, the right system, the right instructor. I found this to be true for myself, too, when I ventured into my own business.”